Engineering The Atom-Photon Interaction: Contro...
This Colloquium describes a new paradigm for creating strong quantum interactions of light and matter by way of single atoms and photons in nanoscopic lattices. Beyond the possibilities for quantitative improvements for familiar phenomena in atomic physics and quantum optics, there is a growing research community that is exploring novel quantum phases and phenomena that arise from atom-photon interactions in one- and two-dimensional nanophotonic lattices. Nanophotonic structures offer the intriguing possibility to control atom-photon interactions by engineering the medium properties through which they interact. An important aspect of these new research lines is that they have become possible only by pushing the state-of-the-art capabilities in nanophotonic device fabrication and by the integration of these capabilities into the realm of ultracold atoms. This Colloquium attempts to inform a broad physics community of the emerging opportunities in this new field on both theoretical and experimental fronts. The research is inherently multidisciplinary, spanning the fields of nanophotonics, atomic physics, quantum optics, and condensed matter physics.
Engineering the Atom-Photon Interaction: Contro...
Overview. Recent developments in experimental and theoretical techniques bring forth new atom-light interfaces (Sec. 3) that can simultaneously achieve stable atom trapping and strong atom-photon interactions beyond conventional settings (Sec. 2), and offer surprising new paradigms in atomic physics, cavity QED, and waveguide QED (Sec. 4). In this Colloquium we discuss these new possibilities, including a hybrid atom trap and vacuum lattices (Sec. 6), collective dissipation engineering (Sec. 7), chiral quantum optics (Sec. 8), and many-body physics with atom-atom (Sec. 9), spin-motion (Sec. 10), and photon-photon (Sec. 11) interactions.
Jonathan Hood, assistant professor, is an experimentalist specializing in quantum information science. His research interests include ultracold dipolar molecules for generating high-fidelity quantum gates and building complex entangled arrays, and engineering strong and novel atom-photon interactions by integrating atoms into nanophotonic circuits. He earned a BS from the University of Maryland and a PhD from the California Institute of Technology. He joins the department from Harvard University, where he was a postdoctoral scholar. Hood holds a joint appointment with the Department of Chemistry at Purdue.
The interaction of atoms with light, enhanced via coupling to optical cavities, is both an area of fundamental interest and also crucially important for quantum communication and information. The activities of the atom-photon connection group led by Axel Kuhn focus on the ultimate control of atom-photon interactions at the single-atom and single-photon level.The enhanced coupling of light to matter using optical cavities can also lead to cavity induced interactions and new dynamical phases of matter; these topics are explored by quantum systems engineering group led by Dieter Jaksch and also by Andrea Cavalleri.
We are developing miniaturized and mobile quantum sensors and engineering quantum platforms to improve their sensing performance. We are interested in two material platforms in particular: neutral atoms and solid-state color centers. Our group is applying techniques in nanoscale optics and integrated photonics to exert precise control over atom-photon interactions and miniaturize atomic sensors. We are currently developing chip-scale, near-infrared polarization optics for alkali vapor magnetometers, which could enable compact, sensitive magnetic-field-imaging devices.
Enhancing light-matter coupling at the level of single quanta is essential for numerous applications in quantum science. The cooperative optical response of subwavelength atomic arrays was recently found to open new pathways for such strong light-matter couplings, while simultaneously offering access to multiple spatial modes of the light field. Efficient single-mode free-space coupling to such arrays has been reported, but the spatial control over the modes of outgoing light fields has remained elusive. Here we demonstrate such spatial control over the optical response of an atomically thin mirror formed by a subwavelength array of atoms in free space using a single controlled ancilla atom excited to a Rydberg state. The switching behavior is controlled by the admixture of a small Rydberg fraction to the atomic mirror, and consequently strong dipolar Rydberg interactions with the ancilla. Driving Rabi oscillations on the ancilla atom, we demonstrate coherent control of the transmission and reflection of the array. Our results pave the way towards realizing novel quantum coherent metasurfaces, creating controlled atom-photon entanglement and deterministic engineering of quantum states of light. 041b061a72