Changing optical band structure with single photons

Abstract

Achieving strong interactions between individual photons enables a wide variety of exciting possibilities in quantum information science and many-body physics. Cold atoms interfaced with nanophotonic structures have emerged as a platform to realize novel forms of nonlinear interactions. In particular, when atoms are coupled to a photonic crystal waveguide (PCW), long-range atomic interactions can arise that are mediated by localized atom-photon bound states. We theoretically show that in such a system, the absorption of a single photon can change the band structure for a subsequent photon. This occurs because the first photon affects the atoms in the chain in an alternating fashion, thus leading to an effective period doubling of the system and a new optical band structure for the composite atom-nanophotonic system. We demonstrate how this mechanism can be engineered to realize a single-photon switch, where the first incoming photon switches the system from being highly transmissive to highly reflective, and analyze how signatures can be observed via non-classical correlations of the outgoing photon field.

25 pages, 9 figures

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• Optimization of photon storage fidelity in ordered atomic arrays
• Photon transport mediated by an atomic chain trapped along a photonic crystal waveguide
• Multiple Fano interferences due to waveguide-mediated phase-coupling between atoms
• Transparency in a periodic chain of quantum emitters strongly coupled to a waveguide
• Microwave transmission through an artificial atomic chain coupled to a superconducting photonic crystal
• Single collective excitation of an atomic array trapped along a waveguide: a study of cooperative emission for different atomic chain configurations
• Time-reversed and coherently-enhanced memory: A single-mode quantum atom-optic memory without a cavity
• Tunable photon scattering by an atom dimer coupled to a band edge of a photonic crystal waveguide