Photonic simulation of system-environment interaction: Non-Markovian processes and dynamical decoupling

The system-environment interaction is simulated by light propagating in coupled photonic waveguides. The profile of the electromagnetic field provides intuitive physical insight to study the Markovian and non-Markovian dynamics. The transition from non-Markovian to Markovian process is demonstrated by increasing the size of the environment, as the energy evolution changes from oscillation to exponential decay and the revival period increases. Moreover, the dynamical decoupling with a sequence of phase modulations is introduced to such a photonic system to form a band structure in the time dimension, where the energy dissipation can be significantly accelerated or inhibited. It opens the possibility to tune the dissipation in a photonic system, similar to the dynamic decoupling of spins.