Polariton dynamics of a disordered three-cavity system of four-level atoms

The effect of disorder in the intensity of the driving laser on the dynamics of a disordered three-cavity system of four-level atoms is investigated. This system can be described by a Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian for dark-state polaritons. We examine the evolution of the first- and second-order correlation functions, the photon and atomic excitation numbers and the basis state occupation probabilities. We use the full Hamiltonian and the approximate Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian with uniform and speckle disorder, as well as with different dipole couplings. We find that the results for the two Hamiltonians are in good agreement. We also find that it is possible to obtain bunching and antibunching of the polaritons by varying the dipole couplings and that polaritons can be driven into a purely photonic state by varying the laser intensity.