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arXiv:1811.08860 · Physical Review Letters

Tunable Photon Statistics Exploiting the Fano Effect in a Waveguide

Andrew P. Foster, D. Hallett, Ivan V. Iorsh, Samuel J. Sheldon, Max Godsland, Benjamin Royall, Edmund Clarke, Ivan Andreevich Shelykh, A. M. Fox, Maurice S. Skolnick, I. E. Itskevich, Luke R. Wilson

Published May 3, 2019• 50 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

A strong optical nonlinearity arises when coherent light is scattered by a semiconductor quantum dot coupled to a nanophotonic waveguide. We exploit the Fano effect in such a waveguide to control the phase of the quantum interference underpinning the nonlinearity, experimentally demonstrating a tunable quantum optical filter which converts a coherent input state into either a bunched or an antibunched nonclassical output state. We show theoretically that the generation of nonclassical light is predicated on the formation of a two-photon bound state due to the interaction of the input coherent state with the quantum dot. Our model demonstrates that the tunable photon statistics arise from the dependence of the sign of two-photon interference (either constructive or destructive) on the detuning of the input relative to the Fano resonance.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.122.173603

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A strong optical nonlinearity arises when coherent light is scattered by a semiconductor quantum dot coupled to a nanophotonic waveguide. We exploit the Fano effect in such a waveguide to control the phase of the quantum interference underpinning the nonlinearity, experimentally demonstrating a tunable quantum optical filter which converts a coherent input state into either a bunched or an antibunched nonclassical output state. We show theoretically that the generation of nonclassical light is predicated on the formation of a two-photon bound state due to the interaction of the input coherent state with the quantum dot. Our model demonstrates that the tunable photon statistics arise from the dependence of the sign of two-photon interference (either constructive or destructive) on the detuning of the input relative to the Fano resonance.
A strong optical nonlinearity arises when coherent light is scattered by a semiconductor quantum dot (QD) coupled to a nano-photonic waveguide. We exploit the Fano effect in such a waveguide to control the phase of the quantum interference underpinning the nonlinearity, demonstrating a tunable quantum optical filter which converts a coherent input state into either a bunched, or antibunched non-classical output state. We show theoretically that the generation of non-classical light is predicated on the formation of a two-photon bound state due to the interaction of the input coherent state with the QD. Our model demonstrates that the tunable photon statistics arise from the dependence of the sign of two-photon interference (either constructive or destructive) on the detuning of the input relative to the Fano resonance.
Deterministic generation and manipulation of nonclassical light are the central goals of quantum photonics. Waveguide quantum electrodynamics with atomic arrays enable strong photon–photon interactions via collective effects. Recently, giant atoms with multiple coupling points have opened new avenues for engineering photon correlations. In particular, the braided configuration offers unique features; however, most studies on quantum nonlinearity are limited to two atoms. Here, we extend the investigation to arrays of more braided giant atoms and uncover two distinct regimes controlled by phase parameters. One regime corresponds to Lorentzian resonances in the single-excitation subspace, where the system behaves as an effective two-level model at resonance, producing bunched transmitted light and antibunched reflected light. The two-excitation nonlinearity is weaker and tends to bunch photons, and at triple resonance the system loses tunability. The second regime corresponds to the Fano resonance arising from the spectral coalescence of the collective modes. In this regime, we achieve near-unity transmission with strong photon antibunching in transmission, and significant photon bunching in reflection. Our results establish braided giant-atom arrays as a scalable, cavity-free platform for engineering nonclassical photon correlations.
The generation of indistinguishable single photons and control of photon-photon interactions are key requirements for photonic quantum networks. Nano-photonic waveguide-based architectures, in which few-level solid state systems provide both single photon generation and the nonlinearity through which two or more photons interact, offer a scalable route to such networks. However, it is a challenge to maintain the optical quality of the embedded photon sources whilst also providing fine-tuning of the emission frequency and optical nonlinearity in a waveguide geometry. We demonstrate a tunable solid-state platform for scalable photonic quantum networks which allows local electrical control of both single photon generation and optical nonlinearity at the single photon level. Electrical tuning and switching of coherent photon scattering from a quantum dot embedded in a nano-photonic waveguide is demonstrated, with a transmission extinction as large as 40±2% measured on resonance. Observation of a clear, voltage-controlled bunching signal in the photon statistics of the transmitted light demonstrates the single photon character of the nonlinearity. The deterministic nature of the nonlinearity is particularly attractive for the future realization of photonic gates for scalable nano-photonic waveguide-based quantum information processing.
The Fano effect arising from the interference between two dissipation channels of the radiation continuum enables tuning of the photon statistics. Understanding the role of the Fano effect and exploiting it to achieve strong photon correlations are of both fundamental and applied significance. We present an analytical description of Fano-enhanced photon correlations based on cavity quantum electrodynamics to show that the Fano effect in atom-cavity systems can improve the degree of antibunching by over four orders of magnitude. The enhancement factors and the optimal conditions are explicitly given, and found to relate to the Fano parameter q. Remarkably, the Fano enhancement manifests robustness against the decoherence processes and can survive in the weak coupling regime. We expect our work to provide insight to tuning the photon statistics through the Fano effect, which offers a new, to the best of our knowledge, route to enhance the photon correlations, as well as the possibility of generating nonclassical light in a wider diversity of systems without the need of a strong light-matter interaction.
We investigate the two-photon scattering properties of a Jaynes-Cummings (JC) nonlinearity consisting of a two-level system (qubit) interacting with a single-mode cavity, which is coupled to two waveguides, each containing a single incident photon wave packet initially. In this scattering setup, we study the interplay between the Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) effect arising due to quantum interference and effective photon-photon interactions induced by the presence of the qubit. We calculate the two-photon scattering matrix of this system analytically and identify signatures of interference and interaction in the second-order auto- and cross-correlation functions of the scattered photons. In the dispersive regime, when qubit and cavity are far detuned from each other, we find that the JC nonlinearity can be used as an almost linear, in situ tunable beam splitter giving rise to ideal Hong-Ou-Mandel interference, generating a highly path-entangled two-photon NOON state of the scattered photons. The latter manifests itself in strongly suppressed waveguide cross-correlations and Poissonian photon number statistics in each waveguide. If the two-level system and the cavity are on resonance, the JC nonlinearity strongly modifies the ideal HOM conditions leading to a smaller degree of path entanglement and sub-Poissonian photon number statistics. In the latter regime, we find that photon blockade is associated with bunched autocorrelations in both waveguides, while a two-polariton resonance can lead to bunched as well as antibunched correlations.
Mixing the fields generated by different light sources has emerged as a powerful approach for engineering non-Gaussian quantum states. Understanding and controlling the resulting photon statistics is useful for emerging quantum technologies that are underpinned by interference. In this work, we investigate intensity correlation functions arising from the interference of resonance fluorescence from a quantum emitter with a coherent laser field. We show that the observed bunching behavior results from a subtle interplay between quantum interference and the normalization of the correlation functions. We show that by adjusting the mixing ratio and phase, one can achieve full tunability of the second-order correlation, ranging from anti-bunching to bunching. We further extend our analysis to third-order correlation functions, both experimentally and theoretically, to provide new insights into the interpretation of higher-order correlations and offer practical tools for shaping quantum optical fields.