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A computational electromagnetic framework for waveguide quantum electrodynamics

Aiyin Liu

Published Nov 29, 2016• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

In this thesis, a framework for cavity and waveguide quantum electrodynamic (CQED, and WQED, respectively) problems is presented. The essence of this framework is to use the dyadic Green's function (DGF) to obtain the local density of states (LDOS) and radiative shift of a two-level system (TLS) embedded in an arbitrary electromagnetic continuum. The dressed states of the system are also found using a method of direct diagonalization of operators. The physics and essential features of the dressed states are related to the DGF. The dynamics of the system are solved in connection with the resolvent formalism of quantum scattering theory. The work presented here represent the first attempts in this important topic of study. This thesis accomplishes the full solution of the problem of a two-level atom coupled to arbitrary lossless electromagnetic environments. The cases of transmission line, hollow rectangular waveguide and free space are considered. At the same time, an attempt to gather much of the required background for this highly interdisciplinary topic is made, in particular, the quantization of an arbitrary lossless waveguide is presented in detail, which to the best of our knowledge, has not appeared in the literature. More detailed investigations will follow in a Ph.D. dissertation.

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Aiyin Liu, Weng Cho Chew

The use of classical dyadic Green's function (DGF) in waveguide quantum electrodynamic (QED) calculations is shown. The nature of the dressed states in the system is discussed to extract the essential physics in single photon scattering from two level artificial atoms in general waveguides.

•Jun 1, 2016•1 citation

Dressed Atom Fields and Dressed States in Waveguide Quantum Electrodynamics

Aiyin Y. Liu, Weng Cho Chew

The fully quantized problem of a dipole atom coupled to transverse electric fields is solved for both simple harmonic and two-level atoms in a general lossless electromagnetic environment. The method employed is a direct factorization of the Hamiltonian in terms of coupled excitations of atom and fields. Time evolution of the system is considered with emphasis on the effect of an atom-photon bound state. The rectangular waveguide is used as an example to illustrate the predicted behavior.

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Atom-Field Non-Markovian Dynamics in Open and Dissipative Systems: An Efficient Memory-Kernel Approach Linked to Dyadic Greens Function and CEM Treatments

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In this work, we present a numerical framework for modeling single photon emission from a two level system in open and dissipative systems beyond the Markovian approximation. The method can be readily integrated into standard computational electromagnetic (CEM) solvers such as finite difference time domain (FDTD) and finite element method (FEM). We numerically verify the completeness of boundary and medium assisted modes in the modified Langevin noise formalism by reconstructing the imaginary part of the dyadic Greens function through modal expansion in three dimensions. This reconstruction enables a first principles description of atom field interaction via the multi mode Jaynes Cummings model in open and dissipative environments. Within the single excitation manifold, we show that the memory kernel of a two level system is determined by the imaginary part of the Greens function, implying that radiative modes alone govern the relevant dynamics. The proposed framework thus provides a Greens function based approach for describing atomic population and single photon dynamics, directly compatible with Maxwell solvers. We then present concrete strategies for implementing our method in both FDTD and FEM frameworks, demonstrating its practical applicability. We further verify numerical results for a lossy Lorentz Drude type mirror, including both the case of a TLS near a finite sized metallic mirror and that of a TLS centered in a Fabry Perot cavity. This work establishes a rigorous foundation for incorporating quantum emitter dynamics into computational electromagnetics, thereby extending classical solvers toward quantum light matter interactions.

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In this thesis, a framework for cavity and waveguide quantum electrodynamic (CQED, and WQED, respectively) problems is presented. The essence of this framework is to use the dyadic Green's function (DGF) to obtain the local density of states (LDOS) and radiative shift of a two-level system (TLS) embedded in an arbitrary electromagnetic continuum. The dressed states of the system are also found using a method of direct diagonalization of operators. The physics and essential features of the dressed states are related to the DGF. The dynamics of the system are solved in connection with the resolvent formalism of quantum scattering theory. The work presented here represent the first attempts in this important topic of study. This thesis accomplishes the full solution of the problem of a two-level atom coupled to arbitrary lossless electromagnetic environments. The cases of transmission line, hollow rectangular waveguide and free space are considered. At the same time, an attempt to gather much of the required background for this highly interdisciplinary topic is made, in particular, the quantization of an arbitrary lossless waveguide is presented in detail, which to the best of our knowledge, has not appeared in the literature. More detailed investigations will follow in a Ph.D. dissertation.
In this work, we present a numerical framework for modeling single photon emission from a two level system in open and dissipative systems beyond the Markovian approximation. The method can be readily integrated into standard computational electromagnetic (CEM) solvers such as finite difference time domain (FDTD) and finite element method (FEM). We numerically verify the completeness of boundary and medium assisted modes in the modified Langevin noise formalism by reconstructing the imaginary part of the dyadic Greens function through modal expansion in three dimensions. This reconstruction enables a first principles description of atom field interaction via the multi mode Jaynes Cummings model in open and dissipative environments. Within the single excitation manifold, we show that the memory kernel of a two level system is determined by the imaginary part of the Greens function, implying that radiative modes alone govern the relevant dynamics. The proposed framework thus provides a Greens function based approach for describing atomic population and single photon dynamics, directly compatible with Maxwell solvers. We then present concrete strategies for implementing our method in both FDTD and FEM frameworks, demonstrating its practical applicability. We further verify numerical results for a lossy Lorentz Drude type mirror, including both the case of a TLS near a finite sized metallic mirror and that of a TLS centered in a Fabry Perot cavity. This work establishes a rigorous foundation for incorporating quantum emitter dynamics into computational electromagnetics, thereby extending classical solvers toward quantum light matter interactions.
Strong coupling between light and matter has been demonstrated both in classical cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) systems and in more recent circuit-QED experiments. This enables the generation of strong nonlinear photon-photon interactions at the single-photon level, which is of great interest for the observation of quantum nonlinear optical phenomena, the control of light quanta in quantum information protocols such as quantum networking, as well as the study of strongly correlated quantum many-body systems using light. Recently, strong coupling has also been realized in a variety of one-dimensional (1D) waveguide- QED experimental systems, which in turn makes them promising candidates for quantum information processing. Compared to cavity-QED systems, there are two new features in waveguide-QED: the existence of a continuum of states and the restricted 1D phase space, which together bring in new physical effects, such as the bound-state effects. This thesis consists of two parts: 1) understanding the fundamental interaction between local quantum objects, such as two-level systems and four-level systems, and photons confined in the waveguide; 2) exploring its implications in quantum information processing, in particular photonic quantum computation and quantum key distribution. First, we demonstrate that by coupling a two-level system (TLS) or three/fourlevel system to a 1D continuum, strongly-correlated photons can be generated inside the waveguide. Photon-photon bound states, which decay exponentially as a function of the relative coordinates of photons, appear in multiphoton scattering processes. As a result, photon bunching and antibunching can be observed in the photon-photon correlation function, and nonclassical light source can be generated on demand. In the case of an N-type four-level system, we show that the effective photon-photon interaction mediated by the four-level system, gives rise to a variety of nonlinear optical phenomena, including photon blockade, photon-induced tunneling, and creation of single-photon states and photon pairs with a high degree of spectral entanglement, all in the absence of a cavity. However, to enable greater quantum networking potential using waveguide- QED, it is important to study systems having more than just one TLS/qubit. We develop a numerical Green function method to study cooperative effects in a system of two qubits coupled to a 1D waveguide. Quantum beats emerge in photon-photon correlations, and persist to much longer time scales because of non-Markovian processes. In addition, this system can be used to generate a high-degree of long-distance entanglement when one of the two qubits is driven by an on-resonance laser, further paving the way toward waveguide-QED-based quantum networks. Furthermore, based on our study of light-matter interactions in waveguide- QED, we investigate its implications in quantum information processing. First, we study quantum key distribution using the sub-Possonian single photon source obtained by scattering a coherent state off a two-level system. The rate for key generation is found to be twice as large as for other sources. Second, we propose a new scheme for scalable quantum computation using flying qubits--propagating photons in a one-dimensional waveguide--interacting with matter qubits. Photonphoton interactions are mediated by the coupling to a three- or four-level system, based on which photon-photon -phase gates (Controlled-NOT) can be implemented for universal quantum computation. We show that high gate fidelity is possible given recent dramatic experimental progress in superconducting circuits and photonic-crystal waveguides. The proposed system can be an important building block for future on-chip quantum networks.
We present a quantum-field-theoretical framework based on path integrals and Feynman diagrams for the investigation of the quantum-optical properties of one-dimensional waveguiding structures with embedded quantum impurities. In particular, we obtain the Green's functions for a waveguide with an embedded two-level system in the single- and two-excitation sector for arbitrary dispersion relations both in the time and the frequency domains. In the single-excitation sector, we show how to sum the diagrammatic perturbation series to all orders and thus obtain explicit expressions for physical quantities such as the spectral density and the scattering matrix. In the two-excitation sector, we show that strictly linear dispersion relations exhibit the special property that the corresponding diagrammatic perturbation series terminates after two terms, again allowing for closed-form expressions for physical quantities. In the case of general dispersion relations, notably those exhibiting a band edge or waveguide cutoff frequencies, the perturbation series cannot be summed explicitly. Instead, we derive a self-consistent T-matrixT\text{-matrix}T-matrix equation that reduces the computational effort to that of a single-excitation computation. This analysis allows us to identify a Fano resonance between the occupied quantum impurity and a free photon in the waveguide as a unique signature of the few-photon nonlinearity inherent in such systems. In addition, our diagrammatic approach allows for the classification of different physical processes such as the creation of photon-photon correlations and interaction-induced radiation trapping, the latter being absent for strictly linear dispersion relations. Our framework can serve as the basis for further studies that involve more complex scenarios such as several and many-level quantum impurities, networks of coupled waveguides, disordered systems, and nonequilibrium effects.
In this paper, we introduce a numerical framework designed to solve problems within the emerging field of Waveguide Quantum Electrodynamics (WQED). The framework is based on collision quantum optics, where a localized quantum system interacts sequentially with individual time-bin modes. This approach provides a physically intuitive model that allows researchers familiar with tools such as QuTiP in Python, Quantum Optics Toolbox for Matlab, or in Julia to efficiently set up and execute WQED simulations. Despite its conceptual simplicity, we demonstrate the framework's robust ability to handle complex WQED scenarios. These applications include the scattering of single- or two-photon pulses by quantum emitters or cavities, as well as the exploration of non-Markovian dynamics, where emitted photons are reflected back, thereby introducing feedback mechanisms.