Tunable photon scattering by an atom dimer coupled to a band edge of a photonic crystal waveguide

TL;DR

This paper investigates tunable photon scattering in a photonic crystal waveguide coupled to an atom dimer, revealing controllable quantum interference effects, subradiant and superradiant states, and directional emission, with potential experimental realization.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of photon scattering involving an atom dimer near a band edge, highlighting tunable quantum states and interference effects in a photonic crystal waveguide.

Findings

Perfect transmission with a π phase shift at resonance.

Quantum beats in photon-photon correlations can be tuned.

Directional photon emission observed in anti-Bragg case.

Abstract

Quantum emitters trapped near photonic crystal waveguides have recently emerged as an exciting platform for realizing novel quantum matter-light interfaces. Here we study tunable photon scattering in a photonic crystal waveguide coupled to an atom dimer with an arbitrary spatial separation. In the weak-excitation regime, we give the energy levels and their decay rates into the waveguide modes in the dressed basis, which both depend on the distance between the two atoms. We focus on the Bragg case and anti-Bragg case, where subradiant and superradiant states are produced and perfect transmission with a $\pi$ phase shift may occur on resonance. We observe quantum beats in the photon-photon correlation function of the reflected field in the anti-Bragg case. Moreover, the frequencies of quantum beats can be controlled due to the tunability of the bound states via the dispersion engineering of the structure. We also observe directional photon emission in the anti-Bragg case and give the dynamic mechanism of the perfect transmission. We quantify the effects of the system imperfections, including the deviation in the distance between the two atoms and the asymmetry in the atomic decay rates into the waveguide modes. With recent experimental advances in the superconducting microwave transmission lines, our results should soon be realizable.