Interaction between atoms and slow light: a waveguide-design study

Abstract

The emerging field of on-chip integration of nanophotonic devices and cold atoms offers extremely-strong and pure light-matter interaction schemes, which may have profound impact on quantum information science. In this context, a long-standing obstacle is to achieve strong interaction between single atoms and single photons, while at the same time trap atoms in vacuum at large separation distances from dielectric surfaces. In this work, we study new waveguide geometries that challenge these conflicting objectives. The designed photonic crystal waveguide is expected to offer a good compromise, which additionally allows for easy manipulation of atomic clouds around the structure, while being tolerant to fabrication imperfections.