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arXiv:2605.23286

Modeling the Quantum Photon Statistics in Hybrid Light-Matter Integrated Circuits

Mathias Van Regemortel, Vincenzo Ardizzone, Eugenio Maggiolini, Armando Rastelli, Daniele Sanvitto, Thomas Van Vaerenbergh

quant-phSubmitted May 22, 2026• Announced May 25, 2026
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Strong light-matter coupling between a guided electromagnetic mode and an excitonic semiconductor transition gives rise to exciton-polaritons with optical nonlinearities far exceeding those of conventional photonic platforms. Utilizing these nonlinearities in the few-particle regime, where quantum signatures such as photon antibunching, sub-Poissonian statistics and non-trivial inter-mode correlations become accessible, is a central goal of integrated quantum photonics. Yet, a quantitative theoretical framework connecting realistic waveguide parameters to measurable non-classical photonic output is absent. Here, we present a comprehensive framework for predicting and benchmarking quantum photon statistics in polaritonic integrated circuits, using state-of-the-art experimentally achieved device parameters for (Al)GaAs waveguide platforms. By mapping the pulsed nonlinear waveguide dynamics onto a bosonic quantum circuit representation that explicitly incorporates dissipation, we identify experimentally accessible quantum signatures across two circuit configurations: a single waveguide in a free-space interferometric configuration and a fully integrated multimode coupled-waveguide circuit. We further show that slow-light engineering of the polariton dispersion offers a practical route to amplifying the effective nonlinearity, pushing quantum signatures beyond Gaussian statistics.

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Strong light-matter coupling between a guided electromagnetic mode and an excitonic semiconductor transition gives rise to exciton-polaritons with optical nonlinearities far exceeding those of conventional photonic platforms. Utilizing these nonlinearities in the few-particle regime, where quantum signatures such as photon antibunching, sub-Poissonian statistics and non-trivial inter-mode correlations become accessible, is a central goal of integrated quantum photonics. Yet, a quantitative theoretical framework connecting realistic waveguide parameters to measurable non-classical photonic output is absent. Here, we present a comprehensive framework for predicting and benchmarking quantum photon statistics in polaritonic integrated circuits, using state-of-the-art experimentally achieved device parameters for (Al)GaAs waveguide platforms. By mapping the pulsed nonlinear waveguide dynamics onto a bosonic quantum circuit representation that explicitly incorporates dissipation, we identify experimentally accessible quantum signatures across two circuit configurations: a single waveguide in a free-space interferometric configuration and a fully integrated multimode coupled-waveguide circuit. We further show that slow-light engineering of the polariton dispersion offers a practical route to amplifying the effective nonlinearity, pushing quantum signatures beyond Gaussian statistics.
Quantum nonlinear optics seeks to harness strong photon-photon interactions for scalable quantum technologies, although dissipative losses still pose a major barrier to near-unity conversion efficiency. Here, we bridge non-Hermitian physics with the quantum nonlinear domain by exploiting perfect absorption to identify and optimize few-photon nonlinear processes. We theoretically investigate two circuit QED systems, operating in the light-matter ultrastrong coupling regime. The first (i) enables simultaneous two-atom excitations by single photons, while the second (ii) realizes the strong coupling between a single-photon and a two-photon Fock states. We demonstrate that, since the strong optical nonlinearities cause quantum spectral features to emerge already at the level of linear response theory, the perfect absorption condition in ∣S11∣|S_{11}|∣S11​∣ enables near-deterministic single-photon down-conversion into (i) a qubit-qubit-correlated pair and (ii) a two-photon pair. We show that the conversion efficiency can be systematically optimized through experimentally accessible parameters, both linked to the emergence of Hermitian subspaces within the effective non-Hermitian Hamiltonians. These findings position non-Hermitian engineering as a broadly applicable route to optimizing quantum devices at the single-photon level, even beyond circuit-QED platforms.
Photonic integrated circuits with second-order (χ(2)χ^{(2)}χ(2)) nonlinearities are rapidly scaling to remarkably low powers. At this time, state-of-the-art devices achieve saturated nonlinear interactions with thousands of photons when driven by continuous-wave lasers, and further reductions in these energy requirements enabled by the use of ultrafast pulses may soon push nonlinear optics into the realm of single-photon nonlinearities. This tutorial reviews these recent developments in ultrafast nonlinear photonics, discusses design strategies for realizing few-photon nonlinear interactions, and presents a unified treatment of ultrafast quantum nonlinear optics using a framework that smoothly interpolates from classical behaviors to the few-photon scale. These emerging platforms for quantum optics fundamentally differ from typical realizations in cavity quantum electrodynamics due to the large number of coupled optical modes. Classically, multimode behaviors have been well studied in nonlinear optics, with famous examples including soliton formation and supercontinuum generation. In contrast, multimode quantum systems exhibit a far greater variety of behaviors, and yet closed-form solutions are even sparser than their classical counterparts. In developing a framework for ultrafast quantum optics, we will identify what behaviors carry over from classical to quantum devices, what intuition must be abandoned, and what new opportunities exist at the intersection of ultrafast and quantum nonlinear optics. While this article focuses on establishing connections between the classical and quantum behaviors of devices with χ(2)χ^{(2)}χ(2) nonlinearities, the frameworks developed here are general and are readily extended to the description of dynamical processes based on third-order (χ(3)χ^{(3)}χ(3)) nonlinearities.
Photonic integrated circuits with second-order ( χ (2) ) nonlinearities are rapidly scaling to remarkably low powers. At this time, state-of-the-art devices achieve saturated nonlinear interactions with thousands of photons when driven by continuous-wave lasers, and further reductions in these energy requirements enabled by the use of ultrafast pulses may soon push nonlinear optics into the realm of single-photon nonlinearities. This tutorial reviews these recent developments in ultrafast nonlinear photonics, discusses design strategies for realizing few-photon nonlinear interactions, and presents a unified treatment of ultrafast quantum nonlinear optics using a framework that smoothly interpolates from classical behaviors to the few-photon scale. These emerging platforms for quantum optics fundamentally differ from typical realizations in cavity quantum electrodynamics due to the large number of coupled optical modes. Classically, multimode behaviors have been well studied in nonlinear optics, with famous examples including soliton formation and supercontinuum generation. In contrast, multimode quantum systems exhibit a far greater variety of behaviors, and yet closed-form solutions are even sparser than their classical counterparts. In developing a framework for ultrafast quantum optics, we identify what behaviors carry over from classical to quantum devices, what intuition must be abandoned, and what new opportunities exist at the intersection of ultrafast and quantum nonlinear optics. Although this article focuses on establishing connections between the classical and quantum behaviors of devices with χ (2) nonlinearities, the frameworks developed here are general and are readily extended to the description of dynamical processes based on third-order χ (3) nonlinearities.
A deterministic and scalable array of single photon nonlinearities in the solid state holds great potential for both fundamental physics and technological applications, but its realization has proved extremely challenging. Despite significant advances, leading candidates such as quantum dots and group III-V quantum wells have yet to overcome their respective bottlenecks in random positioning and weak nonlinearity. Here we consider a hybrid light-matter platform, marrying an atomically thin two-dimensional material to a photonic crystal cavity, and analyze its second-order coherence function. We identify several mechanisms for photon antibunching under different system parameters, including one characterized by large dissipation and weak nonlinearity. Finally, we show that by patterning the two-dimensional material into different sizes, we can drive our system dynamics from a coherent state into a regime of strong antibunching with second-order coherence function ${g}^{(2)}(0)\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$, opening a possible route to scalable, on-chip quantum simulations with correlated photons.
Slow light is a regime of reduced group velocity, resulting in increased photon density in optical pulses and enhanced nonlinear effects. Here, we propose the realization of slow light in the regime of strong light-matter interaction between waveguide photons and semiconductor excitons. We design a dielectric superlattice structure with a nearly-flat band characterized by low group velocity and group velocity dispersion, both required for enhancing nonlinear effects with ultrashort pulses. Furthermore, by applying this general framework to a perovskite-based structure, we demonstrate an enhancement of the single-particle phase shift by a factor of more than 20, representing a significant step toward the few-photon quantum regime. Our results provide a blueprint for accessible strong interactions in solid-state integrated optics.
Abstract Exciton-polaritons are hybrid radiation-matter elementary excitations that, thanks to their strong nonlinearities, enable a plethora of physical phenomena ranging from room temperature condensation to superfluidity. While polaritons are usually exploited in a high-density regime, evidence for quantum correlations at the level of few excitations has been recently reported, thus suggesting the possibility of using these systems for quantum information purposes. Here we show that integrated circuits of propagating single polaritons can be arranged to build deterministic quantum logic gates in which the two-particle interaction energy plays a crucial role. Besides showing their prospective potential for photonic quantum computation, we also show that these systems can be exploited for metrology purposes, as for instance to precisely measure the magnitude of the polariton-polariton interaction at the two-body level. Our results will motivate the development of practical quantum polaritonic devices in prospective quantum technologies.