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arXiv:2508.21514

Single atom enables extraordinary light transmission through zero-mode waveguide

В. В. Климов

Published Aug 29, 2025• 0 citations
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Abstract

In this work, we develop a theory of light transmission through a Zero-Mode Waveguide (ZMW) containing a single atom. It is shown that the presence of a single atom inside the ZMW can lead to either a significant enhancement or suppression of light transmission, depending on the detuning of the excitation field frequency from the atomic resonance. This extraordinary transmission and blocking effect can be employed for studying the spatiotemporal dynamics of atoms in complex nanoscopic environments, probing quantum optical phenomena, and developing novel nano-optical devices.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2508.21514

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In this work, we develop a theory of light transmission through a Zero-Mode Waveguide (ZMW) containing a single atom. It is shown that the presence of a single atom inside the ZMW can lead to either a significant enhancement or suppression of light transmission, depending on the detuning of the excitation field frequency from the atomic resonance. This extraordinary transmission and blocking effect can be employed for studying the spatiotemporal dynamics of atoms in complex nanoscopic environments, probing quantum optical phenomena, and developing novel nano-optical devices.
The integration of elementary quantum objects (atoms, molecules, and quantum dots) with solid-state nanostructures lies at the forefront of nano-optics, nanophotonics, and quantum information science. However, the advancement of this field is hindered by the lack of a rigorous and feasible theoretical framework for describing atom-nanostructure interactions, which are inherently complex and multiparametric. In this work, we develop a theory of light transmission through a zero-mode waveguide (ZMW) containing a single atom. It is shown that the presence of a single atom inside the ZMW can lead to either a significant enhancement or suppression of light transmission, depending on the detuning of the excitation field frequency from the atomic resonance. This extraordinary transmission and blocking effect can be employed for studying the spatiotemporal dynamics of atoms in complex nanoscopic environments, probing quantum optical phenomena, and developing novel nano-optical devices.
Starting from the semiclassical theory of light–matter interaction, we have theoretically investigated the substantial influences of two coherent driving fields on manipulating the single-photon transmission probability in the extensively studied atom-cavity-waveguide coupled system. The results strictly demonstrate that under the relatively large photon-cavity detuning and moderately strong driving fields, the single-photon transmission probability increases remarkably from the original 0 to 1 by controlling the coherent fields in the nondissipative environment, which manifests the manipulation of the coherent fields as a sort of highly controllable external tool to efficiently act as an experimentally available all-optical quantum switching. In contrast, the behavior independent from variation of coherent fields and characterized by the stationary transmission spectrum appears under the photon-atom on-resonance condition. Similar properties can also be observed in the dissipative environment. These distinct characteristics essentially reveal some significant functionalities of coherent field control in influencing the single-photon transmission spectrum, which may have potential applications in designing efficient photonic devices.
The quantum critical coupling conditions, where single-photon transmission goes to zero, for systems of a coupled ring resonator and atom in a one-dimensional single-mode waveguide are discussed. The quantum critical coupling conditions could be achieved even with nonvanishing intrinsic losses of the resonator and the atom, with intermode backscattering between the whispering-gallery modes of the ring resonator, and with time-reversal symmetry breaking. The energy transfer efficiency from the waveguide to the resonator and the atom is also discussed.
We analyze the single-photon transport in a single-mode waveguide coupled to a whispering-gallery-type resonator interacting with a two-level atom. The single-photon transport properties such as the transmission and reflection amplitudes, as well as the resonator and the atom responses, are solved exactly via a real-space approach. The treatment includes the intermode backscattering between the two degenerate whispering-gallery modes of the resonator, and the dissipations of the resonator and the atom. We also show that a generalized critical coupling condition, that the single-photon transmission at the output of the waveguide goes to zero on resonance for a matched system, holds for the full coupled waveguide-ring resonator-atom system.
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.
Experiments and numerical simulations are described that develop quantitative understanding of atomic motion near the surfaces of nanoscopic photonic crystal waveguides (PCWs). Ultracold atoms are delivered from a moving optical lattice into the PCW. Synchronous with the moving lattice, transmission spectra for a guided-mode probe field are recorded as functions of lattice transport time and frequency detuning of the probe beam. By way of measurements such as these, we have been able to validate quantitatively our numerical simulations, which are based upon detailed understanding of atomic trajectories that pass around and through nanoscopic regions of the PCW under the influence of optical and surface forces. The resolution for mapping atomic motion is roughly 50 nm in space and 100 ns in time. By introducing auxiliary guided-mode (GM) fields that provide spatially varying AC Stark shifts, we have, to some degree, begun to control atomic trajectories, such as to enhance the flux into the central vacuum gap of the PCW at predetermined times and with known AC Stark shifts. Applications of these capabilities include enabling high fractional filling of optical trap sites within PCWs, calibration of optical fields within PCWs, and utilization of the time-dependent, optically dense atomic medium for novel nonlinear optical experiments.