CAREER: Strongly Correlated Photons in Microwave Cavities and Coupled Cavity Arrays

*****非技术摘要*****本学院早期职业奖支持一个旨在了解光子开始相互作用时出现的光的物质性质的项目。虽然科学家们已经对单个粒子的物理学有了很好的理解，但当这些粒子开始相互作用时，问题就变得复杂得多。被称为光子的光粒子提供了一种独特的工具，用于研究当相互作用开启时系统的行为是如何变化的，因为它们彼此之间并不自然地相互作用。通过该奖项，将构建具有强光子相互作用的系统，并测量这些相互作用光子的新行为。据信，当相互作用开启时，光子将经历相变，表现得更像物质而不是光。该奖项的主要目标是通过实验证明这种效应。这个研究项目将被整合到一个教育项目中，旨在提高各个层次的技术教育：研究生、本科生、K-12和普通兴趣。通过研究生和本科生的研究机会，该奖项将在凝聚态物理和量子光学方面创造特定的专业知识，并培养学生普遍适用的技术技能，包括纳米和微制造以及高精度数据采集和分析。K-12教育和一般推广将通过普林斯顿复杂材料中心的平台进行整合。该奖项得到了材料研究和物理部门的支持。*****技术摘要*****本学院早期职业奖支持一个旨在了解超导微波腔阵列中光子之间强相互作用影响的项目。一段时间以来，强相关性一直处于凝聚态物理的前沿，许多问题仍然证明难以从理论上解决。该项目将为耦合腔阵列中光子相关状态的物理学提供实验见解，这是一个理论基础不断发展但迄今为止实验很少的领域。当光子-光子相互作用很大时，光的类物质性质如量子相变有望出现。虽然光子通常不会相互作用，但有效的光子相互作用将通过实现电路量子电动力学系统来实现，其中光子与超导量子比特强耦合。主要的研究目标是通过实验探索这些相关的光子效应。具体的研究目标包括：(1)探测单腔内强非共振相互作用造成的光子阻塞；(2)展示耦合腔阵列中光的相变。更广泛地说，这些实验将为研究具有强相互作用的量子化光子系统中出现的奇异相关光子态奠定基础。这些研究成果将被整合到一个教育项目中，旨在提高各级技术教育：研究生、本科生、K-12和一般兴趣，包括研究生和本科生的研究机会，并通过普林斯顿复杂材料中心的平台进行推广。该奖项得到了材料研究和物理部门的支持。

*****NON-TECHNICAL ABSTRACT*****This Faculty Early Career Award supports a project aiming to understand the matter-like properties of light that emerge when photons begin to interact with one another. While scientists have developed a good understanding of the physics of individual particles, problems become vastly more complicated when these particles begin to interact. Particles of light, called photons, provide a unique tool for studying how the behavior of a system changes as interactions are turned on, as they do not naturally interact with one another. Through this award, systems that can have strong photon interactions will be constructed, and the novel behavior of these interacting photons will be measured. It is believed that, when interactions are turned on, photons will undergo phase transitions, acting more like matter than light. The primary goal of this award is to demonstrate this effect experimentally. This research program will be integrated into an educational program that aims to improve technical education at all levels: graduate, undergraduate, K-12, and general interest. Through graduate and undergraduate research opportunities, this award will create specific expertise in condensed matter physics and quantum optics, and train students in generally applicable technical skills, including nano- and microfabrication and high precision data acquisitions and analysis. K-12 education and general outreach will be incorporated through the platform of the Princeton Center for Complex Materials. This award receives support from the Divisions of Materials Research and Physics.*****TECHNICAL ABSTRACT*****This Faculty Early Career Award supports a project aiming to understand the effects of strong interactions between photons in arrays of superconducting microwave cavities. Strong correlations have remained at the forefront of condensed matter physics for some time, with many problems still proving difficult to solve theoretically. This project will provide experimental insight into the physics of correlated states of photons in coupled cavity arrays, a field that has a growing theoretical foundation but little experiment thus far. When photon-photon interactions are large, matter-like properties of light such as quantum phase transitions are expected to emerge. Although photons do not in general interact, effective photon interactions will be achieved by implementing a circuit quantum electrodynamics system, in which photons are strongly coupled to a superconducting qubit. The primary research goal is to experimentally probe these correlated photon effects. Specific research goals include (1) probing photon blockade due to strong off-resonant interactions in a single cavity and (2) demonstrating phase transitions of light in coupled cavity arrays. More broadly, these experiments will lay the groundwork for studies of the exotic correlated photon states that emerge from quantized photonic systems with strong interactions. These research results will be integrated into an educational program that aims to improve technical education at all levels: graduate, undergraduate, K-12, and general interest, including graduate and undergraduate research opportunities and outreach through the platform of the Princeton Center for Complex Materials. This award receives support from the Divisions of Materials Research and Physics.