Multilevel Quantum Rabi Models

Abstract: The quantum Rabi model, which describes the interaction between a simplified atom and a mode of the electromagnetic field, is a cornerstone of modern quantum optics. One of the key assumptions of the model is that the `atom' is a perfect two-level system. We explore what happens when one generalizes the atom to a multilevel system, with $m$ ground and $n$ excited states coupled to the same field. We focus on the case where the excited and ground states form distinct, well-separated, manifolds of near-degenerate levels (so that the spacing between the excited states on a given manifold is much less than the average spacing between the manifolds) and consider either uniform or random couplings between the individual ground and excited levels. We find that the system reduces approximately to a direct sum of Rabi models with a range of different couplings. Importantly, the strongest coupling is enhanced in a way that depends on the number of levels, for the simple case where $n=m$, the coupling scales with $n$ for uniform couplings and $2\sqrt{n}$ for random couplings (in the limit of large $n$). Our work thus suggests that multilevel Rabi systems could provide an attractive alternative route to accessing regimes of very strong coupling in light-matter systems.