Cavity quantum electrodynamics of photonic temporal crystals

Cavity quantum electrodynamics of photonic temporal crystals | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Cavity quantum electrodynamics of photonic temporal crystals Bumki Min, Kun Woo Kim, Junhyeon Bae, Kyungmin Lee This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6398287/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 19 Dec, 2025 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Photonic temporal crystals host a variety of intriguing phenomena, from wave amplification and mixing to exotic band structures, all stemming from the time-periodic modulation of optical properties. While these features have been well described classically, their quantum manifestation has remained elusive. Here, we introduce a quantum electrodynamical model of PTCs that reveals a deeper connection between classical and quantum pictures: the classical momentum gap arises from a localization–delocalization quantum phase transition in a Floquet-photonic synthetic lattice. Leveraging an effective Hamiltonian perspective, we pinpoint the critical momenta and highlight how classical exponential field growth manifests itself as wave-packet acceleration in the quantum synthetic space. Remarkably, when a two-level atom is embedded in such a cavity, its Rabi oscillations undergo irreversible decay to a half-and-half mixed state—a previously unobserved phenomenon driven by photonic delocalization within the momentum gap, even with just a single frequency mode. Our findings establish photonic temporal crystals as versatile platforms for studying nonequilibrium quantum photonics and suggest new avenues for controlling light matter interactions through time domain engineering. Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Optical materials and structures/Photonic crystals Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Optical physics/Quantum optics Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Optical materials and structures/Metamaterials Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 19 Dec, 2025 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6398287","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":451168957,"identity":"7d42840c-3d5d-4474-9693-9ef575ed4b87","order_by":0,"name":"Bumki Min","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAv0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACAwbGBoYPBxh4oPwE4rQwzgBpYSNeCwMDM88BIEm0FnOxw22Pbc7YycjPb2D88IMhLZ+gFsvZie3GOTeSeQyOMTBL9jDkWDYQdNjtxDbpnA/MPAZAh0kzMFQYELQFrMXiQz2PfBsD82/itTDcOMzDcIyBDWhLDmEtQL+0SfacOQ70S2KbZY9BGmEt5tLpzyR+HKu2l28+fPjGj4pkwlqQADAZMJCkYRSMglEwCkYBTgAA9yM16PwmfNAAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4639-3423","institution":"Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Bumki","middleName":"","lastName":"Min","suffix":""},{"id":451168958,"identity":"c589c7ba-8820-4bca-abfc-d69b368044a0","order_by":1,"name":"Kun Woo Kim","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7784-6202","institution":"Chung-Ang University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kun","middleName":"Woo","lastName":"Kim","suffix":""},{"id":451168959,"identity":"92f74ca8-78a1-4613-b13f-31453229883f","order_by":2,"name":"Junhyeon Bae","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0001-1143-1821","institution":"Chung-Ang University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Junhyeon","middleName":"","lastName":"Bae","suffix":""},{"id":451168960,"identity":"6d126c29-166e-4cef-b8b4-5121cddd8bd5","order_by":3,"name":"Kyungmin Lee","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9980-425X","institution":"Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kyungmin","middleName":"","lastName":"Lee","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-04-08 02:20:23","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6398287/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6398287/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67572-0","type":"published","date":"2025-12-19T05:00:00+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":100959449,"identity":"0f85d7f0-1698-4906-8c01-3b4f06f8e918","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-23 08:12:11","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":4292575,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"QuantumPhotonicTemporalCrystal.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6398287/v1_covered_ca3fde68-4418-4463-84fc-994c83e6daaf.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Cavity quantum electrodynamics of photonic temporal crystals","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6398287/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6398287/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Photonic temporal crystals host a variety of intriguing phenomena, from wave amplification and mixing to exotic band structures, all stemming from the time-periodic modulation of optical properties. While these features have been well described classically, their quantum manifestation has remained elusive. Here, we introduce a quantum electrodynamical model of PTCs that reveals a deeper connection between classical and quantum pictures: the classical momentum gap arises from a localization–delocalization quantum phase transition in a Floquet-photonic synthetic lattice. \r\nLeveraging an effective Hamiltonian perspective, we pinpoint the critical momenta and highlight how classical exponential field growth manifests itself as wave-packet acceleration in the quantum synthetic space. Remarkably, when a two-level atom is embedded in such a cavity, its Rabi oscillations undergo irreversible decay to a half-and-half mixed state—a previously unobserved phenomenon driven by photonic delocalization within the momentum gap, even with just a single frequency mode. 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