Final published version
Licence: CC BY: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Subradiance-protected excitation spreading in the generation of collimated photon emission from an atomic array
AU - Ballantine, Kyle
AU - Ruostekoski, Janne
PY - 2020/4/27
Y1 - 2020/4/27
N2 - We show how an initial localized radiative excitation in a two-dimensional array of cold atoms can be converted into highly directional coherent emission of light by protecting the spreading of the excitation across the array in a subradiant collective eigenmode with a lifetime orders of magnitude longer than that of an isolated atom. We demonstrate how to reach two such strongly subradiant modes, a uniform one where all the dipoles are oscillating in phase normal to the plane and an antiferromagnetic mode where each dipole is π out of phase with its nearest neighbor. The excitation, which can consist of a single photon, is then released from the protected subradiant eigenmode by controlling the Zeeman level shifts of the atoms. Hence, an original localized excitation which emits in all directions is transferred to a delocalized subradiance-protected excitation, with a probabilistic emission of a photon only along the axis perpendicular to the plane of the atoms. This protected spreading and directional emission could potentially be used to link stages in a quantum information or quantum computing architecture.
AB - We show how an initial localized radiative excitation in a two-dimensional array of cold atoms can be converted into highly directional coherent emission of light by protecting the spreading of the excitation across the array in a subradiant collective eigenmode with a lifetime orders of magnitude longer than that of an isolated atom. We demonstrate how to reach two such strongly subradiant modes, a uniform one where all the dipoles are oscillating in phase normal to the plane and an antiferromagnetic mode where each dipole is π out of phase with its nearest neighbor. The excitation, which can consist of a single photon, is then released from the protected subradiant eigenmode by controlling the Zeeman level shifts of the atoms. Hence, an original localized excitation which emits in all directions is transferred to a delocalized subradiance-protected excitation, with a probabilistic emission of a photon only along the axis perpendicular to the plane of the atoms. This protected spreading and directional emission could potentially be used to link stages in a quantum information or quantum computing architecture.
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.023086
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.023086
M3 - Journal article
VL - 2
JO - Physical Review Research
JF - Physical Review Research
SN - 2643-1564
IS - 2
M1 - 023086
ER -