Phase anti-synchronization dynamics between mechanical oscillator and atomic ensemble within a Fabry–Perot cavity

Phase synchronization refers to a kind of collective phenomenon that the phase difference between two or more systems is locked, and it has widely been investigated between systems with the identical physical properties, such as the synchronization between mechanical oscillators and the synchronization between atomic ensembles. Here, we investigate the synchronization behavior between the mechanical oscillator and the atomic ensemble, the systems with different physical properties, and observe a novel synchronization phenomenon, i.e., the phase sum, instead of phase difference, is locked. We refer to this distinct synchronization as the phase anti-synchronization and show that the phase anti-synchronization can be achieved in both the classical and quantum level, which means this novel collective behavior can be tested in experiment. Also, some interesting connections between phase anti-synchronization and quantum correlation are found.