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arXiv:1108.5061 · Applied Physics Letters

Counter-polarized single-photon generation from the auxiliary cavity of a weakly nonlinear photonic molecule

Motoaki Bamba, Cristiano Ciuti

Published Oct 24, 2011• 44 citations
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Abstract

We propose a scheme for the resonant generation of counter-polarized single photons in double asymmetric cavities with a small Kerr optical nonlinearity (as that created by a semiconductor quantum well) compared to the mode broadening. Due to the interplay between spatial intercavity tunneling and polarization coupling, by weakly exciting with circularly polarized light one of the cavities, we predict strong antibunching of counter-polarized light emission from the non-pumped auxiliary cavity. This scheme due to quantum interference is robust against surface scattering of pumping light, which can be suppressed both by spatial and polarization filters.

DOI
10.1063/1.3656250

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We propose a scheme for the resonant generation of counter-polarized single photons in double asymmetric cavities with a small Kerr optical nonlinearity (as that created by a semiconductor quantum well) compared to the mode broadening. Due to the interplay between spatial intercavity tunneling and polarization coupling, by weakly exciting with circularly polarized light one of the cavities, we predict strong antibunching of counter-polarized light emission from the non-pumped auxiliary cavity. This scheme due to quantum interference is robust against surface scattering of pumping light, which can be suppressed both by spatial and polarization filters.
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.
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.
Abstract We propose an unconventional photon blockade scheme in coupled semiconductor microcavities embedded in a nonlinear Kerr medium in the presence of photon leakage and bimodal driving on two cavity modes, which consists of two spatially overlapping single-mode semiconductor cavities with cross-Kerr nonlinearity and two-photon tunneling. A detailed analysis is derived for the exact optimal conditions for strong photon antibunching with weak Kerr nonlinearities. It is very important to find the transition of the structures of the solution for the optimal detuning from the quartic equation to the cubic equation when changing the two complex driving fields appropriately. The transition originates from the second driving field that compensates the numbers of interference paths reaching a two-photon state. This unconventional photon blockade can be realized by coupled photonic crystal cavities filled with a nonlinear Kerr medium. This implies that nonlinear Kerr medium systems can be used to generate tunable single-photon sources by tuning the strength and relative phase of two complex driving fields under weak Kerr nonlinearity.
Semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) coupled with optical microcavities provide an excellent platform for generating high-performance single-photon sources. However, the current microcavity structures are difficult to solve the tradeoff between single-photon purity and indistinguishability without additional filtering, due to challenges in suppressing broad phonon sideband spectrum and two-photon emission in the practical experiments. To address these issues, we have developed a novel asymmetric microcavity that supports two nondegenerate polarized modes, both resonant with a single quantum dot. One cavity mode is broadband and is used for excitation to reduce two-photon emission intensity, while the other is narrowband and is used for collection to enhance the indistinguishability of single-photon sources. This asymmetric microcavity also has the ability to overcome at least half of the photon efficiency loss under polarization filtering. Moreover, our model has employed an excitation pulse that resonates with cavity modes eliminating spectral distortion of intracavity fields, and efficiently achieving deterministic population inversion of QDs compared to an elliptical cavity. Our scheme paves the way to develop the excellent performance single-photon sources with higher brightness, near-unity purity, and indistinguishability without any additional filtering in practical experiments.
We study the photon statistics of symmetric and antisymmetric modes in a photonic molecule consisting of two linearly coupled nonlinear cavity modes. Our calculations show that strong photon antibunching of both symmetric and antisymmetric modes can be obtained even when the nonlinearity in the photonic molecule is weak. The strong antibunching effect results from the destructive interference between different paths for two-photon excitation. Moreover, we find that the optimal frequency detunings for strong photon antibunching in the symmetric and antisymmetric modes are linearly dependent on the coupling strength between the cavity modes in the photonic molecule. This implies that the photonic molecules can be used to generate tunable single-photon sources by tuning the values of the coupling strength between the cavity modes with weak nonlinearity.