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arXiv:1604.01300 · Physical Review A

Bound states and entanglement generation in waveguide quantum electrodynamics

Paolo Facchi A, M. S. Kim, Saverio Pascazio, Francesco Vincenzo Pepe, Domenico Pomarico, Tommaso Tufarelli

Published Oct 21, 2016• 109 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We investigate the behavior of two quantum emitters (two-level atoms) embedded in a linear waveguide, in a quasi-one-dimensional configuration. Since the atoms can emit, absorb, and reflect radiation, the pair can spontaneously relax towards an entangled bound state, under conditions in which a single atom would instead decay. Exploiting the resolvent formalism, we analyze the properties of these bound states, which occur for resonant values of the interatomic distance, and discuss their relevance with respect to entanglement generation. The stability of such states close to the resonance is studied, as well as the properties of nonresonant bound states, whose energy is below the threshold for photon propagation.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.94.043839

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We investigate the behavior of two quantum emitters (two-level atoms) embedded in a linear waveguide, in a quasi-one-dimensional configuration. Since the atoms can emit, absorb, and reflect radiation, the pair can spontaneously relax towards an entangled bound state, under conditions in which a single atom would instead decay. Exploiting the resolvent formalism, we analyze the properties of these bound states, which occur for resonant values of the interatomic distance, and discuss their relevance with respect to entanglement generation. The stability of such states close to the resonance is studied, as well as the properties of nonresonant bound states, whose energy is below the threshold for photon propagation.
We study the presence of nontrivial bound states of two multilevel quantum emitters and the photons propagating in a linear waveguide, when the emitters can be modeled as harmonic oscillators. We characterize the conditions for the existence of such states and determine their general properties, focusing in particular on the entanglement between the two emitters, that increases with the number of excitations. We discuss the relevance of our results for entanglement preservation and generation by spontaneous relaxation processes. We finally introduce a perturbative method for determining the existence of long-lived states, for general level spacings and couplings.
Abstract We investigate the quantum dynamics of two two-level atoms coupled to a one-dimensional resonator waveguide. Using the resolvent method, we obtain exact analytical solutions for the atomic evolution and photon scattering processes within the single-excitation subspace. The photonic band structure of the waveguide dictates distinctly different dynamical regimes. For atomic frequencies at the band center and small interatomic separation, the system exhibits Markovian decay and relaxes into a steady-state subradiant Bell entangled state. In contrast, near the band edge, non-Markovian dynamics dominates, leading to the formation of atom-photon bound states that mediate persistent, coherent interactions between the atoms. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the atomic detuning and separation provide effective control over singlephoton scattering, enabling a tunable quantum interface.
The physics of systems of quantum emitters in waveguide quantum electrodynamics is significantly influenced by the relation between their spatial separation and the wavelength of the emitted photons. If the distance that separates a pair of emitters meets specific resonance conditions, the photon amplitudes produced from decay may destructively interfere. In an infinite-waveguide setting, this effect gives rise to bound states in the continuum, where a photon remains confined between the emitters. In the case of a finite-length waveguide with periodic boundary conditions, there exist two such relevant distances for a given arrangement of the quantum emitters, leading to states in which a photon is confined to either the shorter or the longer path that connects the emitters. If the ratio of the shorter and the longer path is a rational number, these two kinds of resonant eigenstates are allowed to co-exist for the same Hamiltonian. In this paper, we investigate the existence of quasi-degenerate resonant doublets of a pair of identical emitters coupled to a linear waveguide mode. The states that form the doublet are searched among the ones in which a single excitation tends to remain bound to the emitters. We investigate the spectrum in a finite range around degeneracy points to check whether the doublet remains well separated from the closest eigenvalues in the spectrum. The identification of quasi-degenerate doublets opens the possibility to manipulate the emitters-waveguide system as an effectively two-level system in specific energy ranges, providing an innovative tool for quantum technology tasks.
Waveguide quantum electrodynamics (waveguide QED) describes the interaction between an electromagnetic field confined to a one-dimensional waveguide with atom-like quantum emitters close by. The characteristics of these kinds of systems are the possibility for strong and even ultrastrong interactions between the photonic and atom-like systems, and practically infinite range interactions between the emitters. These properties are valuable for a wide range of quantum optical applications, like quantum communication, quantum networks and quantum metrology. In this thesis we focus on two challenges in quantum optics, namely the generation and scattering of multiphoton states. In the first part of this thesis we demonstrate how waveguide QED systems can be exploited for the generation of multiphoton states, in particular of single-mode Fock states and superpositions thereof as well as multi-mode photonic states with metrological applications. The basic setup for this goal is an ensemble of quantum emitters coupled to a waveguide. In the so-called atomic mirror configuration symmetric Dicke states (or a superposition thereof) decay superradiantly to the ground state and emit the desired multiphoton state, which can be efficiently collected at the ends of the waveguide. We propose various protocols for the preparation of these Dicke states in waveguide QED systems and characterize the emitted photonic state. It turns out that in the low excitation regime, that is, if the number of photons is much lower than the ensemble size, the photonic state is emitted into a single mode. This single-mode structure is fundamental to current proposals for applications in quantum metrology with optical interferometers. Outside the low excitation regime, a multi-mode photonic state is generated, for which the metrological capabilities were unknown. We were able to show that these states still lead to quantum-enhanced optical interferometry. In the second part of this thesis we demonstrate how the scattering of multiphoton states on a single quantum emitter coupled to the waveguide can be used for testing the limits of the light-matter interaction strength. In particular, we investigate systems in the so-called ultrastrong coupling regime, where the coupling strength between the photonic and atom-like system is of the order of the emitter's transition energy. In this regime, many methods and approximations used in quantum optics, especially the Rotating Wave Approximation, break down and one needs to develop new analytical and numerical methods to study these systems. One approach is the so-called polaron Transformation. We show how this transformation can be applied for predicting the scattering amplitude of few photons scattering on the emitter. The comparison of these results with numerical simulations using matrix product states shows a good agreement for moderate coupling strengths. Both parts together show that waveguide QED systems are promising candidates for the generation of multiphoton states as well as for the investigation of fundamental limits probed through the scattering of multiphoton states. The latter also finds application in the implementation of photon-photon nonlinearities induced by the interaction with the quantum emitters. Apart from these and many other theoretical predictions, waveguide QED systems are also undergoing rapid progress in experiments. Therefore, we expect these kinds of systems to bring forth several advances in the field of quantum optics.
Systems of atoms coupled to a single or a few waveguide modes provide a test-bed for physically and practically interesting interference effects. We consider the dynamics of a pair of atoms, approximated as two-level quantum emitters, coupled to a linear guided mode. In particular, we analyze the evolution of an initial state in which both atoms are excited, which is expected to decay into an asymptotic two-photon state. We investigate the lifetime of the initial configuration and the properties of the asymptotic photon correlations, and analyze the probability that the two photons are emitted in the same or in opposite directions. We find that the ratio RRR between parallel and antiparallel emission probabilities is maximal when the interatomic distance is an odd multiple of a quarter wavelength of the emitted light. In such a case, R=3R=3R=3 in the small-coupling regime.
We theoretically predict the formation of two-photon bound states in a two-dimensional waveguide network hosting a lattice of two-level atoms. The properties of these bound pairs and the exclusive domains of the parameter space where they emerge due to the interplay between the on-site photon blockade and peculiar shape of polariton dispersion resulting from the long-range radiative couplings between the qubits are investigated in detail. In addition, we analyze the effect of the finite-size system on localization characteristics of these excitations.