Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Physical Review A

Correlated relaxation and emerging entanglement in arrays of Λ -type atoms

Denis Ilin, A. V. Poshakinskiy, Alexander S. Solntsev

Published Apr 2, 2025• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present a theoretical framework for investigating the nonclassical collective relaxation in arrays of $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}$-type three-level atoms, where the two optical transitions are coupled to a pair of orthogonal chiral or achiral waveguide modes. We demonstrate that the atomic entanglement emerges in the course of relaxation and persists in the final steady state of the system. We also reveal the entanglement among the emitted photons as well as between the atoms and the photons. The presence and the degree of the entanglement depend crucially on the interatomic distance and the chirality of the waveguide. Our findings open a new way to engineer dissipation-induced entanglement.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.111.043702

Related papers

Correlated relaxation and emerging entanglement in arrays of ΛΛΛ-type atoms

Denis Ilin, A. V. Poshakinskiy, Alexander S. Solntsev

We present a theoretical framework for investigating the non-classical collective relaxation in arrays of Λ-type three-level atoms, where the two optical transitions coupled to a pair of orthogonal chiral or achiral waveguide modes. We demonstrate that the atomic entanglement emerges in the course of relaxation and persists in the final steady state of the system. We also reveal the entanglement of among the emitted photons as well as between the atoms and the photons. The presence and the degree of the entanglement depends crucially on the interatomic distance and the chirality of the waveguide. Our findings open a new way to engineer dissipation-induced entanglement.

arXiv:2411.06791•Nov 11, 2024•0 citations

Atomic-waveguide quantum electrodynamics

Stuart J. Masson, Ana Asenjo-Garcı́a

Atom arrays are a new type of quantum light-matter interface.Here we propose to employ one-dimensional ordered arrays as atomic waveguides.These arrays support optical guided modes that do not decay into free space.We show that these modes can be harnessed to mediate tunable, long-range interactions between additional "impurity qubits" coupled to the chain, without need for photonic structures.The efficient coupling between qubits and atomic waveguides enables the realization of tunable qubit-qubit interactions, which can be short or long range, dissipative or coherent, as well as chiral.Moreover, owing to the two-level nature of atoms, these waveguides are intrinsically quantum.In contrast to classical waveguides, where photons do not interact with each other, atomic waveguides display strong nonlinearities, which create a tunable dissipative channel for qubit-qubit interactions, and opens the door to the exploration of many-body physics between guided photons.This physics is universal as it only relies on photon interference and can also be observed with other types of quantum emitters, such as those in molecular or solid-state systems.

arXiv:1912.06234•Physical Review Research•Nov 10, 2020•95 citations

Adding photonic entanglement to superradiance by using multilevel atoms

Amir Sivan, Meir Orenstein

We show here that the photonic states emitted by ensembles of multilevel atoms via a superradiance process exhibit entanglement in the modal (frequency) degree of freedom, making this collective emission process a favorable candidate for a fast, bright, and deterministic source of entangled photons. This entanglement is driven by two mechanisms: (i) selective excitation of the atomic ensemble to a superposition state, and (ii) degeneracies of the optical transitions owing to the internal structure of the emitting atoms. The latter induces intricate nonradiative virtual transitions in the ensemble, which create interatomic correlations that are imprinted onto the emitted photons. One of the important outcomes of this complexity is the generation of mode-independent entangled multiphoton states. In addition, we study the dynamics of the correlations of the superradiating multilevel atom ensembles, and demonstrate a case where they exhibit beating in steady state as a result of the aforementioned virtual transitions.

arXiv:2410.13655•Physical Review Research•Jun 27, 2025•1 citation

Dynamical creation and detection of entangled many-body states in a chiral atom chain

Giuseppe Buonaiuto, Ryan Jones, Beatriz Olmos +1 more

Abstract Open quantum systems with chiral interactions can be realized by coupling atoms to guided radiation modes in photonic waveguides or optical fibers. In their steady state these systems can feature intricate many-body phases such as entangled dark states, but their detection and characterization remains a challenge. Here we show how such collective phenomena can be uncovered through monitoring the record of photons emitted into the guided modes. This permits the identification of dark entangled states but furthermore offers novel capabilities for probing complex dynamical behavior, such as the coexistence of a dark entangled and a mixed phase. Our results are of direct relevance for current optical experiments, as they provide a framework for probing, characterizing and classifying classical and quantum dynamical features of chiral light–matter systems.

arXiv:1902.08525•New Journal of Physics•Oct 18, 2019•25 citations

Optical waveguiding by atomic entanglement in multilevel atom arrays

Ana Asenjo-Garcı́a, Harry J. Kimble, Darrick E. Chang

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.

arXiv:1906.02204•Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences•Nov 26, 2019•53 citations

Chiral quantum optics with V-level atoms and coherent quantum feedback

Pierre-Olivier Guimond, Hannes Pichler, Arno Rauschenbeutel +1 more

We study the dissipative dynamics of an atom in a V-level configuration driven by lasers and coupled to a semi-infinite waveguide. The coupling to the waveguide is chiral, in that each transition interacts only with the modes propagating in a given direction, and this direction is opposite for the two transitions. The waveguide is terminated by a mirror which coherently feeds the photon stream emitted by one transition back to the atom. First, we are interested in the dynamics of the atom in the Markovian limit where the time delay in the feedback is negligible. Specifically, we study the conditions under which the atom evolves towards a pure ``dark'' stationary state, where the photons emitted by both transitions interfere destructively thanks to the coherent feedback, and the overall emission vanishes. This is a single-atom analog of the quantum dimer, where a pair of laser-driven two-level atoms is coupled to a unidirectional waveguide and dissipates towards a pure entangled dark state. Our setup should be feasible with current state-of-the-art experiments. Second, we extend our study to non-Markovian regimes and investigate the effect of the feedback retardation on the steady state.

arXiv:1606.07466•Physical Review A•Sep 16, 2016•57 citations
We present a theoretical framework for investigating the nonclassical collective relaxation in arrays of \ensuremathΛ\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}\ensuremathΛ-type three-level atoms, where the two optical transitions are coupled to a pair of orthogonal chiral or achiral waveguide modes. We demonstrate that the atomic entanglement emerges in the course of relaxation and persists in the final steady state of the system. We also reveal the entanglement among the emitted photons as well as between the atoms and the photons. The presence and the degree of the entanglement depend crucially on the interatomic distance and the chirality of the waveguide. Our findings open a new way to engineer dissipation-induced entanglement.
We present a theoretical framework for investigating the non-classical collective relaxation in arrays of Λ-type three-level atoms, where the two optical transitions coupled to a pair of orthogonal chiral or achiral waveguide modes. We demonstrate that the atomic entanglement emerges in the course of relaxation and persists in the final steady state of the system. We also reveal the entanglement of among the emitted photons as well as between the atoms and the photons. The presence and the degree of the entanglement depends crucially on the interatomic distance and the chirality of the waveguide. Our findings open a new way to engineer dissipation-induced entanglement.
Atom arrays are a new type of quantum light-matter interface.Here we propose to employ one-dimensional ordered arrays as atomic waveguides.These arrays support optical guided modes that do not decay into free space.We show that these modes can be harnessed to mediate tunable, long-range interactions between additional "impurity qubits" coupled to the chain, without need for photonic structures.The efficient coupling between qubits and atomic waveguides enables the realization of tunable qubit-qubit interactions, which can be short or long range, dissipative or coherent, as well as chiral.Moreover, owing to the two-level nature of atoms, these waveguides are intrinsically quantum.In contrast to classical waveguides, where photons do not interact with each other, atomic waveguides display strong nonlinearities, which create a tunable dissipative channel for qubit-qubit interactions, and opens the door to the exploration of many-body physics between guided photons.This physics is universal as it only relies on photon interference and can also be observed with other types of quantum emitters, such as those in molecular or solid-state systems.
We show here that the photonic states emitted by ensembles of multilevel atoms via a superradiance process exhibit entanglement in the modal (frequency) degree of freedom, making this collective emission process a favorable candidate for a fast, bright, and deterministic source of entangled photons. This entanglement is driven by two mechanisms: (i) selective excitation of the atomic ensemble to a superposition state, and (ii) degeneracies of the optical transitions owing to the internal structure of the emitting atoms. The latter induces intricate nonradiative virtual transitions in the ensemble, which create interatomic correlations that are imprinted onto the emitted photons. One of the important outcomes of this complexity is the generation of mode-independent entangled multiphoton states. In addition, we study the dynamics of the correlations of the superradiating multilevel atom ensembles, and demonstrate a case where they exhibit beating in steady state as a result of the aforementioned virtual transitions.
Abstract Open quantum systems with chiral interactions can be realized by coupling atoms to guided radiation modes in photonic waveguides or optical fibers. In their steady state these systems can feature intricate many-body phases such as entangled dark states, but their detection and characterization remains a challenge. Here we show how such collective phenomena can be uncovered through monitoring the record of photons emitted into the guided modes. This permits the identification of dark entangled states but furthermore offers novel capabilities for probing complex dynamical behavior, such as the coexistence of a dark entangled and a mixed phase. Our results are of direct relevance for current optical experiments, as they provide a framework for probing, characterizing and classifying classical and quantum dynamical features of chiral light–matter systems.
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.
We study the dissipative dynamics of an atom in a V-level configuration driven by lasers and coupled to a semi-infinite waveguide. The coupling to the waveguide is chiral, in that each transition interacts only with the modes propagating in a given direction, and this direction is opposite for the two transitions. The waveguide is terminated by a mirror which coherently feeds the photon stream emitted by one transition back to the atom. First, we are interested in the dynamics of the atom in the Markovian limit where the time delay in the feedback is negligible. Specifically, we study the conditions under which the atom evolves towards a pure ``dark'' stationary state, where the photons emitted by both transitions interfere destructively thanks to the coherent feedback, and the overall emission vanishes. This is a single-atom analog of the quantum dimer, where a pair of laser-driven two-level atoms is coupled to a unidirectional waveguide and dissipates towards a pure entangled dark state. Our setup should be feasible with current state-of-the-art experiments. Second, we extend our study to non-Markovian regimes and investigate the effect of the feedback retardation on the steady state.