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Laser & Photonics Review

Quantum‐optical analogies using photonic structures

Stefano Longhi

Published Dec 9, 2008• 718 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract Engineered photonic waveguides have provided in the past decade an extremely rich laboratory tool to visualize with optical waves the classic analogues of a wide variety of coherent quantum phenomena encountered in atomic, molecular or condensed‐matter physics. As compared to quantum systems, optics offers the rather unique advantage of a direct mapping of the wave function evolution in coordinate space by simple fluorescence imaging or scanning tunneling optical microscopy techniques. In this contribution recent theoretical and experimental advances in the field of quantum‐optical analogies are reviewed. Special attention is devoted to some relevant optical analogies based on the use of curved photonic structures, including: coherent destruction of tunneling in driven bistable potentials; coherent population transfer and adiabatic passage in laser‐driven multilevel atomic systems; quantum decay control and Zeno dynamics; electronic Bloch oscillations and Zener tunneling, Anderson localization and dynamic localization in crystalline potentials.

DOI
10.1002/lpor.200810055

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An experimental demonstration of a classical analogue of the quantum Zeno effect for light waves propagating in engineered arrays of tunneling-coupled optical waveguides is reported. Quantitative mapping of the flow of light, based on scanning tunneling optical microscopy, clearly demonstrates that the escape dynamics of light in an optical waveguide side-coupled to a tight-binding continuum is slowed down when projective measurements, mimicked by sequential interruptions of the decay, are performed on the system.
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Abstract Realizing optical analogs of quantum phenomena in atomic, molecular, or condensed matter physics has underpinned a range of photonic technologies. Rabi splitting is a quantum phenomenon induced by a strong interaction between two quantum states, and its optical analogs are of fundamental importance for the manipulation of light–matter interactions with wide applications in optoelectronics and nonlinear optics. Here, purely optical analogs of Rabi splitting in integrated waveguide‐coupled resonators formed by two Sagnac interferometers are proposed and theoretically investigated. By tailoring the coherent mode interference, the spectral response of the devices is engineered to achieve optical analogs of Rabi splitting with anti‐crossing behavior in the resonances. Transitions between the Lorentzian, Fano, and Rabi splitting spectral lineshapes are achieved by simply changing the phase shift along the waveguide connecting the two Sagnac interferometers, revealing interesting physical insights about the evolution of different optical analogs of quantum phenomena. The impact of the device's structural parameters is also analyzed to facilitate device design and optimization. These results suggest a new way for realizing optical analogs of Rabi splitting based on integrated waveguide‐coupled resonators, paving the way for many potential applications that manipulate light–matter interactions in the strong coupling regime.