Abstract
Open quantum systems with chiral interactions can be realized by coupling atoms to guided radiation modes in photonic waveguides or optical fibers. In their steady state these systems can feature intricate many-body phases such as entangled dark states, but their detection and characterization remains a challenge. Here we show how such collective phenomena can be uncovered through monitoring the record of photons emitted into the guided modes. This permits the identification of dark entangled states but furthermore offers novel capabilities for probing complex dynamical behavior, such as the coexistence of a dark entangled and a mixed phase. Our results are of direct relevance for current optical experiments, as they provide a framework for probing, characterizing and classifying classical and quantum dynamical features of chiral light–matter systems.
Highlights
Introduction ce an us cri ptThe ability to interface quantum emitters with optical systems opens novel routes for investigating non-equilibrium phenomena in open condensed matter physics [1]and provides, potentially, a platform to perform quantum information processing [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]
The counting statistics of photons emitted into guided modes yields direct insights into the steady state dynamics of chiral atom chains
Does this connection allow the inference of the emergence of dark state phases, it provides in-situ access to dynamical properties and fluctuations
Summary
The ability to interface quantum emitters with optical systems opens novel routes for investigating non-equilibrium phenomena in open condensed matter physics [1]. When a chain of spins is coupled to a waveguide, under precise conditions, peculiar phases of matter can form, among them pure entangled many-body dark states that are protected from decoherence [21, 22] Such dark states find applications in quantum information processing, e.g. as a platform for the realization of quantum memories [23] and logical gates [24]. This perspective allows to probe intricate dynamical phenomena such as transitions and the coexistence between dynamical phases in the steady state In the latter case, entangled states may occur as fluctuations in an intermittent dynamics and are heralded through characteristic features of the time-resolved photon count signal. This does allow to develop an understanding of the dynamical non-equilibrium behavior of a chirally coupled atom chain, and permits to systematically assess the effect of inevitable imperfections, such as the emission of photons into unguided modes
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