We investigate theoretically quantum effects of a cavity-atom system in which the upper two levels of a cascade-type three-level atom interact with a cavity field mode in the ultrastrong-coupling regime. By exploiting the virtual photons carried by atom-cavity dressed states, we indicate how two external driving fields induce Raman transitions such that a cavity photon pair can be generated with a high probability. We present analytical and numerical solutions of the system and determine the rate of photons transmitted out of the cavity. In addition, we show that the transmitted photons exhibit a bunching behavior in the steady state. Our scheme demonstrates that atom-cavity dressed states in the ultrastrong-coupling regime can serve as intermediate states to invoke nonlinear optical processes.
We investigate theoretically quantum effects of a cavity-atom system in which the upper two levels of a cascade-type three-level atom interact with a cavity field mode in the ultrastrong-coupling regime. By exploiting the virtual photons carried by atom-cavity dressed states, we indicate how two external driving fields induce Raman transitions such that a cavity photon pair can be generated with a high probability. We present analytical and numerical solutions of the system and determine the rate of photons transmitted out of the cavity. In addition, we show that the transmitted photons exhibit a bunching behavior in the steady state. Our scheme demonstrates that atom-cavity dressed states in the ultrastrong-coupling regime can serve as intermediate states to invoke nonlinear optical processes.
We present an interaction scheme that exhibits a dynamical effect of virtual photons carried by a vacuum-field dressed two-level atom in the ultrastrong-coupling regime. We show that, with the aid of an external driving field, virtual photons provide a transition matrix element that enables the atom to evolve coherently and reversibly to an auxiliary level accompanied by the emission of a real photon. The process corresponds to a type of vacuum Rabi oscillation, and we show that the effective vacuum Rabi frequency is proportional to the amplitude of a single virtual photon in the ground state. Therefore, the interaction scheme could serve as a probe of ground-state structures in the ultrastrong-coupling regime.
We propose a quantum simulation of a two-level atom coupled to a single mode of the electromagnetic field in the ultrastrong-coupling regime based upon resonant Raman transitions in an atom interacting with a high finesse optical cavity mode. We show by numerical simulation the possibility of realizing the scheme with a single rubidium atom, in which two hyperfine ground states make up the effective two-level system, and for cavity QED parameters that should be achievable with, for example, microtoroidal whispering-gallery-mode resonators. Our system also enables simulation of a generalized model in which a nonlinear coupling between the atomic inversion and the cavity photon number occurs on an equal footing with the (ultrastrong) dipole coupling and can give rise to critical-type behavior even at the single-atom level. Our model takes account of dissipation, and we pay particular attention to observables that would be readily observable in the output from the system.
Photon antibunching in the light scattered by single quantum emitters is one of the hallmarks of quantum optics, providing an unequivocal demonstration of the quantized nature of the electromagnetic field. Antibunching can be intuitively understood by the need for a two-level system lying in its lower state after emitting a photon to be re-excited into the upper one before a second emission can take place. Here we show that such a picture breaks down in the ultrastrong light–matter coupling regime, when the coupling strength becomes comparable to the bare emitter frequency. Specializing to the cases of both a natural and an artificial atom, we thus show that a single emitter coupled to a photonic resonator can emit bunched light. The result presented herein is clear evidence of how the ultrastrong coupling regime is able to change the nature of individual atoms.
Abstract We investigate the steady-state photon statistics and quantum properties of a cascade three-level atom coupled to a two-mode squeezed-vacuum reservoir. The mean photon number, photon-number correlations, second-order coherence, and quadrature fluctuations are examined as functions of the stimulated-emission decay constant and the squeezing parameter. The system exhibits two distinct regimes: a squeezing-dominated regime, governed by reservoir-induced correlations, and a cavity-dynamics-dominated regime, characterized by strong gain–loss competition. Enhanced squeezing increases photon generation, intermodal correlations, and intracavity energy through correlated photon-pair injection while reducing vacuum fluctuations. Conversely, stronger stimulated emission induces nonlinear amplification, asymmetric photon distributions, and sequential emission dynamics. A transition from super-Poissonian to sub-Poissonian statistics is observed, indicating the coexistence of photon antibunching and continuous-variable quantum correlations. Furthermore, atom–cavity interactions modify the generalized uncertainty bounds, revealing fundamental limitations on achievable squeezing imposed by higher-order noise processes. These findings demonstrate that engineered reservoirs and cascade atomic systems provide versatile control of nonclassical light for quantum communication, precision metrology, and continuousvariable quantum information processing.
Two-photon states are essential for fundamental applications in quantum information. One of the primary methods of two-photon generation is based on parametric down-conversion, but this suffers from low efficiency and a large footprint. This work presents a detailed theoretical investigation of an alternative approach: two-photon generation from an emitter in a doubly resonant cavity. The system is modelled by the Lindblad master Equation, and an approximate analytical solution is derived to determine the experimentally achievable limits on efficiency and brightness. Additionally, the optimal cavity parameters for achieving these limits are also identified. For experimentally feasible parameters, the maximum efficiency is approximately 35%, which is significantly higher than that of parametric down-conversion-based methods. The optimal rate and efficiency for two-photon generation are achieved when the outcoupling rate of the cavity mode at the two-photon emission frequency matches the single-photon atom-field coupling strength. Moreover, the outcoupling rate of the cavity mode at the one-photon emission frequency for single photons should be minimized. The cavity field properties are also examined by studying the second-order correlation function at zero time delay and the Mandel Q parameter, revealing highly bunched two-photon emission and super-Poissonian statistics. The quantum-jump framework, combined with Monte Carlo simulations, is used to characterize the mechanism of two-photon emission and the emission spectra of the cavity. Two-photon emission is demonstrated to be a rapid cascade process of quantum jumps, and its spectrum consists of three prominent peaks corresponding to transitions between the dressed states of the system.
We study the interaction of a multi-photon three-level atom with a single mode field in a cavity, taking explicitly into account the existence of forms of nonlinearities of both the field and the intensitydependent atom-field coupling. The analytical form of the emission spectrum is calculated using the dressed states of the system. The effects of photon multiplicities, mean photon number, detuning, Kerr-like medium, and the intensity-dependent coupling functional on the emission spectrum are analyzed.