Abstract
Recent advances in nanofabrication and optical manipulation techniques are making it possible to build arrays of quantum emitters with accurate control over the locations of their individual elements. In analogy with classical antenna arrays, this poses new opportunities for tailoring quantum interference effects by designing the geometry of the array. Here, we investigate the N th -order directional correlation function of the photons emitted by an array of N initially-excited identical quantum emitters, addressing the impact of the appearance of grating lobes. Our analysis reveals that the absence of directivity in the first-order correlation function is contrasted by an enhanced directivity in the N th -order one. This suggests that the emitted light consists of a superposition of directionally entangled photon bunches. Moreover, the photon correlation landscape changes radically with the appearance of grating lobes. In fact, the photons no longer tend to be bunched along the same direction; rather, they are distributed in a set of correlated directions with equal probability. These results clarify basic aspects of light emission from ensembles of quantum emitters. Furthermore, they may find applications in the design of nonclassical light sources.
Highlights
Collective light emission effects arising from ensembles of quantum emitters are of great relevance from both fundamental and technological points of view
From a more practical perspective, the emission properties of ensembles of quantum emitters are relevant for the design of nonclassical light sources, which are of general interest for quantum technologies [11,12,13]
The photon emission occurs in correlated directions that depend on the geometry of the array. (b) Conceptual sketch of directional photon bunching
Summary
Collective light emission effects arising from ensembles of quantum emitters are of great relevance from both fundamental and technological points of view. It is likely that future advances will provide even finer control over the position and emission properties of arrays of quantum emitters. In an analogous but essentially different manner, the geometry of quantum antenna arrays can be designed to provide control over the directional properties of the correlations between their measured photons. We note that other recent works have pursued antenna array concepts for analyzing the emission from arrays of quantum emitters, either to shape the emission of a single photon [28,29] or to control two-photon correlations by either designing the initial state [30] or continuously driving one element and controlling the interactions [31].
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