Decoherence-free interaction between giant atoms in waveguide QED

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how giant atoms coupled to a waveguide can have decoherence-free interactions, enabling robust quantum communication and simulation, unlike traditional small atoms.

Contribution

It introduces a method for achieving decoherence-free interactions between giant atoms in waveguide QED, expanding possibilities for quantum information processing.

Findings

Giant atoms can be protected from decoherence while still exchanging interactions.

Decoherence-free interactions are achievable with multiple giant atoms at multiple coupling points.

The setup allows for flexible quantum network configurations like chains or all-to-all connectivity.

Abstract

In quantum-optics experiments with both natural and artificial atoms, the atoms are usually small enough that they can be approximated as point-like compared to the wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation they interact with. However, superconducting qubits coupled to a meandering transmission line, or to surface acoustic waves, can realize "giant artificial atoms" that couple to a bosonic field at several points which are wavelengths apart. Here, we study setups with multiple giant atoms coupled at multiple points to a one-dimensional (1D) waveguide. We show that the giant atoms can be protected from decohering through the waveguide, but still have exchange interactions mediated by the waveguide. Unlike in decoherence-free subspaces, here the entire multi-atom Hilbert space is protected from decoherence. This is not possible with "small" atoms. We further show how this decoherence-free interaction can be designed in setups with multiple atoms to implement, e.g., a 1D chain of atoms with nearest-neighbor couplings or a collection of atoms with all-to-all connectivity. This may have important applications in quantum simulation and quantum computing.