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arXiv:2410.22469 · Nanophotonics

Metalens formed by structured arrays of atomic emitters

Francesco Andreoli, Charlie-Ray Mann, Alexander A. High, Darrick E. Chang

Published Jan 30, 2025• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract Arrays of atomic emitters have proven to be a promising platform to manipulate and engineer optical properties, due to their efficient cooperative response to near‐resonant light. Here, we theoretically investigate their use as an efficient metalens. We show that, by spatially tailoring the (subwavelength) lattice constants of three consecutive two‐dimensional arrays of identical atomic emitters, one can realize a large transmission coefficient with arbitrary position‐dependent phase shift, whose robustness against losses is enhanced by the collective response. To characterize the efficiency of this atomic metalens, we perform large‐scale numerical simulations involving a substantial number of atoms ( N ∼ 5 × 10 5 ) that is considerably larger than comparable works. Our results suggest that low‐loss, robust optical devices with complex functionalities, ranging from metasurfaces to computer‐generated holograms, could be potentially assembled from properly engineered arrays of atomic emitters.

DOI
10.1515/nanoph-2024-0603

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Abstract Arrays of atomic emitters have proven to be a promising platform to manipulate and engineer optical properties, due to their efficient cooperative response to near‐resonant light. Here, we theoretically investigate their use as an efficient metalens. We show that, by spatially tailoring the (subwavelength) lattice constants of three consecutive two‐dimensional arrays of identical atomic emitters, one can realize a large transmission coefficient with arbitrary position‐dependent phase shift, whose robustness against losses is enhanced by the collective response. To characterize the efficiency of this atomic metalens, we perform large‐scale numerical simulations involving a substantial number of atoms ( N ∼ 5 × 10 5 ) that is considerably larger than comparable works. Our results suggest that low‐loss, robust optical devices with complex functionalities, ranging from metasurfaces to computer‐generated holograms, could be potentially assembled from properly engineered arrays of atomic emitters.
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We consider light scattering off a two-dimensional (2D) dipolar array and show how it can be tailored by properly choosing the lattice constant of the order of the incident wavelength. In particular, we demonstrate that such arrays can operate as a nearly perfect mirror for a wide range of incident angles and frequencies, and shape the emission pattern from an individual quantum emitter into a well-defined, collimated beam. These results can be understood in terms of the cooperative resonances of the surface modes supported by the 2D array. Experimental realizations are discussed, using ultracold arrays of trapped atoms and excitons in 2D semiconductor materials, as well as potential applications ranging from atomically thin metasurfaces to single photon nonlinear optics and nanomechanics.
Subwavelength atomic arrays offer a powerful platform for engineering cooperative light-matter interactions and enabling quantum metasurfaces. We demonstrate that a two-dimensional array of three-level atoms operating under electromagnetically induced transparency can function as a tunable dual-band atomic mirror, where two independently controllable reflection bands emerge from the collective optical responses mediated by dipole-dipole interactions. These resonances yield dual reflection bands with asymmetric linewidths, whose spectral positions and bandwidths can be tuned through the control-field parameters, dipole orientation, incident geometry, and lattice constant. We further identify the conditions under which additional diffraction orders emerge, which delineate the operational and tunable range of the atomic mirror via its collective-mode structure. This scheme provides a fully tunable dual-band atomic mirror operating across broad frequency and angular ranges, offering a practical and experimentally accessible pathway toward reconfigurable photonic elements in atomic-array platforms at low energy levels.
We describe applications of two-dimensional subwavelength quantum emitter arrays as efficient optical elements in the linear regime. For normally incident light, the cooperative optical response, stemming from emitter-emitter dipole exchanges, allows the control of the array's transmission, its resonance frequency, and bandwidth. Operations on fully polarized incident light, such as generic linear and circular polarizers as well as phase retarders can be engineered and described in terms of Jones matrices. Our analytical approach and accompanying numerical simulations identify optimal regimes for such operations and reveal the importance of adjusting the array geometry and of the careful tuning of the external magnetic fields amplitude and direction.
We study the cooperative optical coupling between regularly spaced atoms in a one-dimensional waveguide using decompositions to subradiant and super-radiant collective excitation eigenmodes, direct numerical solutions, and analytical transfer-matrix methods. We illustrate how the spectrum of transmitted light through the waveguide, including the emergence of narrow Fano resonances, can be understood by the resonance features of the eigenmodes. We describe a method based on super-radiant and subradiant modes to engineer the optical response of the waveguide and to store light. The stopping of light is obtained by transferring an atomic excitation to a subradiant collective mode with the zero radiative resonance linewidth by controlling the level shift of an atom in the waveguide. Moreover, we obtain an exact analytic solution for the transmitted light through the waveguide for the case of a regular lattice of atoms and provide a simple description of how the light transmission may present large resonance shifts when the lattice spacing is close, but not exactly equal, to half of the wavelength of the light. Experimental imperfections such as fluctuations of the positions of the atoms and loss of light from the waveguide are easily quantified in the numerical simulations, which produce the natural result that the optical response of the atomic array tends toward the response of a gas with random atomic positions.
Quantum metasurfaces comprised of subwavelength atomic arrays emerged as a promising platform for enhanced atom-photon interaction. However, realizing such a system with solid-state emitters has been considered impractical due to strong inhomogeneous broadening, which was expected to suppress the photon-mediated interactions that underpin collective emission. Here we report the observation of collective emission from subwavelength arrays of silicon-vacancy centres in diamond -- solid-state emitters whose inhomogeneous broadening exceeds the natural linewidth by two orders of magnitude -- demonstrating that collective effects such as resonance shifts, modified decay rates and directional coherent emission survive this disorder. A crucial enabling element is the implantation of a high density of silicon ions at each array site. This creates so-called superatoms, local ensembles that probabilistically achieve frequency matching across the array and enhance the collective response. We support our observations with a theoretical analysis explaining the mechanisms that preserve the collective effects even in the presence of inhomogeneity. These observations have direct implications for the realization of subwavelength arrays in any solid-state system, paving the way for quantum-emitter metasurfaces that are naturally integrated into nanophotonic environments.