Jaynes-Cummings photonic superlattices

Opt Lett. 2011 Sep 1;36(17):3407-9. doi: 10.1364/OL.36.003407.

Abstract

A classical realization of the Jaynes-Cummings (JC) model, describing the interaction of a two-level atom with a quantized cavity mode, is proposed based on light transport in engineered waveguide superlattices. The optical setting enables us to visualize in Fock space dynamical regimes not yet accessible in quantum systems, providing new physical insights into the deep strong coupling regime of the JC model. In particular, bouncing of photon number wave packets in Hilbert space and revivals of populations are explained as generalized Bloch oscillations in an inhomogeneous tight-binding lattice.