We study photon echo generation in disordered media with the help of multiple scattering theory based on diagrammatic approach and numerical simulations. We show that a strong correlation exists between the driving fields at the origin of the echo and the echo beam. Opening the way to a better understanding of non-linear wave propagation in complex materials, this work supports recent experimental results with applications to the measurement of the optical dipole lifetime $T_2$ in powders.
We give an exposure to diagrammatic techniques in waveguide QED systems. A particular emphasis is placed on the systems with delayed coherent quantum feedback. Specifically, we show that the $N$-photon scattering matrices in single-qubit waveguide QED systems, within the rotating wave approximation, admit for a parametrization in terms of $N-1$-photon effective vertex functions and provide a detailed derivation of a closed hierarchy of generalized Bethe-Salpeter equations satisfied by these vertex functions. The advantage of this method is that the above mentioned integral equations hold independently of the number of radiation channels, their bandwidth, the dispersion of the modes they are supporting, and the structure of the radiation-qubit coupling interaction, thus enabling one to study multi-photon scattering problems beyond the Born-Markov approximation. Further, we generalize the diagrammatic techniques to the systems containing more than a single emitter by presenting an exact set of equations governing the generic two and three-photon scattering operators. The above described theoretical machinery is then showcased on the example of a three-photon scattering on a giant acoustic atom, recently studied experimentally [Nat. Phys. 15, 1123 (2019)].
We develop a formalism to study the Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS) response in metals based on the diagrammatic expansion for its cross section. The standard approach to the solution of the RIXS problem relies on two key approximations: short-range potentials and non-interacting conduction electrons. However, these approximations are inaccurate for charged particles in metals, where the long-range Coulomb interaction and dynamic screening effects are very important. In this work we study how to extract important information about collective excitations in the Coulomb plasma, plasmons and electron-hole pairs, from RIXS data. We find that single- and multi-plasmon excitations can easily be distinguished by positions of the corresponding peaks, singularities, and their intensities. We also discuss the hybrid processes, where plasmon emission is accompanied by excitation of electron-hole pairs, and study how they manifest themselves.
We develop a method based on the cross-spectrum of an intensity-modulated CW laser, which can extract a signal from an extremely noisy environment and image objects hidden in turbid media. We theoretically analyzed our scheme and performed the experiment by scanning the object placed in between two ground glass diffusers. The image of the object is retrieved by collecting the amplitudes at the modulation frequency of all the cross-spectra. Our method is non-invasive, easy-to-implement, and can work for both static and dynamic media.
Ghost imaging with thermal light in scattering media is investigated. We demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally for the first time that the image with high quality can still be obtained in the scattering media by ghost imaging. The scattering effect on the qualities of the images obtained when the object is illuminated directly by the thermal light and ghost imaging is analyzed theoretically. Its potential applications are also discussed.
We characterize the optical response of a three-level atom subjected to an incoherent pump and continuously illuminated with a weak, quasi-resonant probe field. To this end, we apply a wavefunction approach based on QED Hamiltonian perturbation theory which allows for a reduction of the atomic dynamics to that of an effective two-level atom, and for an implementation of the incoherent effects that respects unitarity. Using a diagrammatic representation, we identify and classify all the radiative processes. This allows us to compute the scattered power, the spontaneous emission, and the stimulated emission, as well as the total cross sections of extinction, absorption and scattering. We find that, beside a general enhancement of the linewidth and an attenuation of the spectral amplitudes, the pump reduces the nonradiative losses and provides gains in the form of stimulated emission and incoherent radiation. For sufficiently strong pump, gains and losses compensate, resulting in the vanishing of extinction. In particular, for negligible nonradiative losses, extinction vanishes for a pumping rate of $(1+sqrt{5})/2$ times that of the natural decay.