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Quantum Atomic Arrays: Fractional Filling and Trapping

Pengfei Zhang

Published Aug 26, 2021• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

Quantum emitters, in particular, atomic arrays with subwavelength lattice constant, have been proposed to be an ideal platform for study the interplay between photons and electric dipoles. Previous theoretical studies are based on spin models, where each site is occupied by a point-like atom. In this work, motivated by the recent experiment [1], we develop a full quantum treatment using annihilation and creation operator of atoms in deep optical lattices. We use a diagrammatic approach on the Keldysh contour to derive the cooperative scattering of the light and obtain the general formula for the S matrix. We apply our formulism to study two effects beyond previous treatment with spin-operators, the effect of fractional filling and trapping. Both effects can lead to imperfectness of atomic mirrors. For the fractional filling case, we find the cooperative linewidth is linear in filling fraction n. When there is a mismatch between the trapping potentials for atoms in the ground state and the excited state, multiple resonances can appear in the response function. Our results are consistent with existing experiments.

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Quantum emitters, in particular, atomic arrays with subwavelength lattice constant, have been proposed to be an ideal platform for study the interplay between photons and electric dipoles. Previous theoretical studies are based on spin models, where each site is occupied by a point-like atom. In this work, motivated by the recent experiment [1], we develop a full quantum treatment using annihilation and creation operator of atoms in deep optical lattices. We use a diagrammatic approach on the Keldysh contour to derive the cooperative scattering of the light and obtain the general formula for the S matrix. We apply our formulism to study two effects beyond previous treatment with spin-operators, the effect of fractional filling and trapping. Both effects can lead to imperfectness of atomic mirrors. For the fractional filling case, we find the cooperative linewidth is linear in filling fraction n. When there is a mismatch between the trapping potentials for atoms in the ground state and the excited state, multiple resonances can appear in the response function. Our results are consistent with existing experiments.
Quantum emitters, particularly atomic arrays with subwavelength lattice constant, have been proposed to be an ideal platform for studying the interplay between photons and electric dipoles. In this work, motivated by the recent experiment [1], we develop a microscopic quantum treatment using annihilation and creation operator of atoms in deep optical lattices. Using a diagrammatic approach on the Keldysh contour, we derive the cooperative scattering of the light and obtain the general formula for the S matrix. We apply our method to study the trapping effect, which is beyond previous treatment with spin operators. If the optical lattices are formed by light fields with magical wavelength, the result matches previous results using spin operators. When there is a mismatch between the trapping potentials for atoms in the ground state and the excited state, atomic mirrors become imperfect, with multiple resonances in the optical response. We further study the effect of recoil for large but finite trapping frequency. Our results are consistent with existing experiments.
We consider light scattering off a two-dimensional (2D) dipolar array and show how it can be tailored by properly choosing the lattice constant of the order of the incident wavelength. In particular, we demonstrate that such arrays can operate as a nearly perfect mirror for a wide range of incident angles and frequencies, and shape the emission pattern from an individual quantum emitter into a well-defined, collimated beam. These results can be understood in terms of the cooperative resonances of the surface modes supported by the 2D array. Experimental realizations are discussed, using ultracold arrays of trapped atoms and excitons in 2D semiconductor materials, as well as potential applications ranging from atomically thin metasurfaces to single photon nonlinear optics and nanomechanics.
Subwavelength arrays of quantum emitters offer an efficient free-space approach to coherent light-matter interfacing, using ultracold atoms or two-dimensional solid-state quantum materials. The combination of collectively suppressed photon losses and emerging optical nonlinearities due to strong photon coupling to mesoscopic numbers of emitters holds promise for generating nonclassical light and engineering effective interactions between freely propagating photons. While most studies have thus far relied on numerical simulations, we describe here a diagrammatic Green's function approach that permits analytical investigations of nonlinear processes. We illustrate the method by deriving a simple expression for the scattering matrix that describes photon-photon interactions in an extended two-dimensional array of quantum emitters and reproduces the results of numerical simulations of coherently driven arrays. The approach yields intuitive insights into the nonlinear response of the system and offers a promising framework for the systematic development of a theory for interacting photons and many-body effects on collective radiance in two-dimensional arrays of quantum emitters. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
Quantum cooperativity is evident in light-matter platforms where quantum emitter ensembles are interfaced with confined optical modes and are coupled via the ubiquitous electromagnetic quantum vacuum. Cooperative aspects such as dipole-dipole interactions and subradiance find applications in the design of nanoscale coherent light sources and highly-reflective quantum metasurfaces made up of hundreds of optically trapped atoms, in the implementation of topological quantum optics on subwavelength arrays of emitters, in quantum metrology and quantum information. The quick bursts of radiation from a collection of quasi-indistiguishable emitters provides an alternative approach to standard lasers by introducing superradiant lasers operating at extremely low intracavity power. This tutorial provides a set of theoretical tools to tackle the behavior responsible for the onset of cooperativity in light-matter systems by extending open quantum system dynamics methods, such as the master equation and quantum Langevin equations, to electron-photon interactions in strongly coupled and correlated quantum emitters ensembles. These analytical approaches are then also extended to frequency disordered or vibronically coupled quantum emitter ensembles with wide relevance ranging from atoms in optical lattices, quantum dots in solid state environments or molecular quantum systems.
The coupling of atomic arrays and one-dimensional subwavelength waveguides gives rise to interesting photon transport properties, such as recent experimental demonstrations of large Bragg reflection, and paves the way for a variety of potential applications in the field of quantum nonlinear optics. Here, we present a theoretical analysis for the process of single-photon scattering in this configuration using a full microscopic approach. Based on this formalism, we analyze the spectral dependencies for different scattering channels from either ordered or disordered arrays. The developed approach is entirely applicable for a single-photon scattering from a quasi-one-dimensional array of multilevel atoms with degenerate ground-state energy structure. Our approach provides an important framework for including not only Rayleigh but also Raman channels in the microscopic description of the cooperative scattering process.
The optical properties of subwavelength arrays of atoms or other quantum emitters have attracted significant interest recently. For example, the strong constructive or destructive interference of emitted light enables arrays to function as nearly perfect mirrors, support topological edge states, and allow for exponentially better quantum memories. In these proposals, the assumed atomic structure was simple, consisting of a unique electronic ground state. Within linear optics, the system is then equivalent to a periodic array of classical dielectric particles, whose periodicity supports the emergence of guided modes. However, it has not been known whether such phenomena persist in the presence of hyperfine structure, as exhibited by most quantum emitters. Here, we show that waveguiding can arise from rich atomic entanglement as a quantum many-body effect and elucidate the necessary conditions. Our work represents a significant step forward in understanding collective effects in arrays of atoms with realistic electronic structure.