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This paper presents a novel framework for constructing quantum-optical lattice models that accurately capture mode-resolved light-matter coupling in photonic crystals without sacrificing computational tractability. By integrating symmetry-constrained tight-binding methods with numerically computed band structures, the approach bridges classical electromagnetic simulations and non-perturbative quantum many-body dynamics. This advancement enables more realistic modeling of polarization-dependent emission and entanglement in structured environments, addressing a critical gap between scalar approximations and full Maxwell-equation solvers.
Constructing mode-resolved quantum optical models for emitters in photonic crystals
arXiv:2607.12603v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Recent advances are enabling quantum emitters to interact with photonic crystals, whose electromagnetic modes exhibit complex dispersion relations, spatial mode structure, and polarization textures. However, modeling light-matter behavior in these systems faces a persistent trade-off: electromagnetic approaches based on Maxwell-equation solvers provide realistic vectorial descriptions but are difficult to integrate with quantum many-body and non-perturbative methods, whereas simplified quantum-optical lattice models are tractable but typically rely on scalar and spatially independent light-matter couplings that miss essential features of these structured photonic environments. Here, we introduce a constructive framework to derive quantum-optical lattice descriptions that overcome this trade-off. Combining symmetry-constrained tight-binding constructions with numerically computed photonic band structures and field profiles, our method yields minimal, symmetry-enforced lattice Hamiltonians that reproduce the target photonic dispersion while retaining the mode-resolved (position- and polarization-dependent) structure of the light-matter coupling. We show that these models recover Green's-function-based emitter dynamics in the perturbative regime, while providing access to non-perturbative quantum dynamical simulations beyond emitter-only descriptions. As a proof of principle, we apply the framework to a two-dimensional photonic crystal and show that it captures polarization-dependent directional emission inaccessible to scalar models, while enabling the analysis of non-Markovian light-matter dynamics and entanglement. Our results provide a practical bridge between classical electromagnetic simulation tools and quantum-optical many-body and non-Markovian modeling in photonic crystal settings.
Abstract:Recent advances are enabling quantum emitters to interact with photonic crystals, whose electromagnetic modes exhibit complex dispersion relations, spatial mode structure, and polarization textures. However, modeling light-matter behavior in these systems faces a persistent trade-off: electromagnetic approaches based on Maxwell-equation solvers provide realistic vectorial descriptions but are difficult to integrate with quantum many-body and non-perturbative methods, whereas simplified quantum-optical lattice models are tractable but typically rely on scalar and spatially independent light-matter couplings that miss essential features of these structured photonic environments. Here, we introduce a constructive framework to derive quantum-optical lattice descriptions that overcome this trade-off. Combining symmetry-constrained tight-binding constructions with numerically computed photonic band structures and field profiles, our method yields minimal, symmetry-enforced lattice Hamiltonians that reproduce the target photonic dispersion while retaining the mode-resolved (position- and polarization-dependent) structure of the light-matter coupling. We show that these models recover Green's-function-based emitter dynamics in the perturbative regime, while providing access to non-perturbative quantum dynamical simulations beyond emitter-only descriptions. As a proof of principle, we apply the framework to a two-dimensional photonic crystal and show that it captures polarization-dependent directional emission inaccessible to scalar models, while enabling the analysis of non-Markovian light-matter dynamics and entanglement. Our results provide a practical bridge between classical electromagnetic simulation tools and quantum-optical many-body and non-Markovian modeling in photonic crystal settings.
21 pages, 4 figures, including appendices. v2: corrected conflation of frequency and angular frequency throughout; figures, parameters, and time scales updated accordingly
Quantum Physics (quant-ph); Optics (physics.optics)
arXiv:2607.12603 [quant-ph]
(or arXiv:2607.12603v2 [quant-ph] for this version)
Full text under the publisher's open licence · 251 words
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