The giant acoustic atom -- a single quantum system with a deterministic time delay

Understand

We investigate the quantum dynamics of a single transmon qubit coupled to surface acoustic waves (SAWs) via two distant connection points.

• Since the acoustic speed is five orders of magnitude slower than the speed of light, the travelling time between the two connection points needs to be taken into account.
• Therefore, we treat the transmon qubit as a giant atom with a deterministic time delay.
• We find that the spontaneous emission of the system, formed by the giant atom and the SAWs between its connection points, initially decays polynomially in the form of pulses instead of a continuous exponential decay behaviour, as would be the case for a small atom.