Quantum dynamics of coupled quasinormal modes and quantum emitters interacting via finite-delay propagating photons

TL;DR

This paper develops a time-dependent quantum theory for interactions between spatially separated lossy cavities and quantum emitters via finite-delay propagating photons, incorporating quasinormal modes and non-bosonic operators.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive framework describing retarded inter-cavity and emitter interactions mediated by traveling photons using quantized quasinormal modes.

Findings

Full description of retarded inter-cavity dynamics via system-bath correlation functions

Inclusion of emitter-field coupling leading to bath- and QNM-mediated interactions

Framework applicable to spatially separated lossy cavities and embedded emitters

Abstract

A time-dependent theory for the interactions between spatially separated lossy cavities in a homogeneous background medium using quantized quasinormal modes (QNMs) is presented. The cavities interact via a bath of traveling photons, described by non-bosonic operators that are orthogonal to the open-cavity QNMs. The retarded (i.e., time-delayed) inter-cavity dynamics are fully described by system-bath correlation functions, in which the emission from one cavity appears as the input field for another. Coupling between quantum emitters (described as two-level systems), placed inside a cavity or embedded in an external medium, and the electromagnetic field (cavity modes and bath photons) is included in the theory, which gives rise to both bath-mediated and QNM-mediated interactions between the emitters.