Backaction effects in cavity-coupled quantum conductors

We study the electronic transport through a pair of distant nanosystems (Sa and Sb) embedded in a single-mode cavity. Each system is connected to source and drain particle reservoirs and the electron-photon coupling is described by the Tavis-Cummings model. The generalized master equation approach provides the reduced density operator of the double system in the dressed-states basis. It is shown that the photon-mediated coupling between the two subsystems leaves a signature on their transient and steady-state currents. In particular, a suitable bias applied on subsystem Sb induces a photon-assisted current in the other subsystem Sa which is otherwise in the Coulomb blockade. We also predict that a transient current passing through one subsystem triggers a charge transfer between the optically active levels of the second subsystem even if the latter is not connected to the leads. As a result of backaction, the transient current through the open system develops Rabi oscillations (ROs) whose period depends on the initial state of the closed system.