Reactive power plays a crucial role in the design of small antenna systems, but its impact on the bandwidth of quantum emitters is typically disregarded. Here, we theoretically demonstrate that there is an intermediate domain between the usual weak- and strong-coupling regimes where the bandwidth of a quantum emitter is directly related to the dispersion properties of the reactive power. This result emphasizes that reactive power must be understood as an additional degree of freedom in engineering the bandwidth of quantum emitters. We illustrate the applicability of this concept by revisiting typical configurations of quantum emitters coupled to resonant cavities and waveguides. Analysis of the reactive power in these systems unveils functionalities including the design of efficient but narrow-band photon sources, as well as quantum emitters exhibiting bandwidths narrower than their nonradiative linewidths even under incoherent pumping.
Reactive power plays a crucial role in the design of small antenna systems, but its impact on the bandwidth of quantum emitters is typically disregarded. Here, we theoretically demonstrate that there is an intermediate domain between the usual weak- and strong-coupling regimes where the bandwidth of a quantum emitter is directly related to the dispersion properties of the reactive power. This result emphasizes that reactive power must be understood as an additional degree of freedom in engineering the bandwidth of quantum emitters. We illustrate the applicability of this concept by revisiting typical configurations of quantum emitters coupled to resonant cavities and waveguides. Analysis of the reactive power in these systems unveils functionalities including the design of efficient but narrow-band photon sources, as well as quantum emitters exhibiting bandwidths narrower than their nonradiative linewidths even under incoherent pumping.
The emission properties of single-photon sources (a) attached to photonic nanostructures in the weak and strong coupling regimes have been intensively studied. However, often new opportunities arise in physical systems that operate at intermediate regimes between the more studied extreme cases. Here, we analyze the emission properties of a two-level system coupled to a two-mode cavity. Our analysis demonstrates that there is an intermediate regime, between the weak and strong coupling regimes, which offers an additional degree of freedom in controlling the bandwidth of a single-photon source, even when it is incoherently excited. In turn, this degree of freedom can be harnessed to decouple efficiency and bandwidth, thus bringing additional flexibility in the design of efficient photon sources with (b) controllable bandwidth.
We develop a comprehensive theoretical framework that unifies quantum emission dynamics in one-dimensional Lieb lattices, bridging the gap between ideal flat-band coherence and realistic narrow-band dissipation. By coupling an emitter to sublattices with finite flat-band wavefunction overlap, we activate a collective, size-independent interaction fundamentally distinct from dispersive-band processes. Controllably breaking lattice symmetry transforms the flat band into a narrow dispersive band, enabling a continuous crossover from non-Markovian to Markovian dynamics governed by the competition between coupling strength and engineered bandwidth. Crucially, we derive explicit scaling laws that provide a quantitative blueprint for tuning spontaneous emission from coherent trapping to Markovian decay. Our work provides a unified framework that connects idealized flat-band physics to emerging narrow-band platforms such as moireˊ photonic crystals, offering a practical toolkit for interpreting experiments and engineering quantum emission in structured photonic environments.
Engineering and controlling well-defined states of light for quantum information applications is of increasing importance as the complexity of quantum systems grows. For example, in quantum networks, high multi-photon interference visibility requires properly devised pure photon sources. In this paper, we present a theoretical model for a spontaneous parametric down conversion source based on an integrated cavity-waveguide, where single narrow-band, possibly distinct, resonant modes for the idler and the signal fields can be generated. This mode selection takes advantage of the clustering effect, due to the intrinsic dispersion of the nonlinear material. We show that, by engineering the clustering effect in an integrated cavity-waveguide and by using a standard detector, one can efficiently generate heralded pure single photons even with a continuous-wave pumping mode. The photon source proposed in this paper is extremely flexible and could easily be adapted to a wide variety of wavelengths and applications, such as long-distance quantum communication.
Understanding physical properties of quantum emitters strongly interacting with quantized electromagnetic modes is one of the primary goals in the emergent field of waveguide quantum electrodynamics (QED). When the light-matter coupling strength is comparable to or even exceeds energies of elementary excitations, conventional approaches based on perturbative treatment of light-matter interactions, two-level description of matter excitations, and photon-number truncation are no longer sufficient. Here we study in and out of equilibrium properties of waveguide QED in such nonperturbative regimes on the basis of a comprehensive and rigorous theoretical approach using an asymptotic decoupling unitary transformation. We uncover several surprising features ranging from symmetry-protected many-body bound states in the continuum to strong renormalization of the effective mass and potential; the latter may explain recent experiments demonstrating cavity-induced changes in chemical reactivity as well as enhancements of ferromagnetism or superconductivity. To illustrate our general results with concrete examples, we use our formalism to study a model of coupled cavity arrays, which is relevant to experiments in superconducting qubits interacting with microwave resonators or atoms coupled to photonic crystals. We examine the relation between our results and delocalization-localization transition in the spin-boson model; notably, we point out that a reentrant transition can occur in the regimes where the coupling strength becomes the dominant energy scale. We also discuss applications of our results to other problems in different fields, including quantum optics, condensed matter physics, and quantum chemistry.
Motivated by developments in quantum information science, much recent effort has been directed toward coupling individual quantum emitters to optical microcavities. Such systems can be used to produce single photons on demand, enable nonlinear optical switching at a single photon level, and implement functional nodes of a quantum network, where the emitters serve as processing nodes and photons are used for long-distance quantum communication. For many of these practical applications, it is important to develop techniques that allow one to generate outgoing single photons of desired frequency and bandwidth, enabling hybrid networks connecting different types of emitters and long-distance transmission over telecommunications wavelengths. Here, we propose a novel approach that makes use of a nonlinear optical resonator, in which the single photon originating from the atom-like emitter is directly converted into a photon with desired frequency and bandwidth using the intracavity nonlinearity. As specific examples, we discuss a high-finesse, TE-TM double-mode photonic crystal cavity design that allows for direct generation of single photons at telecom wavelengths starting from an InAs/GaAs quantum dot with a 950 nm transition wavelength, and a scheme for direct optical coupling of such a quantum dot with a diamond nitrogen-vacancy center at 637 nm.