No Arabic abstract
A central goal within quantum optics is to realize efficient interactions between photons and atoms. A fundamental limit in nearly all applications based on such systems arises from spontaneous emission, in which photons are absorbed by atoms and then re-scattered into undesired channels. In typical treatments of atomic ensembles, it is assumed that this re-scattering occurs independently, and at a rate given by a single isolated atom, which in turn gives rise to standard limits of fidelity in applications such as quantum memories or quantum gates. However, this assumption can be violated. In particular, spontaneous emission of a collective atomic excitation can be significantly suppressed through strong interference in emission. Thus far the physics underlying the phenomenon of subradiance and techniques to exploit it have not been well-understood. In this work, we provide a comprehensive treatment of this problem. First, we show that in ordered atomic arrays in free space, subradiant states acquire an interpretation in terms of optical modes that are guided by the array, which only emit due to scattering from the ends of the finite chain. We also elucidate the properties of subradiant states in the many-excitation limit. Finally, we introduce the new concept of selective radiance. Whereas subradiant states experience a reduced coupling to all optical modes, selectively radiant states are tailored to simultaneously radiate efficiently into a desired channel while scattering into undesired channels is suppressed, thus enabling an enhanced atom-light interface. We show that these states naturally appear in chains of atoms coupled to nanophotonic structures, and we analyze the performance of photon storage exploiting such states. We find that selectively radiant states allow for a photon storage error that scales exponentially better with number of atoms than previously known bounds.
We investigate the subradiance properties of $ngeq 2$ multilevel fermionic atoms loaded into the lowest motional level of a single trap (e.g.~a single optical lattice site or an optical tweezer). As pointed out in our previous work [arXiv:1907.05541], perfectly dark subradiant states emerge from the interplay between fermionic statistics and dipolar interactions. While in [arXiv:1907.05541] we focused on the $n=2$ case, here we provide an in-depth analysis of the single-site dark states for generic filling $n$, and show a tight connection between generic dark states and total angular momentum eigenstates. We show how the latter can also be used to understand the full eigenstate structure of the single-site problem, which we analyze numerically. Apart from this, we discuss two possible schemes to coherently prepare dark states using either a Raman transition or an external magnetic field to lift the Zeeman degeneracy. Although the analysis focuses on the single-site problem, we show that multi-site dark states can be trivially constructed in any geometry out of product states of single-site dark states. Finally, we discuss some possible implementations with alkaline-earth(-like) atoms such as $^{171}$Yb or $^{87}$Sr loaded into optical lattices, where they could be used for potential applications in quantum metrology and quantum information.
We illustrate the existence of single-excitation bound states for propagating photons interacting with $N$ two-level atoms. These bound states can be calculated from an effective spin model, and their existence relies on dissipation in the system. The appearance of these bound states is in a one-to-one correspondence with zeros in the single-photon transmission and with divergent bunching in the second-order photon-photon correlation function. We also formulate a dissipative version of Levinsons theorem for this system by looking at the relation between the number of bound states and the winding number of the transmission phases. This theorem allows a direct experimental measurement of the number of bound states using the measured transmission phases.
A major application for atomic ensembles consists of a quantum memory for light, in which an optical state can be reversibly converted to a collective atomic excitation on demand. There exists a well-known fundamental bound on the storage error, when the ensemble is describable by a continuous medium governed by the Maxwell-Bloch equations. The validity of this model can break down, however, in systems such as dense, ordered atomic arrays, where strong interference in emission can give rise to phenomena such as subradiance and selective radiance. Here, we develop a general formalism that finds the maximum storage efficiency for a collection of atoms with discrete, known positions, and a given spatial mode in which an optical field is sent. As an example, we apply this technique to study a finite two-dimensional square array of atoms. We show that such a system enables a storage error that scales with atom number $N_mathrm{a}$ like $sim (log N_mathrm{a})^2/N_mathrm{a}^2$, and that, remarkably, an array of just $4 times 4$ atoms in principle allows for an efficiency comparable to a disordered ensemble with optical depth of around 600.
Quantum entanglement involving coherent superpositions of macroscopically distinct states is among the most striking features of quantum theory, but its realization is challenging, since such states are extremely fragile. Using a programmable quantum simulator based on neutral atom arrays with interactions mediated by Rydberg states, we demonstrate the deterministic generation of Schrodinger cat states of the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) type with up to 20 qubits. Our approach is based on engineering the energy spectrum and using optimal control of the many-body system. We further demonstrate entanglement manipulation by using GHZ states to distribute entanglement to distant sites in the array, establishing important ingredients for quantum information processing and quantum metrology.
We study the cooperative optical coupling between regularly spaced atoms in a one-dimensional waveguide using decompositions to subradiant and superradiant collective excitation eigenmodes, direct numerical solutions, and analytical transfer-matrix methods. We illustrate how the spectrum of transmitted light through the waveguide including the emergence of narrow Fano resonances can be understood by the resonance features of the eigenmodes. We describe a method based on superradiant and subradiant modes to engineer the optical response of the waveguide and to store light. The stopping of light is obtained by transferring an atomic excitation to a subradiant collective mode with the zero radiative resonance linewidth by controlling the level shift of an atom in the waveguide. Moreover, we obtain an exact analytic solution for the transmitted light through the waveguide for the case of a regular lattice of atoms and provide a simple description how the light transmission may present large resonance shifts when the lattice spacing is close, but not exactly equal, to half of the wavelength of the light. Experimental imperfections such as fluctuations of the positions of the atoms and loss of light from the waveguide are easily quantified in the numerical simulations, which produce the natural result that the optical response of the atomic array tends toward the response of a gas with random atomic positions.