A system of three coupled toroidal microresonators arranged in a loop configuration is studied. This setup allows light entering the resonator setup from a tapered fiber to evolve along a variety of different pathways before leaving again through the fiber. In particular, the loop configuration of the resonators allows for an evolution which we term roundtrip process, in which the light evolves from one resonator sequentially through all others back to the initial one. This process renders the optical properties of the system sensitive to the phases of all coupling and scattering constants in the system. We analyze the transmission and reflection spectra, and interpret them in terms of interference between the various possible evolution pathways through the resonator system. In particular, we focus on the phase dependence of the optical properties. Finally, we discuss possible applications for this phase sensitivity induced by the roundtrip process, such as the measurement of the position of a nanoparticle close to one of the resonators, and the measurement of changes in the refractive index between two resonators. Our analytical results for the applications are supported by proof-of-principle calculations based on finite-difference-time-domain solution ofMaxwell's equations in two dimensions on a grid.
Frequency encoding of quantum information together with fiber and integrated photonic technologies can significantly reduce the complexity and resource requirements for realizing all-photonic quantum networks. The key challenge for such frequency domain processing of single photons is to realize coherent and selective interactions between quantum optical fields of different frequencies over a range of bandwidths. Here, we report frequency-domain Hong-Ou-Mandel interference with spectrally distinct photons generated from a chip-based microresonator. We use four-wave mixing to implement an activ…
The propagation of short lightpulses in waveguiding structures with optical feedback, in our case optical microresonators, has been studied theoretically and experimentally. It appears that, dependent on the measurement set-up, ballistic transport or interference in the time domain of fs and ps laser pulses can be observed. The experiments are analyzed in terms of characteristic time scales of the source, the waveguide device and the detector arrangement and are related to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. Based on this analysis a criterion is given for the upper bitrate for error free data …
We report a two-photon interference experiment in which the detected photons have very different properties. The interference is observed even when no effort is made to mask the distinguishing features before the photons are detected. The results can only be explained in terms of indistinguishable two-photon amplitudes.
In this paper we explore the physical origin of the transparency induced in absorbing three-level cascade atoms by the simultaneous interplay of two coherent beams of light. By utilizing the scattering technique we offer what we believe is a very convincing physical evidence for the existence, or for the absence, of quantum interference effects in the Autler-Townes (AT) and Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) phenomena.
We theoretically study the quantum interference induced photon blockade phenomenon in atom cavity QED system, where the destructive interference between two different transition pathways prohibits the two-photon excitation. Here, we first explore the single atom cavity QED system via an atom or cavity drive. We show that the cavity-driven case will lead to the quantum interference induced photon blockade under a specific condition, but the atom driven case can't result in such interference induced photon blockade. Then, we investigate the two atoms case, and find that an additional transition …
We consider the possibility of a control field opening up multiple pathways and thereby leading to new interference and coherence effects. We illustrate the idea by considering the $J=1/2\leftrightarrow J=1/2$ transition. As a result of the additional pathways, we show the possibilities of nonzero refractive index without absorption and gain without inversion. We explain these results in terms of the coherence produced by the opening of an extra pathway.
Cavity polaritonics is capturing the imagination of the chemistry community because of the novel opportunities it creates to direct chemistry. Electron transfer (ET) reactions are among the simplest reactions, and they also underpin bioenergetics. As such, new conceptual strategies to manipulate and direct electron flow at the nanoscale are of wide-ranging interest in biochemistry, energy science, bio-inspired materials science, and chemistry. We show that optical cavities can modulate electron transfer pathway interferences and ET rates in donor-bridge-acceptor (DBA) systems. We derive the ra…
The subtle and fundamental issue of indistinguishability and interference between independent pathways to the same target state is examined in the context of coherent control of atomic and molecular processes, with emphasis placed on possible "which-way" information due to quantum entanglement established in the quantum dynamics. Because quantum interference between independent pathways to the same target state occurs only when the independent pathways are indistinguishable, it is first shown that creating useful coherence (as defined in the paper) between nondegenerate states of a molecule fo…
Interferences emerge when multiple pathways coexist together leading towards the same result. A Recent study by Blasing and coworkers [PRL 121(7):073202] showed that in a photo-association reaction of Raman dressed spin orbit coupled $^{87}$Rb Bose Einstein Condensate when the reactant spin state is prepared in a coherent superposition of multiple bare spin states it leads to a destructive interference between reaction pathways. Here we report a theoretical study for a reaction scheme which leads to constructive quantum interference. This is achieved by changing the reactive scattering channel…
Two-photon excitation (TPE) proceeds via a "virtual" pathway, which depends on the accessibility of one or more intermediate states, and, in the case of non-centrosymmetric molecules, an additional "dipole" pathway involving the off-resonance dipole-allowed one-photon transitions and the change in the permanent dipole moment between the initial and final states. Here, we control the quantum interference between these two optical excitation pathways by using phase-shaped femtosecond laser pulses. We find enhancements by a factor of up to 1.75 in the two-photon-excited fluorescence of the photob…
The addition of tunable couplers to superconducting quantum architectures offers significant advantages for scaling compared to fixed coupling approaches. In principle, tunable couplers allow for exact cancellation of qubit-qubit coupling through the interference of two parallel coupling pathways between qubits. However, stray microwave couplings can introduce additional pathways which complicate the interference effect. Here we investigate the primary spectator induced errors of the bus below qubit (BBQ) architecture in a six qubit device. We identify the key design parameters which inhibit i…
We discuss quantum interference effects in a three-level atom in lambda-configuration, where both transitions from the upper state to the lower states are driven by a single monochromatic laser field. Although the system has two lower states, quantum interference is possible because there are interfering pathways to each of the two lower states. The additional interference terms allow for interesting effects such as the suppression of a dark state which is present without the interference. Finally we examine a narrow spectral feature in the resonance fluorescence of the atom with quantum inter…
We study the phase controlled transmission properties in a compound system consisting of a 3D copper cavity and an yttrium iron garnet (YIG) sphere. By tuning the relative phase of the magnon pumping and cavity probe tones, constructive and destructive interferences occur periodically, which strongly modify both the cavity field transmission spectra and the group delay of light. Moreover, the tunable amplitude ratio between pump-probe tones allows us to further improve the signal absorption or amplification, accompanied by either significantly enhanced optical advance or delay. Both the phase …
We demonstrate coherent control over the photoelectron circular dichroism in randomly oriented chiral molecules, based on quantum interference between multiple photoionization pathways. To significantly enhance the chiral signature, we use a finite manifold of indistinguishable $(1+1^\prime)$ REMPI pathways interfering at a common photoelectron energy but probing different intermediate states. We show that this coherent control mechanism maximizes the number of molecular states that constructively contribute to the dichroism at an optimal photoelectron energy and thus outperforms other schemes…
Many technologies emerging from quantum information science heavily rely upon the generation and manipulation of entangled quantum states. Here, we propose and demonstrate a new class of quantum interference phenomena that arise when states are created in and coherently converted between the propagating modes of an optical microcavity. The modal coupling introduces several new creation pathways to a nonlinear optical process within the device, which quantum mechanically interfere to drive the system between states in the time domain. The coherent conversion entangles the generated biphoton sta…
We demonstrate coherent control of population transfer between vibrational states in an optical lattice by using interference between a one-phonon transition at $2ω$ and a two-phonon transition at $ω$. The $ω$ and $2ω$ transitions are driven by phase- and amplitude-modulation of the lattice laser beams, respectively. By varying the relative phase between these two pathways, we control the branching ratio of transitions to the first excited state and to the higher states. Our best result shows an improvement of the branching ratio by a factor of 3.5$\pm$0.7. Such quantum control techniques may …
In this work, we present a quantum transport model for the selectivity filter in the KcsA potassium ion channel. This model is fully consistent with the fact that two conduction pathways are involved in the translocation of ions thorough the filter, and we show that the presence of a second path may actually bring advantages for the filter as a result of quantum interference. To highlight interferences and resonances in the model, we consider the selectivity filter to be driven by a controlled time-dependent external field which changes the free energy scenario and consequently the conduction …
We perform a phase-space analysis of strong-field enhanced ionisation in molecules, with emphasis on quantum-interference effects. Using Wigner quasi-probability distributions and the quantum Liouville equation, we show that the momentum gates reported in a previous publication [N. Takemoto and A. Becker, Phys. Rev. A \textbf{84}, 023401 (2011)] may occur for static driving fields, and even for no external field at all. Their primary cause is an interference-induced bridging mechanism that occurs if both wells in the molecule are populated. In the phase-space regions for which quantum bridges …
