Quantum simulation with fully coherent dipole--dipole-interactions mediated by three-dimensional subwavelength atomic arrays

Abstract: Quantum simulators employing cold atoms are among the most promising approaches to tackle quantum many-body problems. Nanophotonic structures are widely employed to engineer the bandstructure of light and are thus investigated as a means to tune the interactions between atoms placed in their vicinity. A key shortcoming of this approach is that excitations can decay into free photons, limiting the coherence of such quantum simulators. Here, we overcome this challenge by proposing to use a simple cubic three-dimensional array of atoms to produce an omnidirectional bandgap for light and show that it enables coherent, dissipation-free interactions between embedded impurities. We show explicitly that the band gaps persist for moderate lattice sizes and finite filling fraction, which makes this effect readily observable in experiment. Our work paves the way toward analogue spin quantum simulators with long-range interactions using ultracold atomic lattices, and is an instance of the emerging field of atomic quantum metamaterials.