Quantum Electrodynamical Bloch Theory with Homogeneous Magnetic Fields.
Rokaj, Vasil;Penz, Markus;Sentef, Michael A;Ruggenthaler, Michael;Rubio, Angel;
physical review letters2019Vol. 123pp. 047202
180
rokaj2019quantumphysical
Abstract
We propose a solution to the problem of Bloch electrons in a homogeneous magnetic field by including the quantum fluctuations of the photon field. A generalized quantum electrodynamical (QED)-Bloch theory from first principles is presented. In the limit of vanishing quantum fluctuations, we recover the standard results of solid-state physics: the fractal spectrum of the Hofstadter butterfly. As a further application, we show how the well-known Landau physics is modified by the photon field and that Landau polaritons emerge. This shows that our QED-Bloch theory does not only allow us to capture the physics of solid-state systems in homogeneous magnetic fields but also novel features that appear at the interface of condensed matter physics and quantum optics.