Suppression of Quantum Correlations in a Clean-Disordered Atom-Nanophotonic Interface

Abstract

Quantum correlations are essential to the emergent behaviors of quantum systems, supporting key phenomena such as localization or delocalization of particles, quantum avalanches in many-body localized systems, and quantum information transfer. In open atom-nanophotonic systems characterized by long-range spin-exchange interactions, we examine the influence of clean system size on high-order quantum correlations among a clean-disordered atomic array with multiple atomic excitations. By initializing the system far from equilibrium, we observe a suppression of quantum correlations for localized atomic excitations in the disordered zone as the clean system size increases, showcasing the delocalization behavior in the high-order spin-exchange processes. The calculation of the entanglement entropy at the interface further substantiates this thermalizing effect. Our results manifest distinct quantum correlations enabled by long-range interactions mediated by the waveguide, enhance the theoretical comprehension of clean-disordered systems, and provide insights to nonequilibrium quantum dynamics in an atom-nanophotonic platform.