Coherent control of an all-atomic waveguide: trap and release of an excitation

The last few years have seen a renewed interest in collective radiation of atomic ensembles. This trend is driven by advances in trapping techniques for individual atoms that allow for atoms to be trapped one by one until a desired pattern is created [1]. For ordered atomic arrays, the interference between photons scattered by each atom leads to correlated states and a strong collective response that, among other properties, can be used to enhance the light-matter coupling strength in free space [2] or allow for lossless transport of excitations [3,4]. Here, we propose to control the collective response of all-atomic waveguide using a far-detuned external field. This spatially-varying dressing field correlates internal (spin) and external (position) degrees of freedom. Each atom then reacts differently to the field scattered by its neighbors and endows the chain with exotic collective behavior such as non reciprocal transport. We present a new scheme to trap an excitation traveling along the chain before releasing it or reflecting it back in a controlled fashion.

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