Physicists from the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics have created a switchable metamaterial. Optical
The researchers collected rubidium atoms ina fixed two-dimensional regular pattern so that the individual elements are at distances less than the wavelength of the photon. Due to the proximity of the atoms, such an array acts “cooperatively,” the scientists explain. As a result of the increase in the bond between light and matter, even a single photon passing by one atom is effectively reflected. This structure is the lightest mirror in the world, consisting of just one layer of atoms.
An optical mirror has much in common with itsclassic analogue. In particular, the reflection probability is fixed and cannot be controlled. To control the properties of the mirror, physicists designed and placed a switch consisting of a single Rydberg atom at the center of the array.
These are hydrogen-like atoms or alkaline atoms.metals in which the outer electron is in a highly excited state. When such an atom is irradiated with laser light, it passes from the ground to the excited state and vice versa. Depending on the energy state, the optical mirror became reflective or transparent like a window.
Optical metasurface in off (left) and on (right) states. In the first case, the array is transparent, and in the second, it reflects light. Image: Kritsana Srakaew et al., Nature Physics
Researchers note that quantumthe switch takes not only two extreme values \u200b\u200b"0" and "1", but more often it turns out to be in an intermediate state. As a result, unlike a classical mirror, a metasurface can be configured so that it both reflects and transmits photons of light at the same time.
Development can be used to obfuscateatomic light, add the authors of the work. Setting up a quantum switch in a coherent superposition between the ground and excited states creates an entanglement of the atom and light, a unique and strange connection between the incoming photon and the atomic switch.
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On the cover: an artistic illustration of the atomic mirror. Image: Christoph Hohmann, MCQST