Spontaneous emission in the presence of quantum mirrors

Arrays of atoms coupled to waveguides can behave as mirrors. We consider an array of three-level atoms, with one excited and two ground levels, assuming one of the ground levels to be decoupled from the other two. Preparing the atoms in the coupled or decoupled ground state leads to reflection or tr...

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Main Authors: Kanu Sinha, Jennifer Parra-Contreras, Annyun Das, Pablo Solano
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2025-01-01
Series:New Journal of Physics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/add495
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author Kanu Sinha
Jennifer Parra-Contreras
Annyun Das
Pablo Solano
author_facet Kanu Sinha
Jennifer Parra-Contreras
Annyun Das
Pablo Solano
author_sort Kanu Sinha
collection DOAJ
description Arrays of atoms coupled to waveguides can behave as mirrors. We consider an array of three-level atoms, with one excited and two ground levels, assuming one of the ground levels to be decoupled from the other two. Preparing the atoms in the coupled or decoupled ground state leads to reflection or transmission of the guided electromagnetic field; a superposition of the two ground states thus corresponds to a coherent superposition of mirror-like and transparent boundary conditions. We analyze the spontaneous emission of an excited two-level atom in the presence of such a quantum mirror , and inside a cavity formed by quantum mirrors, demonstrating that the resulting dynamics of the excited atom can exhibit exotic features, e.g. a superposition of Rabi cycle and exponential decay. Our results pave the way for exploring quantum electrodynamics (QED) phenomena in a paradigm wherein boundary conditions can exhibit quantum superpositions and correlations.
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spelling doaj-art-dfa0a2b4295643bf85e22b902f9d908e2025-08-20T02:31:10ZengIOP PublishingNew Journal of Physics1367-26302025-01-0127505410110.1088/1367-2630/add495Spontaneous emission in the presence of quantum mirrorsKanu Sinha0Jennifer Parra-Contreras1https://orcid.org/0009-0005-3751-1247Annyun Das2https://orcid.org/0009-0003-6138-241XPablo Solano3Wyant College of Optical Sciences and Department of Physics, University of Arizona , Tucson, AZ 85719, United States of AmericaWyant College of Optical Sciences and Department of Physics, University of Arizona , Tucson, AZ 85719, United States of AmericaWyant College of Optical Sciences and Department of Physics, University of Arizona , Tucson, AZ 85719, United States of AmericaDepartamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas, Universidad de Concepción , Concepción, ChileArrays of atoms coupled to waveguides can behave as mirrors. We consider an array of three-level atoms, with one excited and two ground levels, assuming one of the ground levels to be decoupled from the other two. Preparing the atoms in the coupled or decoupled ground state leads to reflection or transmission of the guided electromagnetic field; a superposition of the two ground states thus corresponds to a coherent superposition of mirror-like and transparent boundary conditions. We analyze the spontaneous emission of an excited two-level atom in the presence of such a quantum mirror , and inside a cavity formed by quantum mirrors, demonstrating that the resulting dynamics of the excited atom can exhibit exotic features, e.g. a superposition of Rabi cycle and exponential decay. Our results pave the way for exploring quantum electrodynamics (QED) phenomena in a paradigm wherein boundary conditions can exhibit quantum superpositions and correlations.https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/add495quantum opticswaveguide QEDatomic mirrors
spellingShingle Kanu Sinha
Jennifer Parra-Contreras
Annyun Das
Pablo Solano
Spontaneous emission in the presence of quantum mirrors
New Journal of Physics
quantum optics
waveguide QED
atomic mirrors
title Spontaneous emission in the presence of quantum mirrors
title_full Spontaneous emission in the presence of quantum mirrors
title_fullStr Spontaneous emission in the presence of quantum mirrors
title_full_unstemmed Spontaneous emission in the presence of quantum mirrors
title_short Spontaneous emission in the presence of quantum mirrors
title_sort spontaneous emission in the presence of quantum mirrors
topic quantum optics
waveguide QED
atomic mirrors
url https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/add495
work_keys_str_mv AT kanusinha spontaneousemissioninthepresenceofquantummirrors
AT jenniferparracontreras spontaneousemissioninthepresenceofquantummirrors
AT annyundas spontaneousemissioninthepresenceofquantummirrors
AT pablosolano spontaneousemissioninthepresenceofquantummirrors