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Quantum many-body models with cold atoms coupled to photonic crystals

Nature Photonics volume 9, pages 326–331 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Using cold atoms to simulate strongly interacting quantum systems is an exciting frontier of physics. However, because atoms are nominally neutral point particles, this limits the types of interaction that can be produced. We propose to use the powerful new platform of cold atoms trapped near nanophotonic systems to extend these limits, enabling a novel quantum material in which atomic spin degrees of freedom, motion and photons strongly couple over long distances. In this system, an atom trapped near a photonic crystal seeds a localized, tunable cavity mode around the atomic position. We find that this effective cavity facilitates interactions with other atoms within the cavity length, in a way that can be made robust against realistic imperfections. Finally, we show that such phenomena should be accessible using one-dimensional photonic crystal waveguides in which coupling to atoms has already been experimentally demonstrated.

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Figure 1: From cavity-QED to atom-induced cavities in photonic crystals.
Figure 2: Effective cavity mode properties.
Figure 3: Comparison of the single-band model with numerical calculations.
Figure 4: Designing interaction potentials.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank L. Tagliacozzo, P. Hauke, M. Lewenstein, A. González-Tudela, J.I. Cirac, L. Jiang, J. Preskill, O. Painter, M. Lukin, J. Thompson and S. Gopalakrishnan for discussions. This work was supported by Fundacio Privada Cellex Barcelona, the MINECO Ramon y Cajal Program, the Marie Curie Career Integration Grant, the IQIM, an NSF Physics Frontiers Center, the DoD NSSEFF programme, DARPA ORCHID, AFOSR QuMPASS MURI, NSF PHY-1205729, NSF PFC at the JQI, NSF PIF, ARO, AFOSR, ARL and AFOSR MURI on Ultracold Polar Molecules.

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Author notes

  1. C.-L. Hung

    Present address: Present address: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICFO-Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, Castelldefels, 08860, Barcelona, Spain

    J. S. Douglas, H. Habibian & D. E. Chang

  2. Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physics and Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, 91125, California, USA

    C.-L. Hung & H. J. Kimble

  3. Joint Quantum Institute and Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, NIST/University of Maryland, College Park, 20742, Maryland, USA

    A. V. Gorshkov

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J.S.D., H.H. and C.-L.H. performed the calculations. All authors contributed ideas. J.S.D. and D.E.C. wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to J. S. Douglas.

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Douglas, J., Habibian, H., Hung, CL. et al. Quantum many-body models with cold atoms coupled to photonic crystals. Nature Photon 9, 326–331 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2015.57

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