Polariton creation in photonic quantum simulators

A scalable, tunable quantum simulator based on coupled cavity arrays in the strong cavity QED regime could provide a sandbox for modelling complex, strongly correlated materials. Of the many proposed platforms for such a quantum simulator, we focus on solid state emitters in nanophotonic cavities for the scalability of these systems. However, while these systems can be easily scaled, the effects of the emitters’ spectral inhomogeneous broadening on the light-matter hybridization have not yet been fully explored, nor have the effects of multi-emitter-cavity interaction which are of current interest for achieving strong cavity QED coupling in color center systems. In order to understand these effects we first exactly solve small open quantum systems based on the Tavis-Cummings-Hubbard model using a quantum master equation. Then we develop an effective Hamiltonian method to simulate large open quantum systems which includes two new metrics, polaritonic and nodal participation ratios. These findings can be used for photonic engineering of versatile quantum simulators.