Quantum Optics Circus with Acrobatic Atoms and Flying Photons

" Quantum networks are composed of quantum nodes that interact coherently through quantum channels, and open a broad frontier of scientific opportunities. An exciting frontier in this endeavor is the integration of otherwise `simple quantum elements into complex quantum networks. In this context, there is active research to achieve lithographic quantum optical circuits, for which atoms are trapped near micro- and nanoscopic dielectric structures and wired together by photons propagating through the circuit elements. Single atoms and atomic ensembles endow quantum functionality for otherwise linear, passive optical circuit, and, thereby, the capability to build quantum optical many-body systems component by component.
In this talk, I will briefly discuss our results in loading ultracold atoms into a state-insensitive nanofiber optical trap, and a recent result with localized single atoms in 1D photonic crystal waveguides exhibiting band-edge collective nonlinearity. By trapping single atoms within our photonic crystal waveguide, new opportunities will emerge for novel quantum transport phenomena, tunable long-range atomic interactions, and control of quantum vacuum forces. I will then discuss another frontier of applying these quantum optics toolboxes to outstanding questions in open many-body dynamics, with specific attention to driven-dissipative dipolar quantum matters. Here, the competition between coherent and dissipative many-body dynamics could drive the system into novel non-equilibrium quantum phases, exhibiting extremely massive entangled steady states, topological order, and quantum-coherent crystallization dynamics, heretofore not existed in the natural world."