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The physics of a giant atom


In quantum optics, one can usually assume that the size of an atom interacting with light is negligible compared to the wavelength of the light. However, in experiments where artificial atoms, made from superconducting circuits, are coupled to surface acoustic waves, this situation can change drastically. It is possible to design an experimental system where the atom couples to the waves at multiple points, which can be spaced thousands of wavelengths apart. In this work, we study the effects of the time delay that this long distance introduces in the dynamics of the "giant acoustic atom". We show that many well-known phenomena from conventional quantum optics, e.g, spontaneous emission, exhibit new behaviour in this regime.

Giant acoustic atom: A single quantum system with a deterministic time delay

Lingzhen Guo, Arne L. Grimsmo, Anton Frisk Kockum, Mikhail Pletyukhov, and Göran Johansson

Selected as an Editors' Suggestion

(a) A schematic of a possible experimental implementation of a giant atom (b) A simplified theoretical model


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