Tutorial on nonperturbative cavity quantum electrodynamics: is the Jaynes–Cummings model still relevant?

Abstract

In this tutorial review, we briefly discuss the role that the Jaynes–Cummings model occupies in present-day research in cavity quantum electrodynamics with a particular focus on the so-called ultrastrong-coupling regime. We start by critically analyzing the various approximations required to distill such a simple model from standard quantum electrodynamics. We then discuss how many of those approximations can be, and often have been, broken in recent experiments. The consequence of these failures has been the need to abandon the Jaynes–Cummings model for more complex models. In this, the quantum Rabi model has the most prominent role, and we will rapidly survey its rich and peculiar phenomenology. We conclude the paper by showing how the Jaynes–Cummings model still plays a crucial role even in nonperturbative light–matter coupling regimes.