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arXiv:1007.1605 · Physical Review A

Origin of strong photon antibunching in weakly nonlinear photonic molecules

Motoaki Bamba, Ataç İmamoğlu, Iacopo Carusotto, Cristiano Ciuti

Published Feb 22, 2011• 436 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

In a recent work [Liew and Savona, Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 183601 (2010)] it was numerically shown that a resonantly driven photonic ``molecule'' consisting of two coupled cavities can exhibit strong photon antibunching with a surprisingly weak Kerr nonlinearity. Here, we analytically identify the subtle quantum interference effect that is responsible for the predicted efficient photon blockade effect. We then extend the theory to the experimentally relevant Jaynes-Cummings system consisting of a single quantum emitter in a coupled-cavity structure and predict the strong antibunching even for single-atom cooperativity on the order of or smaller than unity. The potential of this quantum interference effect in the realization of strongly correlated photonic systems with only weak material nonlinearities is assessed by comparing on-site and inter-site correlations in a ring of three coupled photonic molecules.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.83.021802

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In a recent work [Liew and Savona, Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 183601 (2010)] it was numerically shown that a resonantly driven photonic ``molecule'' consisting of two coupled cavities can exhibit strong photon antibunching with a surprisingly weak Kerr nonlinearity. Here, we analytically identify the subtle quantum interference effect that is responsible for the predicted efficient photon blockade effect. We then extend the theory to the experimentally relevant Jaynes-Cummings system consisting of a single quantum emitter in a coupled-cavity structure and predict the strong antibunching even for single-atom cooperativity on the order of or smaller than unity. The potential of this quantum interference effect in the realization of strongly correlated photonic systems with only weak material nonlinearities is assessed by comparing on-site and inter-site correlations in a ring of three coupled photonic molecules.
In recent studies [Liew et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 183601 (2010); Bamba et al., Phys. Rev. A 83, 021802(R) (2011)], due to destructive interference between different paths for two-photon excitation, strong photon antibunching can be obtained in a photonic molecule consisting of two coupled cavity modes with weak Kerr nonlinearity when one of the cavity modes is driven resonantly. Here, we study the photon statistics in a nonlinear photonic molecule with both the two cavity modes being driven coherently. We show that the statistical properties of the photons can be controlled by regulating the strength ratio and the relative phase between the two driving fields. The photonic molecules with two driven modes can be used to generate tunable single-photon sources or controlled photonic quantum gates with weak Kerr nonlinearity.
We investigate the photon blockade effect in a Jaynes-Cummings hybrid system with Kerr nonlinearity. Specifically, the hybrid system consists of a Jaynes-Cummings model nonlinearly coupled to two other optical modes. Our results, supported by both analytical calculations and numerical simulations, show that strong photon antibunching can occur in this system. Compared with a system without Kerr nonlinearity, the proposed system exhibits a stronger photon blockade effect due to the superposition of unconventional (quantum interference) and conventional (Kerr-induced anharmonicity) blockade mechanisms. Furthermore, we discuss the influences of Jaynes-Cummings coupling and driving strength on the photon blockade. Our findings may contribute to the design and application of single-photon source devices.
Universal photon blockade in a two-mode Jaynes-Cummings model incorporating third-order Kerr nonlinearity is demonstrated with a single two-level atom coupled to a waveguide microcavity. Realization of this universal photon blockade is attributed to the cooperative effects of field-atom coupling and Kerr nonlinearity. More importantly, this antibunching is found to be robust against the atomic spontaneous emission, driving field strength, and defect-induced cavity mode coupling. The strong antibunching effect in this resonance-driven scheme is essentially different from those without Kerr nonlinearity. Moreover, this work expands the platform for achieving universal photon blockade and reveals the cooperative advantages of nonlinearities in enhancing the purity and brightness of single-photon sources, representing a novel strategy toward high-performance single-photon sources in integrated quantum optical devices.
The proposal for single-photon generation utilizing quantum interference of two coupled cavity modes with weak Kerr nonlinearity under resonant coherent driving has been successfully put forward in previous work [T. C. H. Liew and V. Savona, Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 183601 (2010)]. Here we suggest an alternative scheme to explore the statistical properties of the photons and their control in a parametrically amplified photonic molecule that is composed of a pair of coupled cavities, both containing the degenerate optical parametric amplifier (DOPA), by means of extending the model of Liew and Savona. Due to the destructive quantum interference effect between different paths for two-photon excitation, the photons in both cavity modes can exhibit a strong antibunching effect when one of the two cavities is coherently driven by an external laser field. In order to intuitively understand the strong photon antibunching phenomenon occurring in our DOPA photonic molecule, the approximate analytical solutions of the system are provided via the Schr\"odinger equation and further are compared with the full numerical solutions via the master equation. The in-depth results reveal that the two solutions are in good agreement. For the two cavity modes, we achieve the optimal antibunching conditions in terms of the nonlinear gain and the strength ratio between the two pump laser fields based on analytical calculations, gaining deep insight into the rich physics of photon statistics. We also show that the statistical properties of the photons can be well controlled by regulating the relative phase between the two pump laser fields and the tunneling rate between the two cavity modes. Furthermore, we address the second-order cross-correlation function between the two cavity modes and find that a strong intermodal antibunching can be efficiently generated. Our approach via the DOPA photonic molecule architecture can be useful to generate tunable single-photon sources or controlled photonic quantum gates.
We propose a scheme of photon blockade in a system comprising of coupled cavities embedded in Kerr nonlinear material, where two cavities are driven and dissipated. We analytically derive the exact optimal conditions for strong photon antibunching, which are in good agreement with those obtained by numerical simulations. We find that conventional and unconventional photon blockades have controllable flexibilities by tuning the strength ratio and relative phase between two complex driving fields. Such unconventional photon-blockade effects are ascribed to the quantum interference effect to avoid two-photon excitation of the coupled cavities. We also discuss the statistical properties of the photons under given optimal conditions. Our results provide a promising platform for the coherent manipulation of photon blockade, which has potential applications for quantum information processing and quantum optical devices.
The photon blockade based on weak nonlinearities is called the unconventional photon blockade. The study of the unconventional photon blockade in recent decades has mainly focused on the ${\ensuremath{\chi}}^{(3)}$ Kerr nonlinearity. In this paper, we study the photon blockade in two weakly coupled nonlinear cavities via ${\ensuremath{\chi}}^{(2)}$ nonlinearity, where ${\ensuremath{\chi}}^{(2)}$ mediates the conversion of a single photon in the cavity with high frequency into two photons with low frequency in another cavity. When the two cavity modes are driven simultaneously, our calculations show that the strong photon antibunching can be obtained in the cavity. The optimal condition for strong antibunching is found by analytic calculations and numerical simulations, and discussions of the optimal condition are presented. The differences between the present scheme and that with ${\ensuremath{\chi}}^{(3)}$ nonlinearity are discussed. This scheme is not sensitive to the change of decay rates, which makes the experimental realization easy.