Atom-field-medium interactions. III. Quantum-field-mediated entanglement between two atoms near a conducting surface
Phys. Rev. A 113, 012809 – Published 8 January, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/331c-5t51
Abstract
This third paper in this series continues the investigation of atom-field interactions in the presence of a conductor or a dielectric medium, focusing on quantum information related basic issues such as decoherence and entanglement. Here we consider the entanglement between two atoms with internal degrees of freedom modeled by a harmonic oscillator, with varying separations between them and varying distances between them and a conducting surface. The coupling between the atoms and the field and the coupling between the atoms are allowed to go beyond the weak-coupling restrictions often found in the literature. A detailed analysis of how the entanglement depends on each variable involved enables us to come up with a spatial topography of quantum entanglement, facilitating a visualized understanding of the behavior of quantum field-mediated entanglement. In particular, we can quantify the definition of a three-dimensional entanglement domain between the two atoms, how it varies with their coupling, their separation and their distances from the conducting surface, and, for practical applications, how to exercise effective control of the entanglement between two atoms by changing these parameters. Our findings are expected to be useful for studies of atom-field-medium interactions in vacuum and surface physics.
