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arXiv:1609.04157 · Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

Single-photon scattering with counter rotating wave interaction

Qi-Kai He, Wei Ming Zhu, Zhihai Wang, Dong Zhou

Published Jun 6, 2017• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract Recent experiments have pushed the studies on atom–photon interactions to the ultrastrong regime, which motivates the exploration of physics beyond the rotation wave approximation. Here we study the single-photon scattering on a system composed of a coupling cavity array with a two-level atom in the center cavity, which, by varying two outside coupling parameters, corresponds to a model from a supercavity (SC) QED to a waveguide QED with counter rotating wave (CRW) interaction. By applying a time-independent scattering theory based on the bound states in the scattering region, we find that the CRW interaction obviously changes the transmission valley even in the weak atom-cavity coupling regime; in particular, the CRW interaction leads to an inelastic scattering process and a Fano-type resonance, which is directly observed in the crossover from the SC-QED case to the waveguide QED case. Predictably, our findings provide the potential of manipulating the CRW effects in realistic systems and pave the way for the numerical study of very general QED systems.

DOI
10.1088/1361-6455/aa7794

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Abstract Recent experiments have pushed the studies on atom–photon interactions to the ultrastrong regime, which motivates the exploration of physics beyond the rotation wave approximation. Here we study the single-photon scattering on a system composed of a coupling cavity array with a two-level atom in the center cavity, which, by varying two outside coupling parameters, corresponds to a model from a supercavity (SC) QED to a waveguide QED with counter rotating wave (CRW) interaction. By applying a time-independent scattering theory based on the bound states in the scattering region, we find that the CRW interaction obviously changes the transmission valley even in the weak atom-cavity coupling regime; in particular, the CRW interaction leads to an inelastic scattering process and a Fano-type resonance, which is directly observed in the crossover from the SC-QED case to the waveguide QED case. Predictably, our findings provide the potential of manipulating the CRW effects in realistic systems and pave the way for the numerical study of very general QED systems.
The scattering of a flying photon by a two-level system ultrastrongly coupled to a one-dimensional photonic waveguide is studied numerically. The photonic medium is modeled as an array of coupled cavities and the whole system is analyzed beyond the rotating wave approximation using matrix product states. It is found that the scattering is strongly influenced by the single- and multiphoton dressed bound states present in the system. In the ultrastrong coupling regime a new channel for inelastic scattering appears, where an incident photon deposits energy into the qubit, exciting a photon-bound state, and escaping with a lower frequency. This single-photon nonlinear frequency conversion process can reach up to 50% efficiency. Other remarkable features in the scattering induced by counterrotating terms are a blueshift of the reflection resonance and a Fano resonance due to long-lived excited states.
We present a microscopic model of cavity quantum electrodynamics based on a one-dimensional (1D) coupled cavity array (CCA), where a supercavity (SC) is composed by a segment of the 1D CCA with relatively smaller couplings with the outsides. The single-photon scattering problem for the SC empty or with a two level atom in it is investigated. We obtain the exact theoretical result on the transmission rate for our system, which predicts that the transmission peaks shall appear near the eigenenergies of the SC. Our numerical results further prove that the SC is a well-defined multimode cavity. When a two level atom resonant with the SC locates at the antinode of the resonant mode, the transmission spectrum shows a clear sign of vacuum Rabi splitting as expected. However, when the atom locates at the node of the resonant mode, we observe a deep valley in the transmission peak, which can be explained by the destructive interference of two transmission channels: one is the resonant mode, while the other is arising from the atom coupling with the nonresonance modes. The effect of nonresonance modes on vacuum Rabi splitting is also analyzed.
Single-photon scattering in waveguide-QED systems plays a pivotal role in quantum information processing and communication. We introduce a time-dependent variational approach employing a modified multiple Davydov Ansatz to simulate single-photon dynamics in one-dimensional waveguide-QED systems within the strong-coupling regime. The method is benchmarked across three configurations: a single qubit, two distant qubits, and a ladder-type qutrit coupled to the waveguide. For the single- and two-qubit cases, the variational results exhibit excellent agreement with those derived from a transformed rotating-wave approximation (TRWA). The accuracy of our approach is further verified by an analysis of the local-in-time error, which remains small even under strong coupling, indicating its potential superiority over TRWA in specific regimes. In addition, by contrasting our results with the rotating-wave approximation, we elucidate the significant influence of counter-rotating couplings on scattering dynamics. Our findings establish this variational method as a reliable and versatile tool for investigating single-photon scattering in diverse waveguide-QED systems, particularly in regimes where traditional approximations falter.
We study the single-photon scattering along a one-dimensional cavity array with two distant two-level atoms in a supercavity, which aims to simulate a recent x-ray experiment [ Nature 482 , 199 (2012)]. Without introducing dissipation, we find that when one atom is exactly located at a node of a mode of the supercavity and the other is at the antinode of that mode, no splitting of the reflectivity peak can appear. Nevertheless, the atom at the node significantly changes the positions of the reflectivity valleys. On the other hand, when the atom is shifted a little from the exact node, then the splitting can appear. We also explain these results with an analysis based on the general formal scattering theory. Our result implies the importance of non-resonant modes of the supercavity in our problem.
In recent years, quantum Rabi model has aroused considerable interest because of its fundamental importance and potential applications in quantum technologies. For a conventional cavity-quantum-electrodynamic (cavity-QED) system involving the interaction between an atom and photons in a cavity, the atom-photon coupling frequency is much smaller than the transition frequency of the atom and the frequency of the cavity mode. This cavity-QED system is usually described by the Jaynes-Cummings model in which the rotating-wave approximation can be adopted by neglecting the counter-rotating coupling terms in the Hamiltonian of the system. However, by designing the unique structure of the superconducting circuit, the ultrastrong-coupling regime can be achieved in a circuit-QED system in which the counter-rotating coupling terms become as important as the rotating terms. Thus, the rotating-wave approximation cannot be used in the ultrastrongly coupled circuit-QED system. Owing to the ultrastrong coupling, this circuit-QED system is described by the standard quantum Rabi model when a superconducting qubit is coupled only to a single resonator mode. In this work, we experimentally study an ultrastrongly coupled circuit-QED system consisting of a four-junction superconducting flux qubit and a muti-mode coplanar-waveguide resonator. The transmission-spectrum measurement and numerical simulations show that the system is in the ultrastrong-coupling regime. By changing the photon number in the resonator, we observe the frequency shift of the flux qubit via the spectroscopic measurement. This frequency shift contains the contributions from not only the rotating-coupling terms but also the counter-rotating terms, which is in good agreement with the theory. The result indicates that this ultrastrongly-coupled quantum system can be used as a good platform to investigate the quantum Rabi model and has potential applications in various aspects of quantum technology, such as quantum simulation, ultrafast quantum gates, entangled-state preparation and protected qubits.
Single-photon scattering properties in a coupled-resonator waveguide (CRW) coupled to a nanocavity embedded with a two-level system are investigated theoretically. Two cases are considered: when the nanocavity is locally coupled to one resonator and when it is nonlocally coupled to two resonators of the CRW. The transmission and reflection amplitudes are obtained for the two cases, respectively. The results show that the position of perfect transmission remains unchanged, while the position of perfect reflection is shifted due to the nonlocal coupling. An asymmetric Fano resonance appears in the transmission spectrum and can be controlled by adjusting the coupling strengths in the nonlocal coupling case. The effects of the coupling strengths and dissipation on the transport properties are also analyzed for the two cases.