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

arXiv:physics/0309065 · Physical Review A

Effective photon-photon interaction in a two-dimensional “photon fluid”

R. Y. Chiao, T. H. Hansson, Jon Magne Leinaas, S. Viefers

Published Jun 22, 2004• 26 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We formulate an effective theory for the atom-mediated photon-photon interactions in a two-dimensional ``photon fluid'' confined in a Fabry-P\'erot resonator. With the atoms modeled by a collection of anharmonic Lorentz oscillators, the effective interaction is evaluated to second order in the coupling constant (the anharmonicity parameter). The interaction has the form of a renormalized two-dimensional delta-function potential, with the renormalization scale determined by the physical parameters of the system, such as density of atoms and the detuning of the photons relative to the resonance frequency of the atoms. For realistic values of the parameters, the perturbation series has to be resummed, and the effective interaction becomes independent of the ``bare'' strength of the anharmonic term. The resulting expression for the nonlinear Kerr susceptibility is parametrically equal to the one found earlier for a dilute gas of two-level atoms. Using our result for the effective interaction parameter, we derive conditions for the formation of a photon fluid, both for Rydberg atoms in a microwave cavity and for alkali atoms in an optical cavity.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.69.063816

Related papers

Two-dimensional photon fluid : effective photon–photon interaction and physical realizations

R. Y. Chiao, T. H. Hansson, Jon Magne Leinaas +1 more

We describe a recently developed effective theory for atom-mediated photon–photon interactions in a two-dimensional 'photon fluid' confined to a Fabry–Perot resonator. The photons in the lowest longitudinal cavity mode will appear as massive bosons interacting via a renormalized delta-function potential with a strength determined by physical parameters such as the density of atoms and the detuning of the photons relative to the resonance frequency of the atoms. We discuss novel quantum phenomena for photons, such as Bose–Einstein condensation and bound state formation, as well as possible experimental scenarios based on Rydberg atoms in a microwave cavity, or alkali atoms in an optical cavity.

Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics•Mar 24, 2004•6 citations

Bogoliubov dispersion relation and the possibility of superfluidity for weakly interacting photons in a two-dimensional photon fluid

R. Y. Chiao, Jack Boyce

The Bogoliubov dispersion relation for the elementary excitations of the weakly interacting Bose gas is shown to hold for the case of the weakly interacting photon gas (the ``photon fluid'') in a nonlinear Fabry-Perot cavity. The chemical potential of a photon in the two-dimensional photon fluid does not vanish. The Bogoliubov relation, which is also derived by means of a linearized fluctuation analysis in classical nonlinear optics, implies the possibility of a new, superfluid state of light. The theory underlying an experiment in progress to observe sound waves in the photon fluid is described, and another experiment to measure the critical velocity of this superfluid is proposed.

arXiv:quant-ph/9905001•Physical Review A•Nov 1, 1999•115 citations

Nonlinear Quantum Optics in an Atomic Cavity

Simon Panyella Pedersen

The idea of making photons effectively interact has attracted a lot of interest in recent years, for several reasons. Firstly, since photons do not naturally interact with each other, it is of fundamental physical interest to see what kind of medium can mediate interactions between these fundamental and non-interacting particles, and to what extent. Secondly, photonics is a major candidate for future quantum technology, due to the easy manipulation, readout, and transport of photons, which makes them ideal for quantum information processing. Finally, achieving strong and tunable interactions among photons would open up an avenue for exploring the many-body physics of a fluid of light. In this thesis, we will see how a cavity formed of subwavelength lattices of two-level atoms can confine photons to a nonlinear environment for a long time, such that emitted photons have accumulated strong correlations both among their momenta and in their temporal statistics. This speaks of a strong photon-photon interaction within the cavity. The nonlinearity originates in the saturability of individual atoms, and the lattice structure results in a strong and low-loss collective interaction with light. While a single atomic lattice has a largely linear nature, as the effect of individual atoms washes out in the collective response, the confining geometry of the cavity means the photons are exposed to the underlying saturability of the atoms for such a long time that the nonlinearity is revived. We will analyse this system both using a standard input-output formalism, where the nonlinear physics of the system is handled numerically, and a powerful Green's function-based approach that allows for exact analytical results with no additional approximations. This analytical description has the potential to lead to an exact study of the many-body physics of interacting photons in a two-dimensional setting.

arXiv:2311.03918•Nov 7, 2023•0 citations

Bogoliubov dispersion relation for a "photon fluid": Is this a superfluid?

R. Y. Chiao

We discuss the possibility that photons, which are bosons, can form a 2D superfluid due to Bose-Einstein condensation inside a nonlinear Fabry-Perot cavity filled with atoms in their ground states. A "photon fluid" forms inside the cavity as a result of multiple photon-photon collisions mediated by the atoms during a cavity ring-down time. The effective mass and chemical potential for a photon inside this fluid are nonvanishing. This implies the existence of a Bogoliubov dispersion relation for the low-lying elementary excitations of the photon fluid, and in particular, that sound waves exist for long-wavelength, low-frequency disturbances of this fluid. Possible experiments to test for the superfluidity of the photon fluid based on the Landau critical-velocity criterion will be discussed.

•Aug 19, 1999•35 citations

Blockade-induced resonant enhancement of the optical nonlinearity in a Rydberg medium

Annika Tebben, Clément Hainaut, Valentin Walther +4 more

We predict a resonant enhancement of the nonlinear optical response of an interacting Rydberg gas under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency. The enhancement originates from a two-photon process which resonantly couples electronic states of a pair of atoms dressed by a strong control field. We calculate the optical response for the three-level system by explicitly including the dynamics of the intermediate state. We find an analytical expression for the third-order susceptibility for a weak classical probe field. The nonlinear absorption displays the strongest resonant behavior on two-photon resonance where the detuning of the probe field equals the Rabi frequency of the control field. The nonlinear dispersion of the medium exhibits various spatial shapes depending on the interaction strength. Based on the developed model, we propose a realistic experimental scenario to observe the resonance by performing transmission measurements.

arXiv:1909.06802•Physical Review A•Dec 6, 2019•10 citations

Doppler-free two-photon dispersion

G. Grynberg, Martin Devaud, Christos Flytzanis +1 more

We present in this paper a calculation of the non-linear susceptibility near a Doppler-free two-photon transition. In the case of a two-level system, we find a non-perturbative solution. We deduce new effects on the non-linear refractive index which are related to the change of the linear susceptibility because of the transfer of atoms between the ground and excited levels. In the case of a more complex system, we study at the lowest order of perturbation the anisotropy induced by one beam on the other. At last, we show that it is easy to observe a bistable behaviour when atoms, inside a Pérot-Fabry cavity, interact with a beam whose wavelength is close to a two-photon resonance.

Journal de physique•Jan 1, 1980•19 citations
We formulate an effective theory for the atom-mediated photon-photon interactions in a two-dimensional photon fluid'' confined in a Fabry-P\'erot resonator. With the atoms modeled by a collection of anharmonic Lorentz oscillators, the effective interaction is evaluated to second order in the coupling constant (the anharmonicity parameter). The interaction has the form of a renormalized two-dimensional delta-function potential, with the renormalization scale determined by the physical parameters of the system, such as density of atoms and the detuning of the photons relative to the resonance frequency of the atoms. For realistic values of the parameters, the perturbation series has to be resummed, and the effective interaction becomes independent of the bare'' strength of the anharmonic term. The resulting expression for the nonlinear Kerr susceptibility is parametrically equal to the one found earlier for a dilute gas of two-level atoms. Using our result for the effective interaction parameter, we derive conditions for the formation of a photon fluid, both for Rydberg atoms in a microwave cavity and for alkali atoms in an optical cavity.
We describe a recently developed effective theory for atom-mediated photon–photon interactions in a two-dimensional 'photon fluid' confined to a Fabry–Perot resonator. The photons in the lowest longitudinal cavity mode will appear as massive bosons interacting via a renormalized delta-function potential with a strength determined by physical parameters such as the density of atoms and the detuning of the photons relative to the resonance frequency of the atoms. We discuss novel quantum phenomena for photons, such as Bose–Einstein condensation and bound state formation, as well as possible experimental scenarios based on Rydberg atoms in a microwave cavity, or alkali atoms in an optical cavity.
The Bogoliubov dispersion relation for the elementary excitations of the weakly interacting Bose gas is shown to hold for the case of the weakly interacting photon gas (the ``photon fluid'') in a nonlinear Fabry-Perot cavity. The chemical potential of a photon in the two-dimensional photon fluid does not vanish. The Bogoliubov relation, which is also derived by means of a linearized fluctuation analysis in classical nonlinear optics, implies the possibility of a new, superfluid state of light. The theory underlying an experiment in progress to observe sound waves in the photon fluid is described, and another experiment to measure the critical velocity of this superfluid is proposed.
The idea of making photons effectively interact has attracted a lot of interest in recent years, for several reasons. Firstly, since photons do not naturally interact with each other, it is of fundamental physical interest to see what kind of medium can mediate interactions between these fundamental and non-interacting particles, and to what extent. Secondly, photonics is a major candidate for future quantum technology, due to the easy manipulation, readout, and transport of photons, which makes them ideal for quantum information processing. Finally, achieving strong and tunable interactions among photons would open up an avenue for exploring the many-body physics of a fluid of light. In this thesis, we will see how a cavity formed of subwavelength lattices of two-level atoms can confine photons to a nonlinear environment for a long time, such that emitted photons have accumulated strong correlations both among their momenta and in their temporal statistics. This speaks of a strong photon-photon interaction within the cavity. The nonlinearity originates in the saturability of individual atoms, and the lattice structure results in a strong and low-loss collective interaction with light. While a single atomic lattice has a largely linear nature, as the effect of individual atoms washes out in the collective response, the confining geometry of the cavity means the photons are exposed to the underlying saturability of the atoms for such a long time that the nonlinearity is revived. We will analyse this system both using a standard input-output formalism, where the nonlinear physics of the system is handled numerically, and a powerful Green's function-based approach that allows for exact analytical results with no additional approximations. This analytical description has the potential to lead to an exact study of the many-body physics of interacting photons in a two-dimensional setting.
We discuss the possibility that photons, which are bosons, can form a 2D superfluid due to Bose-Einstein condensation inside a nonlinear Fabry-Perot cavity filled with atoms in their ground states. A "photon fluid" forms inside the cavity as a result of multiple photon-photon collisions mediated by the atoms during a cavity ring-down time. The effective mass and chemical potential for a photon inside this fluid are nonvanishing. This implies the existence of a Bogoliubov dispersion relation for the low-lying elementary excitations of the photon fluid, and in particular, that sound waves exist for long-wavelength, low-frequency disturbances of this fluid. Possible experiments to test for the superfluidity of the photon fluid based on the Landau critical-velocity criterion will be discussed.
We predict a resonant enhancement of the nonlinear optical response of an interacting Rydberg gas under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency. The enhancement originates from a two-photon process which resonantly couples electronic states of a pair of atoms dressed by a strong control field. We calculate the optical response for the three-level system by explicitly including the dynamics of the intermediate state. We find an analytical expression for the third-order susceptibility for a weak classical probe field. The nonlinear absorption displays the strongest resonant behavior on two-photon resonance where the detuning of the probe field equals the Rabi frequency of the control field. The nonlinear dispersion of the medium exhibits various spatial shapes depending on the interaction strength. Based on the developed model, we propose a realistic experimental scenario to observe the resonance by performing transmission measurements.
We present in this paper a calculation of the non-linear susceptibility near a Doppler-free two-photon transition. In the case of a two-level system, we find a non-perturbative solution. We deduce new effects on the non-linear refractive index which are related to the change of the linear susceptibility because of the transfer of atoms between the ground and excited levels. In the case of a more complex system, we study at the lowest order of perturbation the anisotropy induced by one beam on the other. At last, we show that it is easy to observe a bistable behaviour when atoms, inside a Pérot-Fabry cavity, interact with a beam whose wavelength is close to a two-photon resonance.