Long-range coupling of single atoms mediated by metallic nano-wires and metamaterials: collective decay rate modifications and level shifts
David Dzsotjan, Michael Fleischhauer
We investigate the long-range coupling of individual atoms coupled to plasmon modes of metallic nanostructures. Placing a pair of emitters along a thin metallic wire, we observe a strong, wire- mediated long-range interaction between the emitters. As a result, super- and subradiance can occur over distances large compared to the resonant wavelength. The states with enhanced or suppressed decay rate are the symmetric or anti-symmetric single-excitation states. Coupling more atoms to a wire network with a nontrivial coupling topology leads to interesting entangled subradiant states of the system. A similar long-range superradiance effect can be observed when two emitters are coupled by a metamaterial slab (also known as a perfect lens) having a refractive index n=-1. Besides the modification of decay rates, dipole-dipole shifts enter due to the plasmon-mediated interaction. Based on the superradiance effect, we propose setups for building a two-qubit quantum phase gate for quantum emitters coupled by a nanowire and a perfect lens, respectively, where the qubits are strongly interacting and individually addressable at the same time.
Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•Oct 9, 2012•0 citations