Non-Markovianity of a quantum emitter in front of a mirror

Tufarelli, Tommaso; Kim, M.S.; Ciccarello, Francesco

Abstract

We consider a quantum emitter (“atom”) radiating in a one-dimensional photonic waveguide in the presence of a single mirror, resulting in a delay differential equation for the atomic amplitude. We carry out a systematic analysis of the non-Markovian (NM) character of the atomic dynamics in terms of refined, recently developed notions of quantum non-Markovianity such as indivisibility and information backflow. NM effects are quantified as a function of the round-trip time and phase shift associated with the atom-mirror optical path. We find, in particular, that unless an atom-photon bound state is formed a finite time delay is always required in order for NM effects to be exhibited. This identifies a finite threshold in the parameter space, which separates the Markovian and non-Markovian regimes.

Citation

Tufarelli, T., Kim, M., & Ciccarello, F. (2014). Non-Markovianity of a quantum emitter in front of a mirror. Physical Review A, 90(1), Article 012113. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.90.012113

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 27, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Jul 24, 2014
• Publication Date: Jul 24, 2014
• Deposit Date: Mar 13, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 3, 2018
• Print ISSN: 2469-9926
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 90
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 012113
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.90.012113
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1113869
• Publisher URL: https://journals.aps.org/pra/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevA.90.012113