Quantum light-matter interaction and controlled phonon scattering in a photonic Fano cavity

By using a Fano resonance as one of the mirrors in an optical cavity, a localized mode with a highly asymmetric line shape is obtained. Placing a single quantum emitter inside the cavity leads to a new regime of cavity quantum electrodynamics, where the light-matter interaction dynamics is fundamentally different from that observed in a conventional cavity with Lorenztian line shape.

Furthermore, when the vibrational dynamics of the emitter is taken into account, an intricate phonon-photon interplay arises, and the optical interference induced by the Fano mirror significantly alters the leakage of energy into vibrational modes. We demonstrate that this control mechanism improves the maximum attainable indistinguishability of emitted photons, as compared to an equivalent cavity with a conventional mirror.