We present a theoretical analysis of the spectral features of coherent light pulses traveling in a one-dimensional waveguide with an embedded two-level quantum system. In particular, we clarify and explain the relevant physical mechanisms that lead to a rich variety of distinct features in the spectrum of the scattered light. This includes the phenomenon of discrete steps in the transmitted intensity as a function of the excitation amplitude, frequency mixing as a consequence of cascaded nonlinear processes, and the role of atom-photon bound states.
We present a theoretical analysis of the spectral features of coherent light pulses traveling in a one-dimensional waveguide with an embedded two-level quantum system. In particular, we clarify and explain the relevant physical mechanisms that lead to a rich variety of distinct features in the spectrum of the scattered light. This includes the phenomenon of discrete steps in the transmitted intensity as a function of the excitation amplitude, frequency mixing as a consequence of cascaded nonlinear processes, and the role of atom-photon bound states.
Abstract We investigate the quantum dynamics of two two-level atoms coupled to a one-dimensional resonator waveguide. Using the resolvent method, we obtain exact analytical solutions for the atomic evolution and photon scattering processes within the single-excitation subspace. The photonic band structure of the waveguide dictates distinctly different dynamical regimes. For atomic frequencies at the band center and small interatomic separation, the system exhibits Markovian decay and relaxes into a steady-state subradiant Bell entangled state. In contrast, near the band edge, non-Markovian dynamics dominates, leading to the formation of atom-photon bound states that mediate persistent, coherent interactions between the atoms. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the atomic detuning and separation provide effective control over singlephoton scattering, enabling a tunable quantum interface.
We theoretically investigate quantum Rabi oscillations in a system consisting of a two-level atom (qubit) strongly coupled to a one-dimensional open waveguide. In contrast to conventional cavity quantum electrodynamics, the qubit interacts with a continuum of propagating modes, which gives rise to fundamentally different dynamical behavior. Within the rotating-wave approximation, we express the multimode Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian in terms of collective bosonic operators and show that the system possesses two integrals of motion, enabling an exact diagonalization of the Hamiltonian in the single-excitation subspace. We show that for a strongly interacting qubit-photon system, the dynamics are captured by a reduced two-level model. In this framework, each level is defined as the product of the atomic excited state and a specific field mode, which takes the form of a multiphoton Fock-like state. In this picture, the Rabi oscillations represent a collective phenomenon corresponding to oscillations between multiphoton states differing by a single photon. We then extend our analysis to multiphoton processes in which the initial field is a coherent state with a continuous spectrum. In this case, the Rabi frequency is shown to be sensitive to the spectral profile of the function that generates the coherent state.
The dynamics of a coherent wave packet traveling through a two-mode waveguide, coupled to a cavity embedded with a two-state quantum system, is analyzed. The guided coherent wave transmission and reflection coefficients, as well as the atom and cavity excitation amplitudes, are solved exactly via a real-space approach. We show that a two-point waveguide coupled to a Rydberg-atom hybrid system can tailor the waveform of the incident coherent pulse wave into other forms by controlling the coupling strength tuning between the waveguide, the cavity, and the atom. Tailoring involves modifying properties such as amplitude, phase, or spectral content based on the quantum system interaction. This phenomenon is different from the situation of the plane wave input, where the transmitted and reflected waves are the plane waves and the same to the incident one. Consequently, we provide an effective method that can be used to tailor pulse-wave propagation to enhance efficient quantum sensitivity in the field of ultrafast photonics devices.
We present a detailed quantum theory and simulations of few-photon Fock state pulses interacting with a two-level system (TLS) in an open waveguide-QED system. For a rectangular pulse shape, we present an exact temporal scattering theory to derive analytical expressions for the TLS population, using one-photon and two-photon pulses, for both chiral and symmetric emitters. We also derive the stationary (long-time) and time-dependent spectra for one-photon excitation, and show how these differ at a fundamental level when considering TLS population effects. Numerically, we also present matrix product state (MPS) simulations, which allow us to compute more general photon correlation functions for arbitrary quantum pulses, and we use this approach to also show results for Gaussian quantum pulses and to confirm the accuracy of our analytical solutions. In the case of a chiral TLS, we show how a one-photon pulse, of any temporal shape, yields a transmitted long-time spectrum that is identical to the input pulse, despite significant TLS population effects. However, the dynamical spectra and spectral intensity show rich population effects, allowing for their detection in spectroscopic experiments. We also show the striking differences between one-photon and two-photon excitation, where the latter shows clear signatures of nonlinear saturation effects. In addition, we demonstrate how significant population TLS dynamics also occur for pulses that are relatively long compared to the radiative decay time (showing that a weak excitation approximation, which neglects finite TLS population effects, cannot be made) and investigate the population signatures, nonlinear features and dynamical behavior as a function of quantum pulse length.
We present a time-dependent quantum calculation of the scattering of a few-photon pulse on a single atom. The photon wave packet is assumed to propagate in a transversely strongly confined geometry, which ensures strong atom-light coupling and allows a quasi-one-dimensional treatment. The amplitude and phase of the transmitted, reflected, and transversely scattered part of the wave packet strongly depend on the pulse length (bandwidth) and energy. For a transverse mode size of the order of ${\ensuremath{\lambda}}^{2},$ we find nonlinear behavior for a few photons already, or even for a single photon. In a second step we study the collision of two such wave packets at the atomic site and find striking differences between the Fock state and coherent state wave packets of the same photon number.
We present a detailed analysis of the dynamics of photon transport in waveguiding systems in the presence of a two-level system. In these systems, quantum interference effects generate a strong effective optical nonlinearity on the few-photon level. We clarify the relevant physical mechanisms through an appropriate quantum many-body approach. Based on this, we demonstrate that a single-particle photon-atom bound state with an energy outside the band can be excited via multiparticle scattering processes. We further show that these trapping effects are robust and, therefore, will be useful for the control of photon entanglement in solid-state based quantum-optical systems.