Cooperative quantum phenomena in light-matter platforms

TL;DR

This paper reviews theoretical tools for understanding cooperative quantum phenomena in light-matter systems, focusing on electron-photon interactions in strongly coupled, correlated quantum emitter ensembles with applications in quantum optics and information.

Contribution

It extends open quantum system methods to complex light-matter platforms, providing analytical approaches for various quantum emitter systems and their cooperative behaviors.

Findings

Development of extended master equations and Langevin equations for electron-photon interactions.

Application of methods to design nanoscale coherent light sources and quantum metasurfaces.

Analysis of systems with disorder and vibronic couplings in solid-state environments.

Abstract

Quantum cooperativity is evident in light-matter platforms where quantum emitter ensembles are interfaced with confined optical modes and are coupled via the ubiquitous electromagnetic quantum vacuum. Cooperative effects can find applications, among other areas, in topological quantum optics, in quantum metrology or in quantum information. This tutorial provides a set of theoretical tools to tackle the behavior responsible for the onset of cooperativity by extending open quantum system dynamics methods, such as the master equation and quantum Langevin equations, to electron-photon interactions in strongly coupled and correlated quantum emitter ensembles. The methods are illustrated on a wide range of current research topics such as the design of nanoscale coherent light sources, highly-reflective quantum metasurfaces or low intracavity power superradiant lasers. The analytical approaches are developed for ensembles of identical two-level quantum emitters and then extended to more complex systems where frequency disorder or vibronic couplings are taken into account. The relevance of the approach ranges from atoms in optical lattices to quantum dots or molecular systems in solid-state environments.