Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2608.26427

Emergent non-Markovianity in time-delayed waveguide QED

Debsuvra Mukhopadhyay, Stuart J. Masson

quant-phphysics.opticsSubmitted Aug 26, 2026• Announced Aug 28, 2026• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Quantum systems are invariably coupled to a surrounding environment. A common theoretical method to simplify the problem is to trace over the environment under a Markov approximation, which assumes that the environment holds no memory over the timescales that the system evolves under. In interacting many-body systems, it is often not trivial to extract which of the multiple collective timescales are relevant. We consider a time-delayed waveguide QED setup with a single excitation. By fixing the maximum propagation time and increasing the number of emitters, we show that, even for small delay times, collective effects are sufficient to cause non-Markovianity. The impact of memory is intrinsically state-dependent. For superradiant states, the relevant system timescale is the superradiant lifetime while the relevant bath timescale is the end-to-end delay time. For subradiant states, both timescales depend on the structure of the specific state. Our results demonstrate the importance of prudently making Markov approximations in quantum many-body systems, and highlight potential pitfalls to avoid in scaling up quantum devices to large system sizes.

Comments
7+5 pages, 5+2 figures

Related papers

Superradiant decay in non-Markovian Waveguide Quantum Electrodynamics

Rosa Lucia Capurso, Giuseppe Calajó, Simone Montangero +5 more

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.

quant-pharXiv:2511.22332•Communications Physics•Nov 28, 2025•2 citations

Suppression of Local Decay in non-Markovian Waveguide QED

Yuan Liu, Linhan Lin, Hong‐Bo Sun

Atoms coupled to the same environment interfere with each other to yield super- or sub-radiance. Specifically, atoms in subradiant states are promising candidates for long-lifetime qubits and quantum memory because of the immunity to the common environment. However, subradiant states can still be influenced by local environments, which are incoherent for different atoms and cannot be canceled out through interference. Here we propose to break this limit by preparing a waveguide QED system in the non-Markovian regime, where the ultra-small decay rate arises because of the retarded interaction. We further show that similar effect occurs spontaneously by self-interference and can be stressed by cooperative coupling.

arXiv:2407.06744•Jul 9, 2024•0 citations

Time-delayed collective dynamics in waveguide QED and bosonic quantum networks

Carlos Barahona-Pascual, Hong Jiang, Alan C. Santos +1 more

Abstract This work introduces a theoretical framework to model the collective dynamics of quantum emitters in highly non-Markovian environments, interacting through the exchange of photons with significant retardations. The formalism consists on a set of coupled delay differential equations for the emitter’s raising/lowering operators σ i ± , supplemented by input–output relations that describe the field mediating the interactions. These equations capture the dynamics of both linear (bosonic) and nonlinear (two-level) emitter arrays. It is exact in some limits—e.g. bosonic emitters or generic systems with up to one collective excitation—and can be integrated to provide accurate results for larger numbers of photons. These equations support a study of collective spontaneous emission of emitter arrays in open waveguide-QED environments. This study uncovers an effect we term cascaded super- and sub-radiance, characterized by light-cone-limited propagation and increasingly correlated photon emission across distant emitters. The collective nature of this dynamics for two-level systems is evident both in the enhancement of collective emission rates, as well as in a superradiant burst with a faster than linear growth. While these effects should be observable in existing circuit QED devices or slight generalizations thereof, the formalism put forward in this work can be extended to model other systems such as network of quantum emitters or the generation of correlated photon states.

arXiv:2505.02642•Quantum Science and Technology•Nov 21, 2025•2 citations

Non-Markovian exceptional points in waveguide quantum electrodynamics

Stefano Longhi

Spontaneous emission of a quantum emitter, such as an excited atom, is a fundamental process in quantum electrodynamics (QED), typically associated with exponential decay to the ground state accompanied by irreversible photon emission. This simple Markovian picture, however, is profoundly modified in the presence of time-delayed feedback, structured continua, or cooperative emission, as occurs when an emitter radiates in front of a mirror, when several emitters radiate collectively, or in the case of a giant atom. In such regimes, strong non-Markovian dynamics arise from photon reabsorption and interference effects, leading to pronounced deviations from exponential decay. Here we demonstrate the emergence of exceptional points (EPs) in these highly non-Markovian waveguide-QED environments, i.e., non-Markovian EPs. These EPs appear directly in the relaxation dynamics as sharp transitions to oscillatory behavior, manifested by the appearance of real zeros in the excited-state amplitude. We analyze in detail the spontaneous emission of giant atoms with two or more coupling points, highlighting the mechanisms leading to non-Markovian EPs, and show that similar phenomena arise in other waveguide-QED settings, such as the collective spontaneous emission of spatially separated point-like emitters. Our results reveal waveguide-QED systems as experimentally accessible platforms for realizing and exploring non-Markovian EP physics.

quant-pharXiv:2604.05473•Advanced Quantum Technologies•Apr 8, 2026•0 citations

Suppression of local decay rate through energy quantum confinement effect in non-Markovian waveguide QED

Yuan Liu, Hong‐Bo Sun, Linhan Lin

Abstract Waveguide quantum electrodynamics (QED) system manifests an ideal platform for studying many-body physics. When multiple emitters are coupled to a common waveguide, subradiant states may arise because of the waveguide-mediated interaction, leading to a long lifetime because of their immunity to the waveguide mode-induced dissipation. However, they can still be influenced by local environments, which are incoherent for different emitters and cannot be canceled out through interference. Herein, a new mechanism termed energy quantum confinement effect (EQCE) is proposed in a non-Markovian waveguide QED system to suppress the local dissipation. The energy quantum is confined in the waveguide by emitters, suppressing spontaneous decay of the emitters. The EQCE makes the system partly free from local dissipation of emitters, leading to a total decay rate lower than the local decay rate. We further show that similar effect occurs spontaneously by self-interference and can be stressed by cooperative coupling, relaxing the requirement for initializing the emitters into a remotely entangled state.

PhotoniX•Mar 31, 2025•3 citations

Exact Markovian and non-Markovian time dynamics in waveguide QED: collective interactions, bound states in continuum, superradiance and subradiance

Fatih Dinç, İlke Ercan, Agata M. Brańczyk

We develop a formalism for modelling exact time dynamics in waveguide quantum electrodynamics (QED) using the real-space approach. The formalism does not assume any specific configuration of emitters and allows the study of Markovian dynamics fully analytically and non-Markovian dynamics semi-analytically with a simple numerical integration step. We use the formalism to study subradiance, superradiance and bound states in continuum. We discuss new phenomena such as subdivision of collective decay rates into symmetric and anti-symmetric subsets and non-Markovian superradiance effects that can lead to collective decay stronger than Dicke superradiance. We also discuss possible applications such as pulse-shaping and coherent absorption. We thus broaden the range of applicability of real-space approaches beyond steady-state photon transport.

arXiv:1809.05164•Quantum•Dec 9, 2019•49 citations
Quantum systems are invariably coupled to a surrounding environment. A common theoretical method to simplify the problem is to trace over the environment under a Markov approximation, which assumes that the environment holds no memory over the timescales that the system evolves under. In interacting many-body systems, it is often not trivial to extract which of the multiple collective timescales are relevant. We consider a time-delayed waveguide QED setup with a single excitation. By fixing the maximum propagation time and increasing the number of emitters, we show that, even for small delay times, collective effects are sufficient to cause non-Markovianity. The impact of memory is intrinsically state-dependent. For superradiant states, the relevant system timescale is the superradiant lifetime while the relevant bath timescale is the end-to-end delay time. For subradiant states, both timescales depend on the structure of the specific state. Our results demonstrate the importance of prudently making Markov approximations in quantum many-body systems, and highlight potential pitfalls to avoid in scaling up quantum devices to large system sizes.
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.
Atoms coupled to the same environment interfere with each other to yield super- or sub-radiance. Specifically, atoms in subradiant states are promising candidates for long-lifetime qubits and quantum memory because of the immunity to the common environment. However, subradiant states can still be influenced by local environments, which are incoherent for different atoms and cannot be canceled out through interference. Here we propose to break this limit by preparing a waveguide QED system in the non-Markovian regime, where the ultra-small decay rate arises because of the retarded interaction. We further show that similar effect occurs spontaneously by self-interference and can be stressed by cooperative coupling.
Abstract This work introduces a theoretical framework to model the collective dynamics of quantum emitters in highly non-Markovian environments, interacting through the exchange of photons with significant retardations. The formalism consists on a set of coupled delay differential equations for the emitter’s raising/lowering operators σ i ± , supplemented by input–output relations that describe the field mediating the interactions. These equations capture the dynamics of both linear (bosonic) and nonlinear (two-level) emitter arrays. It is exact in some limits—e.g. bosonic emitters or generic systems with up to one collective excitation—and can be integrated to provide accurate results for larger numbers of photons. These equations support a study of collective spontaneous emission of emitter arrays in open waveguide-QED environments. This study uncovers an effect we term cascaded super- and sub-radiance, characterized by light-cone-limited propagation and increasingly correlated photon emission across distant emitters. The collective nature of this dynamics for two-level systems is evident both in the enhancement of collective emission rates, as well as in a superradiant burst with a faster than linear growth. While these effects should be observable in existing circuit QED devices or slight generalizations thereof, the formalism put forward in this work can be extended to model other systems such as network of quantum emitters or the generation of correlated photon states.
Spontaneous emission of a quantum emitter, such as an excited atom, is a fundamental process in quantum electrodynamics (QED), typically associated with exponential decay to the ground state accompanied by irreversible photon emission. This simple Markovian picture, however, is profoundly modified in the presence of time-delayed feedback, structured continua, or cooperative emission, as occurs when an emitter radiates in front of a mirror, when several emitters radiate collectively, or in the case of a giant atom. In such regimes, strong non-Markovian dynamics arise from photon reabsorption and interference effects, leading to pronounced deviations from exponential decay. Here we demonstrate the emergence of exceptional points (EPs) in these highly non-Markovian waveguide-QED environments, i.e., non-Markovian EPs. These EPs appear directly in the relaxation dynamics as sharp transitions to oscillatory behavior, manifested by the appearance of real zeros in the excited-state amplitude. We analyze in detail the spontaneous emission of giant atoms with two or more coupling points, highlighting the mechanisms leading to non-Markovian EPs, and show that similar phenomena arise in other waveguide-QED settings, such as the collective spontaneous emission of spatially separated point-like emitters. Our results reveal waveguide-QED systems as experimentally accessible platforms for realizing and exploring non-Markovian EP physics.
Abstract Waveguide quantum electrodynamics (QED) system manifests an ideal platform for studying many-body physics. When multiple emitters are coupled to a common waveguide, subradiant states may arise because of the waveguide-mediated interaction, leading to a long lifetime because of their immunity to the waveguide mode-induced dissipation. However, they can still be influenced by local environments, which are incoherent for different emitters and cannot be canceled out through interference. Herein, a new mechanism termed energy quantum confinement effect (EQCE) is proposed in a non-Markovian waveguide QED system to suppress the local dissipation. The energy quantum is confined in the waveguide by emitters, suppressing spontaneous decay of the emitters. The EQCE makes the system partly free from local dissipation of emitters, leading to a total decay rate lower than the local decay rate. We further show that similar effect occurs spontaneously by self-interference and can be stressed by cooperative coupling, relaxing the requirement for initializing the emitters into a remotely entangled state.
We develop a formalism for modelling exact time dynamics in waveguide quantum electrodynamics (QED) using the real-space approach. The formalism does not assume any specific configuration of emitters and allows the study of Markovian dynamics fully analytically and non-Markovian dynamics semi-analytically with a simple numerical integration step. We use the formalism to study subradiance, superradiance and bound states in continuum. We discuss new phenomena such as subdivision of collective decay rates into symmetric and anti-symmetric subsets and non-Markovian superradiance effects that can lead to collective decay stronger than Dicke superradiance. We also discuss possible applications such as pulse-shaping and coherent absorption. We thus broaden the range of applicability of real-space approaches beyond steady-state photon transport.