Frustrated Rydberg Atom Arrays Meet Cavity-QED: Emergence of the Superradiant Clock Phase

Abstract: Rydberg atom triangular arrays in an optical cavity serve as an ideal platform for understanding the interplay between geometric frustration and quantized photons. Using a large-scale quantum Monte Carlo method, we obtain a rich ground state phase diagram. Around half-filling, the infinite long-range light-matter interaction lifts the ground state degeneracy, resulting in a novel order-coexisted superradiant clock (SRC) phase that completely destroys the fragile order-by-disorder (OBD) phase observed in classical light fields. According to the Ginzburg-Landau theory, this replacement may result from the competition between threefold and sixfold clock terms. Similar to the spin supersolid, the clear first-order phase transition at the $Z_2$ symmetry line is attributed to the nonzero photon density, which couples to the threefold clock term. Finally, we discuss the low-energy physics in the dimer language and propose that cavity-mediated nonlocal ring exchange interactions may play a critical role in the rich physics induced by the attachment of cavity-QED. Our work opens a new arena of research on the emergent phenomena of quantum phase transitions in many-body quantum optics.