Dr. Stuart Masson, Assistant Professor at University of South Florida, specializes in atomic, molecular & optical physics and quantum information & optics. Learn more about his work and the Masson research group here!
Title: "Novel interactions mediated by photons"
Abstract: Ensembles of emitters interacting via the electromagnetic field are a promising platform to study fundamental physics and build quantum-enabled technologies. Under typical approximations, interactions between emitters are governed by the positions of the emitters and how photons propagate between those positions. In this talk, I will describe two ways in which we can go beyond this picture. Firstly, we show how to generate interaction networks with arbitrary connectivity by dressing interactions with multiple frequency drives. As an example, we show how this allows us to engineer spontaneous emission on an SSH-inspired network. In the second part, I will explain how more complex interactions can arise accidentally. A key assumption in typical approaches to modelling these systems is the Markov approximation: the electromagnetic field erases information much faster than any timescale of the system. We consider a waveguide QED system with finite propagation time between emitters and find an emergent non-Markovianity associated to superradiant decay. This highlights the importance of considering the right timescales in open quantum systems, and serves as a cautionary tale to be more careful with Markov approximations in many-body systems.
