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arXiv:2605.19442

Exact dynamics of a single-photon emitter in front of a mirror

Mateusz Duda, Thomas Hartwell, Daniel Hodgson, Gin Jose, Pieter Kok, Almut Beige

quant-phSubmitted May 19, 2026• Announced May 20, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

Single-photon emitters in nanophotonic structures are a key building block for many photonic devices with quantum technology applications, like quantum sensors and quantum computers. In this paper, we determine the exact dynamics of a single-photon emitter in a one-dimensional waveguide terminated by a partially-transparent mirror interface, by solving the Schrodinger equation via a local-photon approach. In general, the evolution of the emitter is non-Markovian, characterized by a non-exponential decay profile. The decay can resemble an exponential after a time that is much larger than the emitter-mirror round-trip time and becomes exponential in the Markovian limit, where the round-trip time between the emitter and the mirror is neglected. We also derive the spatial and spectral profile of the emitted photon wave packet and demonstrate how its properties are altered by the environment.

Comments
23 pages, 11 figures

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Single-photon emitters in nanophotonic structures are a key building block for many photonic devices with quantum technology applications, like quantum sensors and quantum computers. In this paper, we determine the exact dynamics of a single-photon emitter in a one-dimensional waveguide terminated by a partially-transparent mirror interface, by solving the Schrodinger equation via a local-photon approach. In general, the evolution of the emitter is non-Markovian, characterized by a non-exponential decay profile. The decay can resemble an exponential after a time that is much larger than the emitter-mirror round-trip time and becomes exponential in the Markovian limit, where the round-trip time between the emitter and the mirror is neglected. We also derive the spatial and spectral profile of the emitted photon wave packet and demonstrate how its properties are altered by the environment.
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Non-Markovian dynamics with ΛΛΛ-type atomic systems in a single end photonic waveguide
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An array of initially excited emitters coupled to a one-dimensional waveguide exhibits superradiant decay under the Born-Markov approximation, manifested as a coherent burst of photons in the output field. In this work, we employ tensor-network methods to investigate its non-Markovian dynamics induced by finite time delays in photon exchange among the emitters. We find that the superradiant burst breaks into a structured train of correlated photons, each intensity peak corresponding to a specific photon number. We quantify the emitter-photon and emitter-emitter entanglement generated during this process and show that the latter emerges in the long-time limit, as part of the excitation becomes trapped within the emitters' singlet subspace. We finally consider the decay of the system's most radiant state, the symmetric Dicke state, and show that time delay can lead to decay rates exceeding those predicted by the Markovian approximation.