Photonic Josephson effect, phase transitions, and chaos in optomechanical systems

A photonic analog of the Josephson effect is analyzed for a system formed by a partly transparent mechanical membrane dividing an optical cavity into two halves. Photons tunneling between the two subcavities constitute the coherent Jospehson current. The force acting upon the membrane due to the light pressure induces a nonlinearity, which results in a rich dynamical structure. For example, contrary to standard bosonic Josephson systems, we encounter chaos. By means of a mean-field approach, we identify the various regimes and corresponding phase diagram. At the short time scale, chaos is demonstrated to prevent regular self-trapping, while for longer times a dissipation-induced self-trapping effect is possible.