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arXiv:2101.02372 · Physical Review A

Coherent perfect absorption of quantum light

Anton N. Vetlugin

Published Jul 20, 2021• 31 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Coherent perfect absorption (CPA) was introduced as a classical optics phenomenon of a standing-wave absorption by a subwavelength film. In this paper, we develop a theory of CPA of quantized standing waves taking account of a subwavelength thickness of the absorber. This approach allows us to merge all known quantum effects of CPA under a single theory and introduce other regimes of CPA including CPA of NOON states with arbitrary number of entangled photons, orthogonally squeezed vacuum states, continuous variable entangled states, and Schr\"odinger cat states. Detailed analysis of the quantum regime of CPA sheds light on fundamental aspects of quantum light dissipation and its practical implementation in quantum optics and quantum information.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.104.013716

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Coherent perfect absorption (CPA) was introduced as a classical optics phenomenon of a standing-wave absorption by a subwavelength film. In this paper, we develop a theory of CPA of quantized standing waves taking account of a subwavelength thickness of the absorber. This approach allows us to merge all known quantum effects of CPA under a single theory and introduce other regimes of CPA including CPA of NOON states with arbitrary number of entangled photons, orthogonally squeezed vacuum states, continuous variable entangled states, and Schr"odinger cat states. Detailed analysis of the quantum regime of CPA sheds light on fundamental aspects of quantum light dissipation and its practical implementation in quantum optics and quantum information.
We investigate coherent perfect absorption (CPA) in quantum optics, in particular when pairs of squeezed coherent states of light are superposed on an absorbing beam splitter. First, by employing quantum optical input-output relations, we derive the absorption coefficients for quantum coherence and for intensity, and reveal how these will differ for squeezed states. Secondly, we present the remarkable properties of a CPA-gate: two identical but otherwise arbitrary incoming squeezed coherent states can be completely stripped off their coherence, producing a pure entangled squeezed vacuum state that with its finite intensity escapes from an otherwise perfect absorber. Importantly, this output state of light is not entangled with the absorbing beam splitter by which it was produced. Its loss-enabled functionality makes the CPA gate an interesting new tool for continuous-variable quantum state preparation.
We investigate coherent perfect absorption (CPA) of squeezed coherent states of light by an absorbing beam splitter. First we derive the absorption coefficients for quantum coherence and for intensity, which generally differ. Secondly, we present the remarkable properties of a CPA-gate: two identical but otherwise arbitrary incoming squeezed coherent states can be completely stripped off their coherence, producing a pure entangled squeezed vacuum state at the output. Importantly, this output state of light is not entangled with the absorbing beam splitter by which it was produced. This makes the CPA gate potentially interesting for continuous-variable quantum state preparation.
Two identical squeezed coherent states at the input ports of a 50% absorbing beam splitter do not show coherent perfect absorption (CPA). All coherence is lost, though, since at the output ports entangled squeezed vacuum states emerge. Remarkably, this output state is a pure state, although produced by a lossy device. Therefore this CPA gate could become a new tool for continuous-variable quantum state preparation. Moreover, for graphene multilayers engineered for CPA, we discuss the effects of interlayer separation.
The technologies of heating, photovoltaics, water photocatalysis and artificial photosynthesis depend on the absorption of light and novel approaches such as coherent absorption from a standing wave promise total dissipation of energy. Extending the control of absorption down to very low light levels and eventually to the single-photon regime is of great interest and yet remains largely unexplored. Here we demonstrate the coherent absorption of single photons in a deeply subwavelength 50% absorber. We show that while the absorption of photons from a travelling wave is probabilistic, standing wave absorption can be observed deterministically, with nearly unitary probability of coupling a photon into a mode of the material, for example, a localized plasmon when this is a metamaterial excited at the plasmon resonance. These results bring a better understanding of the coherent absorption process, which is of central importance for light harvesting, detection, sensing and photonic data processing applications.
Perfect absorption of light critically affects light-matter interaction for various applications. Coherent perfect absorbers (CPA) gain the unique capability of controlling light with light in a linear fashion. Multi-color CPAs [Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 033901] are highly desirable for broadband and nonlinear light-to-light coherent control, however, the experimental demonstration has still remained elusive. Here we experimentally observe a dual-color version of CPA (DC-CPA) through a second harmonic generation in a single whispering-gallery-mode microcavity. The DC-CPA enables simultaneous perfect absorption of both the incoming fundamental wave and its second harmonic. Similar to its linear counterpart, coherent control in the DC-CPA can be also realized by tuning the relative phase and intensity between the two-colored waves through nonlinear interference instead of the linear one. This scheme breaks the linear boundary of the traditional CPA into a multi-frequency domain and paves the way toward all-optically signal processing and quantum information.
We examine the question of coherent perfect absorption (CPA) of single photons, and more generally, of the quantum fields by a macroscopic medium. We show the CPA of path entangled single photons in a Fabry-Perot interferometer containing an absorptive medium. The frequency of perfect absorption can be controlled by changing the interferometer parameters like the reflectivity and the complex dielectric constant of the material. We exhibit similar results for path entangled photons in micro-ring resonators. For entangled fields like the ones produced by a down converter the CPA aspect is evident in phase sensitive detection schemes such as in measurements of the squeezing spectrum.