Multipolar Nanophotonics with Quantum Computers

Abstract:Small particles respond to light through electric and magnetic patterns called multipoles. Their interference determines the direction of scattered light and affects the decay of nearby emitters. Larger nanoantenna arrays, metasurfaces, and other nanophotonic systems demand increasingly costly simulations to meet strict performance and reliability requirements. We show how to represent these responses with quantum bits (qubits) and use quantum circuits to calculate scattering and the Purcell effect, the change in an emitter's decay rate caused by its surroundings. The circuits can encode known multipoles or estimate unknown ones from Maxwell's equations at the particle surface. We test the method against classical theory using an ideal quantum simulator and real IBM and IonQ quantum computers. For a silicon nanoparticle of radius 78 nm illuminated at 679 nm, IonQ gives a forward directivity of 2.984, close to the ideal dipolar value 3, quantifying the concentration of scattered light in the forward direction. For an emitter 10 nm from a gold nanoparticle and emitting at 510 nm, IBM measurements yield a calculated total decay rate 20.48 times its vacuum value versus 20.47 from theory, with correction for errors in reading the qubit states. We also establish how the number of multipoles and the required accuracy set the demands on qubits and measurements. These results motivate quantum-assisted design studies of directional radiation and emitter decay in nanophotonic systems.

Quantum Physics (quant-ph); Optics (physics.optics)

arXiv:2610.16062 [quant-ph]

(or arXiv:2610.16062v1 [quant-ph] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2610.16062 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

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