Relativistic Quantum Optics

Stefano Longhi

Spatial and/or temporal propagation of light waves in periodic optical structures offers a rather unique possibility to realize in a purely classical setting the optical analogues of a wide variety of quantum phenomena rooted in relativistic wave equations. In this work a brief overview of a few optical analogues of relativistic quantum phenomena, based on either spatial light transport in engineered photonic lattices or on temporal pulse propagation in Bragg grating structures, is presented. Examples include spatial and temporal photonic analogues of the Zitterbewegung of a relativistic electron, Klein tunneling, vacuum decay and pair-production, the Dirac oscillator, the relativistic Kronig-Penney model, and optical realizations of non-Hermitian extensions of relativistic wave equations.

S. Chua

Eduardo Martín-Martínez, Chris Sutherland

We harness relativistic effects to gain quantum control on a stationary qubit in an optical cavity by controlling the non-inertial motion of a different probe atom. Furthermore, we show that by considering relativistic trajectories of the probe, we enhance the efficiency of the quantum control. We explore the possible use of these relativistic techniques to build 1-qubit quantum gates.

R. Loudon

Salvador Godoy

We solve the relativistic Dirac equation for the shutter problem. We prove that, at intermediate relativistic energies, the probability density oscillates in time in a similar way to the optical Fresnel oscillations in a straight edge. However, for extreme-relativistic beams, the Fresnel oscillations turn into quantum damped beats.

Daniel F. Walls, Gerard J Milburn