Full quantum treatment of a light diode

Abstract

Unidirectional light transport in one-dimensional nanomaterials at the quantum level is a crucial goal to achieve for upcoming computational devices. We here employ a fully quantum mechanical approach based on a master equation to describe unidirectional light transport through a pair of two-level systems coupled to a one-dimensional waveguide. By comparing with published semiclassical results, we find that the nonlinearity of the system is reduced, thereby reducing also the unidirectional light transport efficiency. Albeit not fully efficient, we find that the considered quantum system can work as a light diode with an efficiency of $\ensuremath{\approx}60%$. Our results may be used in quantum computation with classical and quantized light.