Photon Routing Induced by Giant Atoms in a Synthetic Frequency Dimension

Abstract: We propose a hardware-efficient photon routing scheme based on a dynamically modulated multi-mode ring resonator and a driven cyclic three-level artificial atom, which effectively models a two-level giant atom coupled to a pair of one-dimensional lattices in a synthetic frequency dimension. The routing dynamics of single-photon wave packets in the frequency dimension are investigated numerically and analytically. Our results show that by tuning the phase of the driving field, the photon transmission between the two frequency lattices can be well controlled, thereby determining the propagation direction of photons within the ring resonator. This work presents a feasible scheme for implementing a controllable node in quantum networks, and the predictions of this scheme are well within reach of state-of-the-art experiments.