Asenjo-Garcia Ana, Kimble H J, Chang Darrick E
Physics Department, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027;
Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physics MC12-33, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125;
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 Dec 17;116(51):25503-25511. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1911467116. Epub 2019 Nov 26.
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.
原子或其他量子发射器的亚波长阵列的光学特性最近引起了极大的关注。例如，发射光的强相长或相消干涉使阵列能够充当近乎完美的镜子、支持拓扑边缘态，并实现指数级更好的量子存储器。在这些提议中，假定的原子结构很简单，由唯一的电子基态组成。在线性光学中，该系统等效于经典介电粒子的周期性阵列，其周期性支持导模的出现。然而，尚不清楚在大多数量子发射器所表现出的超精细结构存在的情况下，此类现象是否仍然存在。在这里，我们表明波导可以作为一种量子多体效应源自丰富的原子纠缠，并阐明了必要条件。我们的工作在理解具有实际电子结构的原子阵列中的集体效应方面迈出了重要的一步。
