Strong coupling of two individually controlled atoms via a nanophotonic cavity

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates photon-mediated interactions between two individually controlled atoms in a nanophotonic cavity, revealing superradiance and level repulsion, paving the way for quantum networks and many-body physics studies.

Contribution

It introduces a method for controlling and observing interactions between two atoms in a nanophotonic cavity, including anti-crossing of collective states.

Findings

Observation of superradiant line broadening.

Detection of level repulsion in the dispersive regime.

Control over atomic states and their interactions.

Abstract

We demonstrate photon-mediated interactions between two individually trapped atoms coupled to a nanophotonic cavity. Specifically, we observe superradiant line broadening when the atoms are resonant with the cavity, and level repulsion when the cavity is coupled to the atoms in the dispersive regime. Our approach makes use of individual control over the internal states of the atoms, their position with respect to the cavity mode, as well as the light shifts to tune atomic transitions individually, allowing us to directly observe the anti-crossing of the superradiant and subradiant two-atom states. These observations open the door for realizing quantum networks and studying quantum many-body physics based on atom arrays coupled to nanophotonic devices.