Fractional Quantum Zeno Effect

We investigate emitters with interacting multi-excitations coupled to a dissipative lattice system, whose intrinsic dissipation rates form band structures. We predict a novel phenomenon - the fractional quantum Zeno (FQZ) effect. Namely, the emitter's spontaneous emission is fractionally suppressed by the strong lattice dissipation, in particular, the fractional scaling of the emission rate with the lattice dissipation depends on the number of excitations. The FQZ effect originates uniquely from the strong coupling of emitters to the dissipation band-edge when the lattice is significantly dissipative. Remarkably, we show it enables a novel mechanism for the strong single-photon nonlinearity in the limit of weak interactions. Moreover, we establish a general connection between the non-Hermitian bands of a dissipative lattice and quantum statistics of emitter excitations quantified by the second-order correlation functions, using the Keldysh formalism and scattering theory. Our setup is experimentally feasible, advanced by recent progress on tunable dissipative lattices in photonic and atomic systems. This work opens a new perspective for the design and exploration of light-matter interactions. It also showcases a route to uncover quantum many-body effect arising purely from non-Hermitian bands in the full quantum dynamics.