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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Quantum Sci. Technol.
Sec. Quantum Engineering
Volume 4 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frqst.2025.1546480
This article is part of the Research TopicRecent Advances in Quantum State Engineering using Atoms and PhotonsView all articles
The Refractive Index of a Single Three-level Atom Experienced by a Single Photon
Provisionally accepted- 1University of North Texas, Denton, United States
- 2Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, United States
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We study the propagation of a quantum field composed of a few photons interacting with a three-level Λ-atom driven by a coherent classical field. The quantum field acquires a phase shift, which can be interpreted as a dispersion effect on the photon wave packet and described by the refractive index for quantum fields down to the single-photon level. In this paper, we demonstrate that the phases acquired by quantum fields depend on the number of photons in the quantum states. Notably, the phases differ between single-and two-photon states, enabling the separation of multiphoton states. This finding highlights new applications related to the dispersion of three-level atoms, which are important in advancing quantum information processing and enhancing quantum communication technologies. The results are crucial for long-distance quantum communication and hold potential for developing quantum field-based linear devices such as beam splitters, lenses, and quantum prisms capable of separating different components of quantum fields. The findings can have interesting applications for manipulating and assembling of multiphoton entanglement states.
Keywords: Photons, Quantum Fields, quantum optics, three-level atoms, interference, Mach-Zehnder interferometer
Received: 16 Dec 2024; Accepted: 27 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Rostovtsev, Emerick and Patnaik. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yuri Rostovtsev, University of North Texas, Denton, United States
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