Directional emission of single photons from small atomic samples

TL;DR

This paper introduces a formalism for deterministic single-photon emission with customizable spatial and temporal profiles from atomic arrays, considering complex polarization effects and collective atomic states.

Contribution

It presents a novel theoretical framework for controlled single-photon emission from multi-level atomic arrays, including polarization and collective effects.

Findings

The formalism enables tailored photon emission profiles.

It accounts for polarization effects via Zeeman manifold interactions.

The model predicts efficient deterministic single-photon sources.

Abstract

We provide a formalism to describe deterministic emission of single photons with tailored spatial and temporal profiles from a regular array of multi-level atoms. We assume that a single collective excitation is initially shared by all the atoms in a metastable atomic state, and that this state is coupled by a classical laser field to an optically excited state which rapidly decays to the ground atomic state. Our model accounts for the different field polarization components via re-absorption and emission of light by the Zeeman manifold of optically excited states.