Control of spontaneously emitted light lies at the heart of quantum optics. It is essential for diverse applications ranging from miniature lasers and light-emitting diodes, to single-photon sources for quantum information, and to solar energy harvesting. To explore such new quantum optics applications, a suitably tailored dielectric environment is required in which the vacuum fluctuations that control spontaneous emission can be manipulated. Photonic crystals provide such an environment: they strongly modify the vacuum fluctuations, causing the decay of emitted light to be accelerated or slowed down, to reveal unusual statistics, or to be completely inhibited in the ideal case of a photonic bandgap. Here we study spontaneous emission from semiconductor quantum dots embedded in inverse opal photonic crystals. We show that the spectral distribution and time-dependent decay of light emitted from excitons confined in the quantum dots are controlled by the host photonic crystal. Modified emission is observed over large frequency bandwidths of 10%, orders of magnitude larger than reported for resonant optical microcavities. Both inhibited and enhanced decay rates are observed depending on the optical emission frequency, and they are controlled by the crystals’ lattice parameter. Our experimental results provide a basis for all-solid-state dynamic control
of optical quantum systems.

Controlling the dynamics of spontaneous emission from quantum dots by photonic crystals

As stated in the text, Figs. 3 and 4 (transmission versus probe laser detuning) were taken at an energy of 10 nJ in a 0.5-mm-diam beam. We should have noted that when the probe energy is increased to 150 n3 (— 10" W/cm ) the absorption cross section at the transmission maximum increases by a factor of approximately 2. At this energy density, with or without the coupling laser present, transmitted probe energy is no longer linear with incident probe energy.

Observation of Electromagnetically Induced Transparency in Collisionally Broadened Lead Vapor

Knowledge of the dynamical behavior of correlations with no classical counterpart, like entanglement, nonlocal correlations and quantum discord, in open quantum systems is of primary interest because of the possibility to exploit these correlations for quantum information tasks. Here we review some of the most recent results on the dynamics of correlations in bipartite systems embedded in non-Markovian environments that, with their memory effects, influence in a relevant way the system dynamics and appear to be more fundamental than the Markovian ones for practical purposes. Firstly, we review the phenomenon of entanglement revivals in a two-qubit system for both independent environments and a common environment. We then consider the dynamics of quantum discord in non-Markovian dephasing channel and briefly discuss the occurrence of revivals of quantum correlations in classical environments.

Dynamics of quantum correlations in two-qubit systems within non-markovian environments

The quantum theory of the spontaneous emission (SpE) in the optical microscopic cavity (microcavity) is reported we believe for the first time.1,2 The forms of the modes propagating orthogonally to the mirrors and previously studied by Ley and Loudon3 are here generalized to cover all spatial directions. Microcavity field quantization leads to the expressions of the SpE probabilities Γ||, Γ⊥ for dipoles parallel and orthogonal to the mirrors, respectively. These are computer calculated for some experimentally significant cases involving both metal and dielectric multilayer-mirror coatings.

Spontaneous emission in the optical microscopic cavity

We present a basic building block of a quantum network consisting of a quantum dot coupled to a source cavity, which in turn is coupled to a target cavity via a waveguide. The single photon emission from the high-Q/V source cavity is characterized by a twelve-fold spontaneous emission (SE) rate enhancement that results in a SE coupling efficiency near 0.98 into the source cavity mode. Single photons are efficiently transferred into the target cavity through the waveguide, with a source/target field intensity ratio of 0.12 (up to 0.49 observed in other structures without coupled quantum dots). This system shows great promise as a building block of future on-chip quantum information processing systems.

https://arxiv.org/pdf/quant-ph/0609053.pdf

Generation and transfer of single photons on a photonic crystal chip

By investigating the third-order nonlinearity of a four-level ladder-type atomic system, it is found that, with spontaneously generated coherence (SGC) present, the nonlinear absorption or refraction can be significantly enhanced with vanishing linear absorption. We attribute the enhancement of nonlinearity mainly to quantum interference in the two decay pathways from the two upper closely lying levels. With a standing-wave trigger field, absorption or phase grating, which effectively diffracts a weak probe into high-order direction, can be induced by the SGC-enhanced absorptive or refractive nonlinear modulation. In contrast to the schemes for enhancing nonlinearity, no additional coupling field is required. Moreover, the present gratings result from the nonlinear modulation, which differs from the recent investigations based on linear modulation.

/pdf/electromagnetically-induced-grating-via-enhanced-nonlinear-4j61we2xo4.pdf

Electromagnetically induced grating via enhanced nonlinear modulation by spontaneously generated coherence

A scheme of two-dimensional (2D) atom localization based on the interference of double-dark resonances is proposed, in which the N-type atom interacts with two orthogonal standing-wave fields. Because of the spatial-dependent atom–field interaction, 2D atom localization can be realized via measuring the upper state population or the probe absorption. We obtain that the maximum probability of finding an atom at a particular position in a wavelength domain (λ1×λ2) is 1/2 when the atom is localized at the intersection of the antinodes of quadrants I and III of the standing-wave plane. This scheme shows more advantages than other schemes of 2D atom localization.

Two-dimensional atom localization via interacting double-dark resonances

A scheme for two-dimensional (2D) subwavelength atom localization is proposed, in which the atom is in a four-level tripod configuration and driven by two orthogonal standing-wave lasers. Because of the spatial dependence of atom-field interaction, the spontaneously emitted photon carries information about the position of the atom in standing-wave fields. We exploit this fact to 2D atom localization conditioned on the measurement of spontaneously emitted photon at a particular frequency, and obtain a high precision and resolution in the position probability distribution. Moreover, an improvement by a factor of 2 in the detecting probability of an atom can be achieved by initially preparing the atom in the coherent population trapping state. Qualitatively, the high-precision, high-resolution atom localization can be attributed to the quantum interference effect between competitive multiple spontaneous decay channels.

Two-dimensional atom localization via controlled spontaneous emission from a driven tripod system

Two-dimensional atom localization via quantum interference in a coherently driven inverted-Y system

Environmentally friendly degradable sensors with both hazardous gases and pressure efficient sensing capabilities are highly desired for various promising applications, including environmental pollution monitoring/prevention, wisdom medical, wearable smart devices, and artificial intelligence. However, the transient gas and pressure sensors based on only identical sensing material that concurrently meets the above detection needs have not been reported. Here, we present transient all-MXene NO2 and pressure sensors employing three-dimensional porous crumpled MXene spheres prepared by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis technology as the sensing layer, accompanied with water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol substrates embedded with patterned MXene electrodes. The gas sensor achieves a ppb-level of highly selective NO2 sensing, with a response of up to 12.11% at 5 ppm NO2 and a detection range of 50 ppb-5 ppm, while the pressure sensor has an extremely wide linear pressure detection range of 0.14-22.22 kPa and fast response time of 34 ms. In parallel, all-MXene NO2 and pressure sensors can be rapidly degraded in medical H2O2 within 6 h. This work provides a new avenue toward environmental monitoring, human physiological signal monitoring, and recyclable transient electronics. 

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s40820-022-00796-7.pdf

Li Jiang

Papers

Electromagnetically induced grating via enhanced nonlinear modulation by spontaneously generated coherence

Two-dimensional atom localization via interacting double-dark resonances

Two-dimensional atom localization via controlled spontaneous emission from a driven tripod system

Two-dimensional atom localization via quantum interference in a coherently driven inverted-Y system

Self-Assembly 3D Porous Crumpled MXene Spheres as Efficient Gas and Pressure Sensing Material for Transient All-MXene Sensors