Year: 2024
Type: preprint
Abstract: Single-photon emission from a two-level system offers promising perspectives for the development of quantum technologies, where multiphotons are generally regarded as accidental, undesired and should be suppressed. In quantum mechanics, however, multiphoton emission can turn out to be even more fundamental and interesting than the single-photon emission, since in a coherently driven system, the multiphoton suppression arises from quantum interferences between virtual multiphoton fluctuations and the mean field in a Poisson superposition of all number states. Here, we demonstrate how one can control the multiphoton dynamics of a two-level system by disrupting these quantum interferences through a precise and independent homodyne control of the mean field. We show that, counterintuitively, quantum fluctuations always play a major qualitative role, even and in fact especially, when their quantitative contribution is vanishing as compared to that of the mean field. Our findings provide new insights into the paradoxical character of quantum mechanics and open pathways for mean-field engineering as a tool for precision multiphoton control.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: Fundación BBVA, Comunidad de Madrid, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, European Commission, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Technische Universität München, Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology, Agencia Estatal de Investigación
Awards: G1050946522, G1076967056, G1118215018, G121809054, G1610934229, G165164057, G1768993395, G1855990336, G2262748287, G2380629619, G240573653, G2660406951, G2806620981, G2960115771, G3109769530, G3437680309, G3480869486, G3681454997, G4042783231, G4051876257, G425668148, G4307791043, G4707226979, G4909387479, G5283148391, G5421974903, G5768859344, G5805502524, G5810738446, G5865716607, G6731524417, G7084143925, G7489721266, G7863371703, G8138842782, G8497050386, G8646136844, EXC 2111: Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST)
OpenAlex ID: W4404569813