Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 719–722 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Nature Photonics |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| Early online date | 21 Sept 2020 |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2020 |
Abstract
Photons in a nonlinear medium can repel or attract each other, resulting in strongly correlated quantum many-body states 1,2. Typically, such correlated states of light arise from the extreme nonlinearity granted by quantum emitters that are strongly coupled to a photonic mode 2,3. However, unavoidable dissipation (such as photon loss) blurs nonlinear quantum effects when such approaches are used. Here, we generate strongly correlated photon states using only weak coupling and taking advantage of dissipation. An ensemble of non-interacting waveguide-coupled atoms induces correlations between simultaneously arriving photons through collectively enhanced nonlinear interactions. These correlated photons experience less dissipation than the uncorrelated ones. Depending on the number of atoms, we experimentally observe strong photon bunching or antibunching of the transmitted light. This realization of a collectively enhanced nonlinearity may turn out to be transformational for quantum information science and opens new avenues for generating non-classical light, covering frequencies from the microwave to the X-ray regime.
Keywords
- quant-ph
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Materials Science(all)
- Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
- Physics and Astronomy(all)
- Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
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In: Nature Photonics, Vol. 14, No. 12, 12.2020, p. 719–722 .
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Correlating photons using the collective nonlinear response of atoms weakly coupled to an optical mode
AU - Prasad, Adarsh S.
AU - Hinney, Jakob
AU - Mahmoodian, Sahand
AU - Hammerer, Klemens
AU - Rind, Samuel
AU - Schneeweiss, Philipp
AU - Sørensen, Anders S.
AU - Volz, Jürgen
AU - Rauschenbeutel, Arno
N1 - Funding Information: We acknowledge financial support by the European Commission under the projects ErBeStA (No. 800942) and the ERC grant NanoQuaNt, by the Austrian Science Fund (DK CoQuS Project No. W 1210-N16), by the DFG through CRC 1227 DQ-mat (project A06) and by the Danish National Research Foundation (Center of Excellence Hy-Q).
PY - 2020/12
Y1 - 2020/12
N2 - Photons in a nonlinear medium can repel or attract each other, resulting in strongly correlated quantum many-body states 1,2. Typically, such correlated states of light arise from the extreme nonlinearity granted by quantum emitters that are strongly coupled to a photonic mode 2,3. However, unavoidable dissipation (such as photon loss) blurs nonlinear quantum effects when such approaches are used. Here, we generate strongly correlated photon states using only weak coupling and taking advantage of dissipation. An ensemble of non-interacting waveguide-coupled atoms induces correlations between simultaneously arriving photons through collectively enhanced nonlinear interactions. These correlated photons experience less dissipation than the uncorrelated ones. Depending on the number of atoms, we experimentally observe strong photon bunching or antibunching of the transmitted light. This realization of a collectively enhanced nonlinearity may turn out to be transformational for quantum information science and opens new avenues for generating non-classical light, covering frequencies from the microwave to the X-ray regime.
AB - Photons in a nonlinear medium can repel or attract each other, resulting in strongly correlated quantum many-body states 1,2. Typically, such correlated states of light arise from the extreme nonlinearity granted by quantum emitters that are strongly coupled to a photonic mode 2,3. However, unavoidable dissipation (such as photon loss) blurs nonlinear quantum effects when such approaches are used. Here, we generate strongly correlated photon states using only weak coupling and taking advantage of dissipation. An ensemble of non-interacting waveguide-coupled atoms induces correlations between simultaneously arriving photons through collectively enhanced nonlinear interactions. These correlated photons experience less dissipation than the uncorrelated ones. Depending on the number of atoms, we experimentally observe strong photon bunching or antibunching of the transmitted light. This realization of a collectively enhanced nonlinearity may turn out to be transformational for quantum information science and opens new avenues for generating non-classical light, covering frequencies from the microwave to the X-ray regime.
KW - quant-ph
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85091161212&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41566-020-0692-z
DO - 10.1038/s41566-020-0692-z
M3 - Article
VL - 14
SP - 719
EP - 722
JO - Nature Photonics
JF - Nature Photonics
SN - 1749-4885
IS - 12
ER -