Quantum emitters coupled to surface plasmons of a nano-wire: A Green function approach

We investigate a system consisting of a single, as well as two emitters strongly coupled to surface plasmon modes of a nano-wire using a Green function approach. Explicit expressions are derived for the spontaneous decay rate into the plasmon modes and for the atom-plasmon coupling as well as a plasmon-mediated atom-atom coupling. Phenomena due to the presence of losses in the metal are discussed. In case of two atoms, we observe Dicke sub- and superradiance resulting from their plasmon-mediated interaction. Based on this phenomenon, we propose a scheme for a deterministic two-qubit quantum gate. We also discuss a possible realization of interesting many-body Hamiltonians, such as the spin-boson model, using strong emitter-plasmon coupling.Comment: 12 pages, 16 figure

Ultracold bosons in disordered superlattices: Mott-insulators induced by tunneling

We analyse the phase diagram of ultra-cold bosons in a one-dimensional superlattice potential with disorder using the time evolving block decimation algorithm for infinite sized systems (iTEBD). For degenerate potential energies within the unit cell of the superlattice loophole-shaped insulating phases with non-integer filling emerge with a particle-hole gap proportional to the boson hopping. Adding a small amount of disorder destroys this gap. For not too large disorder the loophole Mott regions detach from the axis of vanishing hopping giving rise to insulating islands. Thus the system shows a transition from a compressible Bose-glass to a Mott-insulating phase with increasing hopping amplitude. We present a straight forward effective model for the dynamics within a unit cell which provides a simple explanation for the emergence of Mott-insulating islands. In particular it gives rather accurate predictions for the inner critical point of the Bose-glass to Mott-insulator transition

Two-photon linewidth of light "stopping" via electromagnetically induced transparency

We analyze the two-photon linewidth of the recently proposed adiabatic transfer technique for ``stopping'' of light using electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We shown that a successful and reliable transfer of excitation from light to atoms and back can be achieved if the spectrum of the input probe pulse lies within the initial transparency window of EIT, and if the two-photon detuning $\delta$ is less than the collective coupling strength (collective vacuum Rabi-frequency) $g\sqrt{N}$ divided by $\sqrt{\gamma T}$, with $\gamma$ being the radiative decay rate, $N$ the effective number of atoms in the sample, and $T$ the pulse duration. Hence in an optically thick medium light ``storage'' and retrieval is possible with high fidelity even for systems with rather large two-photon detuning or inhomogeneous broadening.Comment: 2 figure

Storing and releasing light in a gas of moving atoms

We propose a scheme of storing and releasing pulses or cw beams of light in a moving atomic medium illuminated by two stationary and spatially separated control lasers. The method is based on electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) but in contrast to previous schemes, storage and retrieval of the probe pulse can be achieved at different locations and without switching off the control laser.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, revised versio

Photon-Photon Interactions via Rydberg Blockade

We develop the theory of light propagation under the conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency in systems involving strongly interacting Rydberg states. Taking into account the quantum nature and the spatial propagation of light, we analyze interactions involving few-photon pulses. We show that this system can be used for the generation of nonclassical states of light including trains of single photons with an avoided volume between them, for implementing photon-photon gates, as well as for studying many-body phenomena with strongly correlated photons

Collective Radiative Interactions in the Discrete Truncated Wigner Approximation

Interfaces of light and matter serve as a platform for exciting many-body physics and photonic quantum technologies. Due to the recent experimental realization of atomic arrays at sub-wavelength spacings, collective interaction effects such as superradiance have regained substantial interest. Their analytical and numerical treatment is however quite challenging. Here we develop a semiclassical approach to this problem that allows to describe the coherent and dissipative many-body dynamics of interacting spins while taking into account lowest-order quantum fluctuations. For this purpose we extend the discrete truncated Wigner approximation, originally developed for unitarily coupled spins, to include collective, dissipative spin processes by means of truncated correspondence rules. This maps the dynamics of the atomic ensemble onto a set of semiclassical, numerically inexpensive stochastic differential equations. We benchmark our method with exact results for the case of Dicke decay, which shows excellent agreement. We then study superradiance in a spatially extended three-dimensional, coherently driven gas and study the dynamics of atomic arrays coupled to the quantized radiation field. For small arrays we compare to exact simulations, again showing good agreement at early times and at moderate to strong driving.Comment: 23 pages, 5 figure

Tunable negative refraction without absorption via electromagnetically induced chirality

We show that negative refraction with minimal absorption can be obtained by means of quantum interference effects similar to electromagnetically induced transparency. Coupling a magnetic dipole transition coherently with an electric dipole transition leads to electromagnetically induced chirality, which can provide negative refraction without requiring negative permeability, and also suppresses absorption. This technique allows negative refraction in the optical regime at densities where the magnetic susceptibility is still small and with refraction/absorption ratios that are orders of magnitude larger than those achievable previously. Furthermore, the value of the refractive index can be fine-tuned via external laser fields, which is essential for practical realization of sub-diffraction-limit imaging.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures (shortened version, submitted to PRL