LEAPS-MPS: Entanglement, Transport and Collective Effects in Few-Photon Many-Emitter Chiral Waveguide Quantum Electrodynamics

该奖项全部或部分由《2021年美国救援计划法案》（公法117-2）资助。在最小尺度的光-物质相互作用的基础研究中，建立光（量子化电磁辐射）和单原子（量子发射器）之间强耦合的要求是普遍存在的。通常，这种相互作用被简化为单模场被困在光学腔内并与单个原子耦合的场景。然而，最近在量子计算和量子网络方面的进展需要100-1000个量子比特（量子位）的相干控制，从而有可能在100公里以上进行可靠的量子通信。在这种情况下，多发射器波导量子电动力学（一维波导/光纤与原子链强耦合）已经成为一个迷人的平台，因为它能够在单个设置中承载几种有用的量子效应（例如量子相关性，纠缠，原子-光子束缚态形成，单向光-物质相互作用或手性，受控光子传输和集体光子发射等）。本项目旨在研究单向或手性波导量子电动力学结构，作为研究环境相互作用影响下的多体量子光学效应的实验平台。该项目的完成将导致更强大的理论和数值工具的发展，这些工具将超越量子光学中典型的单原子单模场相互作用范式，并将适用于最先进和未来的量子技术设备的检查。该项目包括在迈阿密大学物理系开展一项为期两年的整合量子光学和量子信息科学（QIS）研究和教育的计划。随着对国家量子计划的兴趣和投资的增加，有必要培训QIS的下一代劳动力。该奖项将通过在高中和本科阶段直接接触历史上代表性不足的学生，提供这样的培训机会。为了进一步扩展外展计划，PI将开发在线和面对面的模块，通过迈阿密大学暑期学者计划向高中生开放，通过迈阿密大学电子学习部门向本科生开放。特别地，这里提出的研究旨在：(1)对手性波导中与多个噪声量子发射体同时耦合的几个（一个、两个或三个）光子Fock态的量子输运特性进行深入的理论研究；(2)分析几种量子效应的产生和控制，如发射体之间的纠缠、集体发射体效应（超辐射、亚辐射、选择性辐射）和发射体-腔束缚态等。开放量子系统方法（马尔可夫和非马尔可夫主方程、实空间量化技术和量子跃迁方法）将利用反射和透射光谱、二阶相关函数来量化光子输运，并预测发射器-波导系统的时间演化。在项目的每个阶段，所获得的结果与量子信息传输、存储和处理协议的实验可行应用的联系也将得到强调。此外，在完成该项目的目标的同时，PI将在迈阿密大学培养一组由两名研究生和六名本科生组成的量子信息科学小组。PI还将在各种本科物理课程中引入量子计算的概念，并将通过迈阿密大学暑期学者计划为未被充分代表的高中生群体提供量子计算模块。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). The requirement of establishing a strong coupling between light (quantized electromagnetic radiation) and single atoms (quantum emitters) is ubiquitous in the fundamental studies of light-matter interaction at the smallest scale. Typically, this interaction is simplified to a scenario of single-mode fields trapped inside optical cavities and coupled with a single atom. However, the recent advancements in quantum computing and quantum networking are requiring the coherent control of 100-1000 quantum bits (qubits) with the possibility of reliable quantum communication over 100s kilometers. In this context, multiple-emitter waveguide quantum electrodynamics (one-dimensional waveguides/fibers strongly coupled with a chain of atoms) has emerged as a fascinating platform due to its ability to host several useful quantum effects (such as quantum correlations e.g., entanglement, atom-photon bound state formation, one-way light-matter interaction or chirality, controlled photon transport, and collective photon emission, etc.) in a single setup. This project aims to study one-way or chiral waveguide quantum electrodynamics architectures as a testbed to investigate many-body quantum optical effects under the influence of environmental interactions. The completion of this project will result in the development of more powerful theoretical and numerical tools that will go beyond the typical single-atom single-mode field interaction paradigm of quantum optics and will be suitable for the examination of the state-of-the-art and futuristic quantum technological devices. The project includes the development of a two-year program of integrating research and education in quantum optics and quantum information science (QIS) in the Physics Department at Miami University. With the growing interest and investment in the National Quantum Initiative, there is a demand for training the next generation of workforce in QIS. This award will offer such training opportunities by engaging historically underrepresented students through direct outreach at the high school and undergraduate levels. To further extend the outreach program, the PI will develop online and face-to-face modules accessible to high school students through the Miami University Summer Scholar Program and undergrad students through the Miami University eLearning department. In particular, the proposed research here aims to: (1) perform an in-depth theoretical study of the quantum transport properties of few (one, two, or three)-photon Fock states in chiral waveguides that are simultaneously coupled with several noisy quantum emitters, and to (2) analyze the generation and control of several types of quantum effects such as entanglement between emitters, collective emitter effects (superradiance, subradiance, selective radiance), and emitter-cavity bound states, etc. Open quantum system approaches (Markovian and non-Markovian master equations, real-space quantization technique, and quantum jump approach) will be utilized to quantify the photon transport in terms of reflection and transmission spectra, second-order correlation functions as well as to predict the time evolution of emitter- waveguide systems. At every stage of the project, the connection of the results obtained with the experimentally feasible applications in quantum information transfer, storage, and processing protocols will also be emphasized. Additionally, while accomplishing the goals of the project, the PI will train a group of two graduate and six undergraduate students in quantum information science at Miami University. The PI will also introduce concepts of quantum computation in various undergraduate-level physics courses and will offer quantum computing modules for underrepresented groups of high school students through the Miami University Summer Scholar Program.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.