Few-photon transport in low-dimensional systems: Interaction-induced radiation trapping

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how photon transport in low-dimensional waveguides is affected by a two-level system, revealing interaction-induced radiation trapping and its potential for controlling photon entanglement.

Contribution

It introduces a quantum many-body approach to clarify the physical mechanisms behind photon trapping and demonstrates the robustness of these effects for quantum control.

Findings

Single-particle photon-atom bound states can be excited via multi-particle scattering.

Photon trapping effects are robust and useful for entanglement control.

Quantum interference induces strong optical nonlinearity at the few-photon level.

Abstract

We present a detailed analysis of the dynamics of photon transport in waveguiding systems in the presence of a two-level system. In these systems, quantum interference effects generate a strong effective optical nonlinearity on the few-photon level. We clarify the relevant physical mechanisms through an appropriate quantum many-body approach. Based on this, we demonstrate that a single-particle photon-atom bound state with an energy outside the band can be excited via multi-particle scattering processes. We further show that these trapping effects are robust and, therefore, will be useful for the control of photon entanglement in solid-state based quantum optical systems.