Quantum Interference in Spontaneous Decay of a Quantum Emitter Placed in a Dimer of Bismuth-Chalcogenide Microparticles

Abstract

We investigate the phenomenon of quantum interference in spontaneous emission for a three-level V-type quantum emitter placed between two bismuth-chalcogenide (Bi2Te3, Bi2Se3) microspheres. In particular, we find that the degree of quantum interference can become as high as 0.994, a value which is attributed to the strong dependence of the spontaneous emission rate on the orientation of an atomic dipole relative to the surfaces of the microspheres, at the excitation frequencies of phonon-polariton states of the bismuth-chalcogenide microspheres (anisotropic Purcell effect). As a consequence of the high degree of quantum interference, we observe the occurrence of strong population trapping in the quantum emitter. To the best of our knowledge, the reported values of the degree of quantum interference are record values and are obtained for a relatively simple geometrical setup such as that of a microparticle dimer.

Keywords

• quantum interference
• spontaneous emission
• population trapping