Photon molecules in atomic gases trapped near photonic crystal waveguides

Understand

Realizing systems that support robust, controlled interactions between individual photons is an exciting frontier of nonlinear optics.

• To this end, one approach that has emerged recently is to leverage atomic interactions to create strong and spatially non-local interactions between photons.
• In particular, effective interactions have been successfully created via interactions between atoms excited to Rydberg levels.
• Here, we investigate an alternative approach, in which atomic interactions arise via their common coupling to photonic crystal waveguides.