Tunable atom-cavity interactions with configurable atomic chains

Abstract: We investigate atomic chains with different spatial configurations coupled to a ring cavity comprising two counterpropagating traveling modes. We describe the collective atom-light scattering effect with a structure factor of the atomic chain and demonstrate that the interactions between the atoms and the cavity are controlled by the structure factor, resulting in distinctly different collective excitation modes and energy spectrum than for Fabry-P\'erot cavities. Remarkably, we observe that a cavity dark mode emerges when the atomic spacings are integer multiples of the half-wavelength. The nodes of this standing-wave dark mode align precisely with the atomic positions, enabling intracavity field conversion without free-space scattering. By adjusting the configuration of the atomic chain, we realize tunable photon routing and a large optical phase shift with almost no photon loss, which can be used to implement versatile building blocks for optical quantum engineering.