title: Photon solid phases in driven arrays of nonlinearly coupled cavities.
abstract: We introduce and study the properties of an array of QED cavities coupled by nonlinear elements, in the presence of photon leakage and driven by a coherent source. The nonlinear couplings lead to photon hopping and to nearest-neighbor Kerr terms. By tuning the system parameters, the steady state of the array can exhibit a photon crystal associated with a periodic modulation of the photon blockade. In some cases, the crystalline ordering may coexist with phase synchronization. The class of cavity arrays we consider can be built with superconducting circuits of existing technology.
authors.affiliation: NEST, Scuola Normale Superiore and Istituto di Nanoscienze-CNR, I-56126 Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Jiasen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rossini
authors.forename: Rosario
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fazio
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Leib
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Hartmann