Colloquium: Strongly interacting photons in one-dimensional continuum

Dibyendu Roy, C. M. Wilson, Ofer Firstenberg

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Photon-photon scattering in vacuum is extremely weak. However, strong effective interactions between single photons can be realized by employing strong light-matter coupling. These interactions are a fundamental building block for quantum optics, bringing many-body physics to the photonic world and providing important resources for quantum photonic devices and for optical metrology. This Colloquium reviews the physics of strongly interacting photons in one-dimensional systems with no optical confinement along the propagation direction. It focuses on two recently demonstrated experimental realizations: superconducting qubits coupled to open transmission lines and interacting Rydberg atoms in a cold gas. Advancements in the theoretical understanding of these systems are presented in complementary formalisms and compared to experimental results. The experimental achievements are summarized alongside a description of the quantum optical effects and quantum devices emerging from them.

Original languageEnglish
Article number021001
JournalReviews of Modern Physics
Volume89
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 10 May 2017

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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