image: a, Using the back-propagation method to design the inversely conformal mapped spatiotemporal light field Ψ(l, m) . In the forward direction, the field is transformed into the spherical harmonic localized wavepacket ψ(1,1) with quantum numbers of (1,1). b, Spatiotemporal intensity and phase distributions of the wavepacket Ψ(l, m) prior to the conformal mapping. 3D iso-intensity surface plot and the spatial phase for ψ(1,1). The isosurface value is set at 1% of the peak intensity. Different colors are used to indicate different ring-like lobes of . The phase profile corresponds to the spatial phase at τ = 0.
Credit: Cao, Q., Zhang, N., Chong, A. et al.
Four decades ago, Feynman proposed the idea that the operation of a complex quantum system can be simulated by another simpler and more feasible system. This has led to the creation of so-called quantum emulator that uses physical or chemical process in a non-quantum system such as atoms, trapped ions, and even nuclear magnetic resonance to emulate the quantum physical behaviors in quantum mechanics.
A photonic quantum emulator refers to a system that employs optical methods to emulate behaviors in complex quantum systems. One implementation approach exploits the mathematical analogy between the paraxial wave equation in optics and the Schrödinger equation in quantum mechanics, utilizing optical field modulation techniques to emulate quantum phenomena. Recent advances in the exploration and manipulation of spatiotemporally structured light have enabled quantum emulator using spatiotemporal structured light.
In a new paper published in eLight, a team of scientists, led by Professor Qiwen Zhan, and co-workers have generated a class of spatiotemporal light with spherical symmetry that have the same distributions of the wavefunction solutions to the potential-free Schrödinger equation with two controllable quantum numbers. A novel toolbox combining inverse conformal mapping that maps a circle to a line and spatiotemporal hologram that generate arbitrary two-dimensional spatiotemporal wavepackets is used to sculpture light with space rotation invariance like spherically symmetric spatiotemporal light. Since spherically symmetric spatiotemporal optical fields are free from potential energy constraints, they inherently form localized, propagation-invariant spatiotemporal light structures.
“Such localized wavepackets may provide new insight in studying quantum physics and open up new applications in studying light-matter interactions and quantum optics.” the scientists forecast.
Journal
eLight
Article Title
Spatiotemporal photonic emulator of potential-free Schrödinger equation