Experimental realization of the classical Dicke model

Abstract: We report the experimental implementation of the Dicke model in the semiclassical approximation, which describes a large number of two-level atoms interacting with a single-mode electromagnetic field in a perfectly reflecting cavity. This is managed by making use of two non-linearly coupled active, synthetic LC circuits, implemented by means of analog electrical components. The simplicity and versatility of our platform allows us not only to experimentally explore the coexistence of regular and chaotic trajectories in the Dicke model but also to directly observe the so-called ground-state and excited-state ``quantum'' phase transitions. In this analysis, the trajectories in phase space, Lyapunov exponents and the recently introduced Out-of-Time-Order-Correlator (OTOC) are used to identify the different operating regimes of our electronic device. Exhaustive numerical simulations are performed to show the quantitative and qualitative agreement between theory and experiment.