Fermionized photons in the ground state of one-dimensional coupled cavities

Abstract: The Density Matrix Renormalization Group algorithm is used to characterize the ground states of one-dimensional coupled cavities in the regime of low photon densities. Numerical results for photon and spin excitation densities, one- and two-body correlation functions, superfluid and condensate fractions, as well as the entanglement entropy and localizable entanglement are obtained for the Jaynes-Cummings-Hubbard (JCH) model, and are compared with those for the Bose-Hubbard (BH) model where applicable. The results indicate that a Tonks-Girardeau phase, in which the photons are strongly fermionized, appears between the Mott-insulating and superfluid phases as a function of the inter-cavity coupling. In fact, the superfluid density is found to be zero in a wide region outside the Mott-insulator phase boundary. The presence of two different species of excitation (spin and photon) in the JCH model gives rise to properties with no analog in the BH model, such as the (quasi)condensation of spin excitations and the spontaneous generation of entanglement between the atoms confined to each cavity.