Coherent and Collective Quantum Optical Effects in Mesoscopic Systems

TL;DR

This review explores how coherent and collective quantum optical phenomena manifest in mesoscopic systems, emphasizing their implications for electronic transport, quantum dissipation, and connections across quantum physics disciplines.

Contribution

It synthesizes recent theoretical advances and physical realizations of quantum optical effects in mesoscopic systems, linking concepts from quantum transport, optics, and information theory.

Findings

Identification of new physical realizations of superradiance and dark states in nano-systems.

Application of theoretical tools like Master equations and polaron transformations to describe dissipative quantum phenomena.

Demonstration of the relevance of quantum optical effects for electronic transport and quantum information processing.

Abstract

A review of coherent and collective quantum optical effects like superradiance and coherent population trapping in mesoscopic systems is presented. Various new physical realizations of these phenomena are discussed, with a focus on their role for electronic transport and quantum dissipation in coupled nano-scale systems like quantum dots. A number of theoretical tools such as Master equations, polaron transformations, correlation functions, or level statistics are used to describe recent work on dissipative charge qubits (double quantum dots), the Dicke effect, phonon cavities, single oscillators, dark states and adiabatic control in quantum transport, and large spin-boson models. The review attempts to establish connections between concepts from Mesoscopics (quantum transport, coherent scattering, quantum chaos), Quantum Optics (such as superradiance, dark states, boson cavities), and (in its last part) Quantum Information Theory.