Quantum optics without photons

González Tudela, Alejandro; Cirac, J. Ignacio

doi:10.1038/d41586-018-05738-1

NEWS AND VIEWS
25 July 2018

Quantum optics without photons

Atoms can exhibit wave-like behaviour to form matter waves. Such waves have been used to model the basic processes that underpin how light interacts with matter, providing an experimental platform for future research.

Alejandro González Tudela⁰ &
J. Ignacio Cirac¹

Alejandro González Tudela
1. Alejandro González Tudela is in the Theory Division of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, Garching, D-85748 Germany.
View author publications

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar
J. Ignacio Cirac
1. J. Ignacio Cirac is in the Theory Division of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, Garching, D-85748 Germany.
View author publications

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Access through your institution

Buy or subscribe

The fundamental theory that describes the interaction between light and matter at microscopic scales is known as quantum optics. One of the most striking and tangible consequences of this theory is that excited atoms in the quantum electrodynamic vacuum — a state that contains no photons, often referred to simply as the vacuum — can decay to their ground state by emitting a photon, a process called spontaneous emission. In 1946, physicist Edward Mills Purcell proposed that this process can be tailored by structures that alter the photonic environment¹, such as photonic crystals², engineered dielectrics (insulators) in which light cannot propagate at certain frequency ranges. In the 1990s, it was predicted³ that spontaneous emission in photonic crystals leads to exotic decays, in which photons adopt a ‘superposition’ state in which they are simultaneously emitted into the surrounding environment but also localized around the emitting atoms. In a paper in Nature, Krinner et al.⁴ report the first observation of the dynamics of these exotic decays, not using photons, but using a system of trapped, ultracold atoms.

Access options

Access through your institution

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 559, 481-482 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-05738-1

References

Purcell, E. M. Phys. Rev. 69, 681 (1946).
Article Google Scholar
Yablonovitch, E. Phys. Rev. Lett. 58, 2059 (1987).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
John, S. & Quang, T. Phys. Rev. A 50, 1764 (1994).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Krinner, L., Stewart, M., Pazmiño, A., Kwon, J. & Schneble, D. Nature 559, 589–592 (2018).
Article Google Scholar
Bloch, I., Dalibard, J. & Zwerger, W. Rev. Mod. Phys. 80, 885 (2008).
Article Google Scholar
De Vega, I., Porras, D. & Cirac, J. I. Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 260404 (2008).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Hood, J. D. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 113, 10507 (2016).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Hoeppe, U. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 043603 (2012).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Liu, Y. & Houck, A. A. Nature Phys. 13, 48–52 (2017).
Article Google Scholar
González-Tudela, A. & Cirac, J. I. Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 143602 (2017).
Article PubMed Google Scholar
González-Tudela, A. & Cirac, J. I. Phys. Rev. A 97, 043831 (2018).
Article Google Scholar