Topological plasmons in dimerized chains of nanoparticles: robustness against long-range quasistatic interactions and retardation effects

We present a simple model of collective plasmons in a dimerized chain of spherical metallic nanoparticles, an elementary example of a topologically nontrivial nanoplasmonic system. Taking into account long-range quasistatic dipolar interactions throughout the chain, we provide an exact analytical expression for the full quasistatic bandstructure of the collective plasmons. An explicit calculation of the Zak phase proves the robustness of the topological physics of the system against the inclusion of long-range Coulomb interactions, despite the broken chiral symmetry. Using an open quantum systems approach, which includes retardation through the plasmon–photon coupling, we go on to analytically evaluate the resulting radiative frequency shifts of the plasmonic spectrum. The bright plasmonic bands experience size-dependent radiative shifts, while the dark bands are essentially unaffected by the light-matter coupling. Notably, the upper transverse-polarized band presents a logarithmic singularity where the quasistatic spectrum intersects the light cone. At wavevectors away from this intersection and for subwavelength nanoparticles, the plasmon–photon coupling only leads to a quantitative reconstruction of the bandstructure and the topologically-protected states at the edge of the first Brillouin zone are essentially unaffected.     

Shedding light on correlated electron–photon states using the exact factorization

The exact factorization framework is extended and utilized to introduce the electronic-states of correlated electron–photon systems. The formal definitions of an exact scalar potential and an exact vector potential that account for the electron–photon correlation are given. Inclusion of these potentials to the Hamiltonian of the uncoupled electronic system leads to a purely electronic Schrödinger equation that uniquely determines the electronic states of the complete electron–photon system. For a one-dimensional asymmetric double-well potential coupled to a single photon mode with resonance frequency, we investigate the features of the exact scalar potential. In particular, we discuss the significance of the step-and-peak structure of the exact scalar potential in describing the phenomena of photon-assisted delocalization and polaritonic squeezing of the electronic excited-states. In addition, we develop an analytical approximation for the scalar potential and demonstrate how the step-and-peak features of the exact scalar potential are captured by the proposed analytical expression.     

Light-matter interactions within the Ehrenfest–Maxwell–Pauli–Kohn–Sham framework: fundamentals,implementation, and nano-optical applications

In recent years significant experimental advances in nano-scale fabrication techniques and in available light sources have opened the possibility to study a vast set of novel light-matter interaction scenarios, including strong coupling cases. In many situations nowadays, classical electromagnetic modeling is insufficient as quantum effects, both in matter and light, start to play an important role. Instead, a fully self-consistent and microscopic coupling of light and matter becomes necessary. We provide here a critical review of current approaches for electromagnetic modeling, highlighting their limitations. We show how to overcome these limitations by introducing the theoretical foundations and the implementation details of a density-functional approach for coupled photons, electrons, and effective nuclei in non-relativistic quantum electrodynamics. Starting point of the formalism is a generalization of the Pauli–Fierz field theory for which we establish a one-to-one correspondence between external fields and internal variables. Based on this correspondence, we introduce a Kohn-Sham construction which provides a computationally feasible approach for ab-initio light-matter interactions. In the mean-field limit, the formalism reduces to coupled Ehrenfest–Maxwell–Pauli–Kohn–Sham equations. We present an implementation of the approach in the real-space real-time code Octopus using the Riemann–Silberstein formulation of classical electrodynamics to rewrite Maxwell's equations in Schrödinger form. This allows us to use existing very efficient time-evolution algorithms developed for quantum-mechanical systems also for Maxwell's equations. We show how to couple the time-evolution of the electromagnetic fields self-consistently with the quantum time-evolution of the electrons and nuclei. This approach is ideally suited for applications in nano-optics, nano-plasmonics, (photo) electrocatalysis, light-matter coupling in 2D materials, cases where laser pulses carry orbital angular momentum, or light-tailored chemical reactions in optical cavities just to name but a few.     

Dynamics of a two-level system coupled to a quantum oscillator: transformed rotating-wave approximation

For studying the dynamics of a two-level system coupled to a quantum oscillator we have presented an analytical approach, the transformed rotating-wave approximation, which takes into account the effect of the counter-rotating terms but still keeps the simple mathematical structure of the ordinary rotating-wave approximation. We have calculated the energy levels of ground and lower-lying excited states, as well as the time-dependent quantum dynamics. It is obvious that the approach is quite simple and can be easily extended to more complicated situation. Besides, the results are compared with the numerically exact ones to show that for weak to intermediate coupling and moderate detuning our analytic calculations are quantitatively in good agreement with the exact ones.     

Spinning microresonator-induced chiral optical transmission

Chiral quantum optics is a new research area in light-matter interaction that depends on the direction of light propagation and offers a new path for the quantum regulation of light-matter interactions. In this paper, we study a spinning Kerr-type microresonator coupled with Λ-type atom ensembles, which are driven in opposite directions to generate asymmetric photon statistics. We find that a photon blockade can only be generated by driving the spinning resonator on right side without driving the spinning microresonator from the left side, resulting in chirality. The coupling strength between system modes can be precisely controlled by adjusting the detuning amount of the atomic pump field. Because of the splitting of the resonant frequency generated by the Fizeau drag, the destructive quantum interference generated in right side drive prevents the nonresonant transition path of state |1,0⟩ to state |2,0⟩. This direction-dependent chiral quantum optics is expected to be applied to chiral optical devices, single-photon sources and nonreciprocal quantum communications.     

Dispersion management for atomic matter waves

We demonstrate the control of the dispersion of matter wave packets utilizing periodic potentials. This is analogous to the technique of dispersion management known in photon optics. Matter wave packets are realized by Bose-Einstein condensates of 87Rb in an optical dipole potential acting as a one-dimensional waveguide. A weak optical lattice is used to control the dispersion relation of the matter waves during the propagation of the wave packets. The dynamics are observed in position space and interpreted using the concept of effective mass. By switching from positive to negative effective mass, the dynamics can be reversed. The breakdown of the approximation of constant, as well as experimental signatures of an infinite effective mass are studied.     

Dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates near Feshbach resonance in external potential

We review our recent theoretical advances in the dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates with tunable interactions using Feshbach resonance and external potential. A set of analytic and numerical methods for Gross-Pitaevskii equations are developed to study the nonlinear dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates. Analytically, we present the integrable conditions for the Gross-Pitaevskii equations with tunable interactions and external potential, and obtain a family of exact analytical solutions for one- and two-component Bose-Einstein condensates in one and two-dimensional cases. Then we apply these models to investigate the dynamics of solitons and collisions between two solitons. Numerically, the stability of the analytic exact solutions are checked and the phenomena, such as the dynamics and modulation of the ring dark soliton and vector-soliton, soliton conversion via Feshbach resonance, quantized soliton and vortex in quasi-two-dimensional are also investigated. Both the exact and numerical solutions show that the dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates can be effectively controlled by the Feshbach resonance and external potential, which offer a good opportunity for manipulation of atomic matter waves and nonlinear excitations in Bose-Einstein condensates.     

Exact and approximate results of non-extensive quantum statistics

We develop an analytical technique to derive explicit forms of thermodynamical quantities within the asymptotic approach to non-extensive quantum distribution functions. Using it, we find an expression for the number of particles in a boson system which we compare with other approximate scheme (i.e. factorization approach), and with the recently obtained exact result. To do this, we investigate the predictions on Bose-Einstein condensation and the blackbody radiation. We find that both approximation techniques give results similar to (up to ) the exact ones, making them a useful tool for computations. Because of the simplicity of the factorization approach formulae, it appears that this is the easiest way to handle with physical systems which might exhibit slight deviations from extensivity. Received 19 August 1999 and Received in final form 1 November 1999     

Two quasiparticle scattering and pairing in neutron matter with Skyrme interactions

Pairing matrix elements in neutron matter are computed employing Skyrme interactions under different approaches. We compare the pairing strengths calculated from the exact scattering amplitudes to those obtained as one neglects the integral kernel of the Bethe-Salpeter equation, and to the matrix element of the bare particle-particle interaction with and without rearrangement contribution. The effect upon the gap is analyzed in the frame of the simple weak coupling approximation, in order to indicate possible outcomes of more refined treatments of the pairing problem.     

二能级系统的马尔可夫与非马尔可夫方法比较

分别用马尔可夫与非马尔可夫方法推导出二能级系统与库相互作用的耗散动力学,并把失谐谱密度与一个光子带隙的谱密度下的计算结果与精确解进行比较。对于失谐谱密度,分别讨论在马尔可夫与非马尔可夫库的激发态布居数,发现无论是短时的弱耦合区域,还是长时间的强耦合区域,非马尔可夫方法比马尔可夫方法更加接近精确解,而马尔可夫近似主要适用于弱耦合条件;对于光子带隙谱密度,主要考虑了小带宽的布居数,结果显示马尔可夫方法主要适用于弱耦合条件,而非马尔可夫方法主要适用于强耦合情形。结果表明:对于不同谱密度、不同的耦合区域,只有选择合适的马尔可夫或非马尔可夫方法才能精确描述系统的动力学。     

Photon statistics for single-molecule nonlinear spectroscopy

We develop the theory of nonlinear spectroscopy for a single molecule undergoing stochastic dynamics and interacting with a sequence of two laser pulses. We find general expressions for the photon counting statistics and the exact solution to the problem for the Kubo-Anderson process. In the limit of impulsive pulses the information on the photon statistics is contained in the molecule's dipole correlation function. The selective limit, the semiclassical approximation, and the fast modulation limit exhibit rich general behaviors of this new type of spectroscopy. We show how the design of external fields leads to insights on ultrafast dynamics of individual molecules that are different from those found for an ensemble.     

Detecting a single atom in a cavity using the χ(2) nonlinear medium

We propose a protocol for detecting a single atom in a cavity with the help of the χ⁽²⁾ nonlinear medium. When the χ⁽²⁾ nonlinear medium is driven by an external laser field, the cavity mode will be squeezed, and thus one can obtain an exponentially enhanced light-matter coupling. Such a strong coupling between the atom and the cavity field can significantly change the output photon flux, the quantum fluctuations, the quantum statistical property, and the photon number distributions of the cavity field. This provides practical strategies to determine the presence or absence of an atom in a cavity. The proposed protocol exhibits some advantages, such as controllable squeezing strength and exponential increase of atom-cavity coupling strength, which make the experimental phenomenon more obvious. We hope that this protocol can supplement the existing intracavity single-atom detection protocols and provide a promise for quantum sensing in different quantum systems.     

An Analytical Self-consistent Solution for the Free Energy of a 1-D Chain of Atoms Including Anharmonic Effects

The self-consistent method of lattice dynamics (SCLD) is used to obtain an analytical solution for the free energy of a periodic, one-dimensional, mono-atomic chain accounting for fourth-order anharmonic effects. For nearest-neighbor interactions, a closed-form analytical solution is obtained. In the case where more distant interactions are considered, a system of coupled nonlinear algebraic equations is obtained (as in the standard SCLD method) however with the number of equations dramatically reduced. The analytical SCLD solutions are compared with a numerical evaluation of the exact solution for simple cases and with molecular dynamics simulation results for a large system. The advantages of SCLD over methods based on the harmonic approximation are discussed as well as some limitations of the approach.     

Indirect strong coupling regime between a quantum emitter and a cavity mediated by a mechanical resonator

Achieving strong coupling between light and matter is usually a challenge in Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics (cQED), especially in solid state systems. For this reason is useful taking advantage of alternative approaches to reach this regime, and then, generate reliable quantum polaritons. In this work we study a system composed of a quantized single mode of a mechanical resonator interacting linearly with both a single mode cavity and a quantum two-level system. In particular, we focus on the behavior of the indirect light-matter interaction when the phonon mode interfaces both parts. By diagonalization of the Hamiltonian and computing the density matrix in a master equation approach, we evidence several features of strong coupling between photons and matter excitations. For large energy detuning between the cavity and the mechanical resonator it is obtained a phonon-dispersive effective Hamiltonian which is able to retrieve much of the physics of the conventional Jaynes–Cummings model (JCM). In order to characterize this mediated coupling, we make a quantitative comparison between both models and analyze light-matter entanglement and purity of the system leading to similar results in cQED.     

Photonic realization of the quantum Rabi model

We realize a photonic analog simulator of the quantum Rabi model, based on light transport in femtosecond-laser-written waveguide superlattices, which provides an experimentally accessible test bed to explore the physics of light-matter interaction in the deep strong coupling regime. Our optical setting enables us to visualize dynamical regimes not yet accessible in cavity or circuit quantum electrodynamics, such as the bouncing of photon number wave packets in parity chains of Hilbert space.     

Entanglement of a General Formalism V-Type Three-Level Atom Interacting with a Single-Mode Field in the Presence of Nonlinearities

We investigate the evolution of the atomic quantum entropy and the atom-field entanglement in a system of a V-configuration three-level atom interacting with a single-mode field with additional forms of nonlinearities of both the field and the intensity-dependent atom-field coupling. With the derivation of the unitary operator within the frame of the dressed state and the exact results for the state of the system we perform a careful investigation of the temporal evolution of the entropy. A factorization of the initial density operator is assumed, considering the field to be initially in a squeezed coherent or binomial state. The effects of the mean photon number, detuning, Kerr-like medium and the intensity-dependent coupling functional on the entropy are analyzed.     

Rabi模型的光场压缩

电路量子电动力学的实验实现了光与人造原子的超强耦合相互作用, 相互作用强度与光场频率在同一个数量级.在超强耦合区域, 著名的旋波近似失效, 因此系统的动力学必须用含有反旋波项的Rabi模型描述.本文研究Rabi模型中的光场压缩.数值模拟结果发现, 光场压缩不是随耦合强度线性增加, 而是在合适的超强区域获得最大值.同时, 我们还发现, 较小的反旋波项有助于提高光场压缩.所得结果有利于实验上在超强区域中制备所需的压缩态. 关键词： Rabi模型 超强耦合 光场压缩     

Statistical characteristics of photon distributions in a semi-infinite turbid medium: Analytical expressions and their application to optical tomography

The paper focuses on the determination of statistical characteristics of photon distributions in a semi-infinite turbid medium, specifically the photon average trajectory and the root-mean-square deviation of photons from the average trajectory, with an approach based on the diffusion approximation to the radiative transfer equation. We show that the Dirichlet and Robin boundary conditions used for this purpose give close results. We derive exact analytical expressions for the case of the Dirichlet boundary condition. To demonstrate the practical value of our results we consider approximate solution of the inverse problem of time-domain diffuse optical tomography with the flat layer transmission geometry. The problem is solved with the method of photon average trajectories which are constructed with analytical expressions derived for a semi-infinite medium.     

Formation of parametric solitons in coupled atom–molecule quantum gases via controlled nonlinear interactions

We consider an atomic Bose–Einstein condensate parametrically coupled to a molecular condensate with tunable interactions. The space distribution and nonlinear dynamics of this coupled system, especially the parametric solitons, are investigated within the full parameter space accounts for all the nonlinear two-body collisions, together with the atom–molecule conversion coupling and the bare formation energy of the molecular species. The results show that the exact parametric solitons can be formed via controlled nonlinear interactions, and the atom–molecule transfer term can provide an effective potential which can be used to stable the coupled system even in the absence of the external potential. We also give an experimental setup and detection of the atomic–molecular Bose–Einstein condensates in future experiments.