Anomalous emission from a one-dimensional lattice of ions in silicon photonics.

Intermodal coupling between optically active quantum centers can be achieved by engineering the environment of radiative atoms enclosed by photonic structures. The interaction between multiple modes of the system may give rise to anomalous propagation where loss is suppressed in certain regimes. Understanding the complex mode dynamics towards engineering many-body quantum interactions has been the subject of intensive research in recent years. Here, we observe anomalous photon emission at the telecommunication wavelength from an atomic Bragg grating composed of close to 1000 atomic mirror segments. We observe an enhanced and asymmetric emission spectrum from the ions and attribute it to Borrmann-type loss suppression and Fano-type interference of propagating modes in the system, respectively. Our observation paves the way for designing active metamaterials and novel topological photonics with engineered linear and nonlinear interactions for broad applications. In particular, the rich dynamics of coupled modes in the system can be used to overcome losses and thus engineer interaction Hamiltonian for future quantum photonic networks.