Physical Review Journal Club: Microscopy of Cavity-Induced Density-Wave Ordering in Ultracold Gases
Wednesday, June 10, 2026
11 a.m. ET, 3 p.m. GMT, 5 p.m. CET
Video Link
The Physical Review Journal Club is back, this time for a discussion with authors Tabea Bühler, Aurélien Fabre, and Jean-Philippe Brantut (Institute of Physics and Center for Quantum Science and Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), presenting the recently published Physical Review Letters paper “Microscopy of Cavity-Induced Density-Wave Ordering in Ultracold Gases.”
After the presentation, the authors will answer questions from the audience in a live Q&A session, moderated by Thomas Bourdel (Groupe d’Optique Atomique, Laboratoire Charles Fabry, Institut d’Optique). Registration is free and a video recording will be provided to all registrants.
Summary:
This paper reports the first direct in-situ microscopic imaging of cavity-induced density-wave order in a unitary Fermi gas. Fourier analysis of the images reveals the structure of long-range coherence in the cloud. The observed superradiant phase boundary agrees with measurements of the leaked cavity field, which is also measured. Quench experiments track the buildup of order in time, revealing strong correlations between the atomic density-wave and the cavity field, directly validating a central assumption of cavity-mediated interaction models. The work establishes microscopy as a powerful local probe of long-range interacting quantum gases and opens paths toward engineered interaction patterns, correlation measurements, and studies of pairing or magnetization in cavity-coupled Fermi systems.
Read ahead:
Microscopy of Cavity-Induced Density-Wave Ordering in Ultracold Gases
Tabea Bühler, Aurélien Fabre, Gaia Bolognini, Zeyang Xue, Timo Zwettler, Giulia Del Pace, and Jean-Philippe Brantut
Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 143401
