Exploring many-body physics with strong atom-light interactions

Strong interaction between single atoms coupled to guided mode photons in nano-photonic offers a unique opportunity to create strong and true long-range many-body models beyond the parameter space offered by ‘conventional’ quantum simulator platforms, such as ultracold neutral atoms, molecules, and ions.

Our objective is to synthesize novel quantum matters with photon mediated, long-range atom-atom interactions, and to search for bizarre quantum few/many-body phases, such as frustrated long-range quantum magnetism and topological photons with synthetic magnetic fields.


We also endeavor to study coherent dynamics and dissipative – weak coupling of photons to the environment – aspects of the long-range system, in order to examine some of the fundamental questions, including:

  • Correlation and entanglement distributions within a long-range system
  • Quantum thermalization and the study of how its physics changes from short- to long-range systems

In addition, this new hybrid platform can also lead to quantum applications in the optical domain, such as in the development of single photon switch, quantum gate, and quantum memory.

Relevant Publications:


A. Goban*, C. -L. Hung*, J. D. Hood*, S. -P. Yu*, J. A. Muniz, O. Painter, and H. J. Kimble, “Superradiance for atoms trapped along a photonic crystal waveguide”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 063601 (2015)


J. S. Douglas, H. Habibian, C.-L. Hung, A. V. Gorshkov, H. J. Kimble and D. E. Chang, “Realizing quantum many-body models with cold atoms coupled to photonic crystals”, Nature Photonics 9, 326-331 (2015)


A. González-Tudela, C.-L. Hung, D. E. Chang, I. Cirac and H. J. Kimble, “Subwavelength vacuum lattices and photon-mediated atomic interactions in photonic crystals”, Nature Photonics 9, 320-325 (2015)


A. Goban*, C.-L. Hung*, S.-P. Yu*, J. D. Hood*, J. A. Muniz*, J. H. Lee, M. J. Martin, A. C. McClung, K. S. Choi, D. E. Chang, O. Painter and H. J. Kimble, “Atom-light interactions in photonic crystals”, Nature Communications 5, 3808 (2014)