We study different phenomena associated with single-photon propagation in optical cavities coupled through optical fibers. We first address the issue of storing and delaying single-photon wavepackets in an array of microcavities. This has possible applications in developing reliable and efficient quantum repeaters that will be utilized \n \nin building long distance quantum networks. Second, we investigate a Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) type of interference between two photons that are produced in two coupled atom-cavity systems. The HOM effect in this setup can test the degree of indistinguishability between photons when they are stored inside cavities. This part of the dissertation also includes the study of entanglement between atoms, cavities and atom-cavity systems induced by the photons. Finally, we focus on single-photon interactions with a tiny movable mirror in the context of quantum optomechanics. We investigate how the mechanical motion of the mirror leaves its imprints on the optical spectrum of the photon \n \nThis dissertation includes previously published and unpublished co-authored material.
We study different phenomena associated with single-photon propagation in optical cavities coupled through optical fibers. We first address the issue of storing and delaying single-photon wavepackets in an array of microcavities. This has possible applications in developing reliable and efficient quantum repeaters that will be utilized \n \nin building long distance quantum networks. Second, we investigate a Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) type of interference between two photons that are produced in two coupled atom-cavity systems. The HOM effect in this setup can test the degree of indistinguishability between photons when they are stored inside cavities. This part of the dissertation also includes the study of entanglement between atoms, cavities and atom-cavity systems induced by the photons. Finally, we focus on single-photon interactions with a tiny movable mirror in the context of quantum optomechanics. We investigate how the mechanical motion of the mirror leaves its imprints on the optical spectrum of the photon \n \nThis dissertation includes previously published and unpublished co-authored material.
Two-photon interference effects, such as the Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) effect, can be used to characterize to what extent two photons are identical. Identical photons are necessary for both linear optics quantum computing and single-photon quantum cryptography. We study here how storage and delay of photons in coupled cavity arrays, which inevitably will lead to changes in the photons' spectral and temporal profiles, affects their HOM interference. In addition we consider various types of entanglement that occur naturally in such a context.
We present a quantum jump/trajectory analysis of the two-photon interference phenomenon in the context of the Hong–Ou–Mandel (HOM) effect. In particular, we consider the standard setup of the HOM effect, which consists of two-photon sources firing single photons from opposite sides of a 50/50 beam splitter and two perfect detectors placed at the output ports to record photodetection events. For single-photon sources, we consider two special cases: (1) two excited two-level atoms and (2) two atom–cavity setups with initially present single photons in both cavities. For both cases, we report analytic results as well as quantum jump-based Monte Carlo simulations to demonstrate the signatures of these single-photon sources on the HOM effect under different working conditions (e.g., strong- and weak-coupling regimes of cavity quantum electrodynamics). The HOM effect offers applications in the areas of linear optics quantum computing, as well as in protocols that test the indistinguishability of single-photon sources.
My Ph.D dissertation is on the fundamental effects in optomechanical systems (OMS) and their important applications. The OMS are based on the possibility of the mechanical motion produced by few photons incident on the mechanical device. This dissertation presents several applications of the OMS in the area of storage of light in long-lived phonons, single mode optomechanical Ramsey interferometry, and generation of large amount of squeezing in the output radiation. The long-lived phonons can be monitored and controlled via optical means as was experimentally demonstrated. To show this, I develop the theory of transient electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). For further applications like state transfer, especially over very different frequency regimes, I consider double-cavity OMS, where the two cavities can correspond to different spectral domains, yet the state transfer is possible via phonons. The state transfer is based on a new effect, electromagnetically induced absorption (EIA), where one uses a second control field from the other cavity to produce an absorption peak inside the EIT window. All these involve the interference of various path ways via which a final state is reached. The following chapter shows how Fano-like interference can arise in OMS. A Fano asymmetry parameter for OMS was defined.
We introduce the basic concepts and characteristic properties of single-photon emitters based on resonator effects in optical cavities, and provide a review of the most prominent implementations. First we discuss the elementary principles of cavity quantum electrodynamics, which determine how single quantum systems couple to the quantised field modes of optical resonators, and then show how to exploit these principles in order to generate single photons on demand. Furthermore, we elucidate how to study the properties of the photons, namely their singleness and their spectral characteristics. In particular, it is explained how to use a Hanbury-Brown and Twiss interferometer to determine whether the photons arrive one-by-one, and how to probe their mutual indistinguishability with two-photon interference experiments of the Hong–Ou–Mandel type. Finally, we present a classification scheme applicable to most cavity-based photon emitters realised to date. This scheme allows us to assess the pros and cons of the most significant approaches – in particular with regard to photonic quantum computing and quantum communication, which are among the most promising applications to date.
We investigate the two-photon scattering properties of a Jaynes-Cummings (JC) nonlinearity consisting of a two-level system (qubit) interacting with a single-mode cavity, which is coupled to two waveguides, each containing a single incident photon wave packet initially. In this scattering setup, we study the interplay between the Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) effect arising due to quantum interference and effective photon-photon interactions induced by the presence of the qubit. We calculate the two-photon scattering matrix of this system analytically and identify signatures of interference and interaction in the second-order auto- and cross-correlation functions of the scattered photons. In the dispersive regime, when qubit and cavity are far detuned from each other, we find that the JC nonlinearity can be used as an almost linear, in situ tunable beam splitter giving rise to ideal Hong-Ou-Mandel interference, generating a highly path-entangled two-photon NOON state of the scattered photons. The latter manifests itself in strongly suppressed waveguide cross-correlations and Poissonian photon number statistics in each waveguide. If the two-level system and the cavity are on resonance, the JC nonlinearity strongly modifies the ideal HOM conditions leading to a smaller degree of path entanglement and sub-Poissonian photon number statistics. In the latter regime, we find that photon blockade is associated with bunched autocorrelations in both waveguides, while a two-polariton resonance can lead to bunched as well as antibunched correlations.
Coupling between quantum emitters and modes of light is foundational to studies of quantum systems. Coherent interactions between matter and light have greatly advanced the development of quantum technologies. When an ensemble of atoms interacts with light that is confined within a cavity---a resonator for photons---light also mediates atom-atom interactions, leading to collective phenomena that cannot be extrapolated from microscopic behaviors. Understanding how interactions among quantum particles lead to macroscopic phenomena, such as phase transitions and breaking of symmetries, remains a challenge in modern physics. In this dissertation, I present results addressing this challenge in the context of mesoscopic arrays of optical-tweezer-trapped atoms interfaced with a high-finesse optical cavity. In particular, the physics we investigate arises from the collective scattering of light. Utilizing the ability to place atoms with nanometer-scale precision, we engineer superradiant and subradiant states, where control over interference of the emission from multiple atoms leads to collectively enhanced or suppressed amounts of scattered light. Building on this work, we investigate the emergence of optomechanical self-organization, mediated by superradiance in the cavity electromagnetic field. By coupling atoms to the same cavity mode, the atoms exert forces on one another through the exchange of photons, leading them to autonomously order themselves spatially. We characterize mesoscopic fluctuations and their effect on symmetry-breaking dynamics associated with self-organization. Finally, we extend this framework to theoretically investigate how the phase of the atom-cavity coupling can be altered to generate higher symmetries. Our analysis reveals first-order phase transitions and instabilities induced by non-reciprocal forces. Altogether, this work establishes a path towards realizing mesoscopic systems of complex phases of matter in cavity quantum electrodynamics with unprecedented programmability.