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Physical Review A

Atomic lenses and ideal single-photon detections

Xingmin Li, Lingyun Xie, L. F. Wei

Published Dec 28, 2015• 15 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Photon detector is one of the key units in the integrated optical devices. Due to the weak atom-photon interaction, the detection efficiency of a single photon by a bare atom (as a photon detector aside the waveguide) is relatively low (the most reachable value is shown as $50%$, which has being approached experimentally). In order to overcome such a limit, a pair of spatially separated two-level atoms (the photon lenses) with adjustable inflection and transmission coefficients of the photon are introduced to generate an atomic cavity, in which the detected probability of the waveguide photon by the single detector can be significantly enhanced (even reach to $100%$ under certain conditions). The proposal is demonstrated specifically by a circuit QED system for highly effective detection of a single microwave photon.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.92.063840

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Photon detector is one of the key units in the integrated optical devices. Due to the weak atom-photon interaction, the detection efficiency of a single photon by a bare atom (as a photon detector aside the waveguide) is relatively low (the most reachable value is shown as 5050%50, which has being approached experimentally). In order to overcome such a limit, a pair of spatially separated two-level atoms (the photon lenses) with adjustable inflection and transmission coefficients of the photon are introduced to generate an atomic cavity, in which the detected probability of the waveguide photon by the single detector can be significantly enhanced (even reach to 100100%100 under certain conditions). The proposal is demonstrated specifically by a circuit QED system for highly effective detection of a single microwave photon.
Single-photon detection plays important roles in implementing desired quantum information processing. In this work, we propose a single itinerant photon detector based on absorption by two interacting atoms coupling to a waveguide, which can work in the microwave regime. Both the cases of giant and small atoms are considered. Each atom is modeled as a three-level system, with only one transition coupling to the waveguide. Our analysis reveals that, for a single atom coupled to the waveguide, the maximum detection probability is intrinsically limited to 0.5. This limit, however, can be lifted under perfectly chiral coupling, where unit detection probability becomes achievable. For the non-chiral case, we show that when a giant molecule consisting of two giant atoms with direct interaction couples to the waveguide, the single-photon detection probability can reach the ideal value of 1. Furthermore, we extend the model to the regime of small atoms and show that perfect single-photon detection remains attainable by appropriately tuning the direct coupling strength and the interatomic separation. These results provide a feasible route toward high-efficiency microwave single-photon detection based on engineered atom-waveguide interactions.
In order to apply all ideas from quantum optics to the field of quantum circuits, one of the missing ingredients is a high-efficiency single-photon detector. In this work we propose a design for such a device which successfully reaches 100% efficiency with only one absorber. Our photon detector consists of a three-level system (a phase qubit) coupled to a semi-infinite one-dimensional waveguide (a microwave transmission line) which performs highly efficient photodetection in a simplified manner as compared to previous proposals. Using the tools of quantum optics we extensively study the scattering properties of realistic wave packets against this device, thereby computing the efficiency of the detector. We find that the detector has many operating modes, can detect detuned photons, is robust against design imperfections, and can be made broadband by using more than one absorbing element in the design. Many of these ideas could be translated to other single-mode photonic or plasmonic waveguides interacting with three-level atoms or quantum dots.
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The realization of a high-efficiency microwave single photon detector is a long-standing problem in the field of microwave quantum optics. Here, we propose a quantum nondemolition, high-efficiency photon detector that can readily be implemented in present state-of-the-art circuit quantum electrodynamics. This scheme works in a continuous fashion, gaining information about the photon arrival time as well as about its presence. The key insight that allows us to circumvent the usual limitations imposed by measurement backaction is the use of long-lived dark states in a small ensemble of inhomogeneous artificial atoms to increase the interaction time between the photon and the measurement device. Using realistic system parameters, we show that large detection fidelities are possible.
High-efficiency single photon detection is an interesting problem for many areas of physics, including low temperature measurement, quantum information science and particle physics. For optical photons, there are many examples of devices capable of detecting single photons with high efficiency. However reliable single photon detection of microwaves is very difficult, principally due to their low energy. In this paper, we present the theory of a cascade amplifier operating in the microwave regime that has an optimal quantum efficiency of 93%. The device uses a microwave photon to trigger the stimulated emission of a sequence of atoms where the energy transition is readily detectable. A detailed description of the detector's operation and some discussion of the potential limitations of the detector are presented.
Single-photon detection is an essential component in many experiments in quantum optics, but it remains challenging in the microwave domain.We realize a quantum nondemolition detector for propagating microwave photons and characterize its performance using a single-photon source.To this aim, we implement a cavity-assisted conditional phase gate between the incoming photon and a superconducting artificial atom.By reading out the state of this atom in a single shot, we reach an external (internal) photon-detection fidelity of 50% (71%), limited by transmission efficiency between the source and the detector (75%) and the coherence properties of the qubit.By characterizing the coherence and average number of photons in the field reflected off the detector, we demonstrate its quantum nondemolition nature.We envisage applications in generating heralded remote entanglement between qubits and for realizing logic gates between propagating microwave photons.