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arXiv:2511.23032

Tunable dual-band atomic mirror based on subwavelength atomic arrays under electromagnetically induced transparency

Shiwen Sun, Yi-Xin Wang, Xiao Liu, Yan Zhang

quant-phphysics.opticsSubmitted Nov 28, 2025• Announced Dec 1, 2025• 1 citation

Abstract

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.

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Atom arrays have emerged as a powerful platform for quantum light-matter interfaces, yet single-species arrays are constrained by in-plane symmetry, restricting polarization control. Here we investigate the cooperative optical response of dual-species subwavelength atom arrays, in which intrinsic polarizability difference breaks in-plane symmetry. By engineering the lattice constants and detunings, the arrays exhibit polarization-dependent subradiant modes, enabling complete reflection of a specific polarization component. Leveraging this mechanism, we assemble array units as functional pixels and demonstrate a scalable polarization-selective quantum light modulator. Our work establishes a dynamically reconfigurable atomic-photonic platform for versatile subwavelength quantum optical elements.

Atom arrays have emerged as a powerful platform for quantum light-matter interfaces, yet single-species arrays are constrained by in-plane symmetry, restricting polarization control. Here, we investigate the cooperative optical response of dual-species subwavelength atom arrays, in which the intrinsic polarizability difference breaks in-plane symmetry. By engineering the lattice constants and detunings, the arrays exhibit polarization-dependent subradiant modes, enabling complete reflection of a specific polarization component. Leveraging this mechanism, we assemble array units as functional pixels and demonstrate a scalable polarization-selective quantum light modulator. Our work establishes a dynamically reconfigurable atomic-photonic platform for versatile subwavelength quantum optical elements.

Enhancing light-matter coupling at the level of single quanta is essential for numerous applications in quantum science. The cooperative optical response of subwavelength atomic arrays has been found to open new pathways for such strong light-matter couplings, while simultaneously offering access to multiple spatial modes of the light field. Efficient single-mode free-space coupling to such arrays has been reported, but the spatial control over the modes of outgoing light fields has remained elusive. Here, we demonstrate such spatial control over the optical response of an atomically thin mirror formed by a subwavelength array of atoms in free space using a single controlled ancilla atom excited to a Rydberg state. The switching behavior is controlled by the admixture of a small Rydberg fraction to the atomic mirror, and consequently strong dipolar Rydberg interactions with the ancilla. Driving Rabi oscillations on the ancilla atom, we demonstrate coherent control of the transmission and reflection of the array. These results represent a step towards the realization of quantum coherent metasurfaces, the demonstration of controlled atom-photon entanglement and deterministic engineering of quantum states of light.

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Abstract Natural materials typically interact weakly with the magnetic component of light which greatly limits their applications. This has led to the development of artificial metamaterials and metasurfaces. However, natural atoms, where only electric dipole transitions are relevant at optical frequencies, can cooperatively respond to light to form collective excitations with strong magnetic, as well as electric, interactions together with corresponding electric and magnetic mirror reflection properties. By combining the electric and magnetic collective degrees of freedom, we show that ultrathin planar arrays of atoms can be utilized as atomic lenses to focus light to subwavelength spots at the diffraction limit, to steer light at different angles allowing for optical sorting, and as converters between different angular momentum states. The method is based on coherently superposing induced electric and magnetic dipoles to engineer a quantum nanophotonic Huygens’ surface of atoms, giving full 2π phase control over the transmission, with close to zero reflection.