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arXiv:2609.18547 · Physical Review A

Giant-atom-mediated photon blockade

C. Cui, W. Y. Hu, Y. Q. Ji, H. T. Cui, Yan-Hui Zhou, H. Z. Shen

quant-phphysics.opticsSubmitted Sep 16, 2026• Announced Sep 17, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

Photon blockade is a phenomenon where the presence of system nonlinearity causes the output to consist of single photons, which has been extensively studied in point atom systems, but it is barely explored in giant atom ones. In this paper, we propose giant atom-mediated photon blockade scheme based on two cavities and three cavities systems with driving field applied to the first cavity. We show that simultaneous unconventional photon blockades (UPBs) can not occur in the point atom system (the atom coupling only to the leftmost cavity) due to there always existing a cavity to have a single path. In contrast, the spatially extended nature of giant atom enables coupling to multiple cavities and allows for the introduction of a phase and coupling strength. Consequently, simultaneous UPBs in multiple cavities can be obtained due to the multipath destructive interference. Moreover, by manipulating the detuning, we observe simultaneous conventional photon blockades (CPBs) in multiple cavities. Finally, we study simultaneous two-photon blockades (2PBs) in point atom multiple cavities system.

Journal reference
Phys. Rev. A 114, 033734 (2026)
DOI
10.1103/jgmv-qt84

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Abstract We propose a scheme to enhance photon blockades simultaneously in two microwave cavities connected by a giant atom. In the case that only one cavity is weakly driven, we observe that the enhanced photon blockades occur in both cavities at the same time, which is attributed to the anharmonic eigenenergy spectrum constructed by the resonantly coupled giant atom. When the cavity and the atom are simultaneously driven, the stronger photon blockades in two cavities can be successfully achieved by the destructive quantum interference of two-photon excitation. Interestingly, we find that high single-photon occupations can be obtained in both cases. Moreover, we give the optimal conditions for conventional and unconventional photon blockades through analytical calculations, which are in good agreement with numerical results. Our scheme opens a prospective path to achieve simultaneous photon blockades in two indirectly coupled cavities, and provides a promising method to generate the high-quality and brightness single photon source.
We explore a method for achieving photon blockade (PB) through a two-photon Jaynes-Cummings (JC) model that includes both cavity and atom drivings. Analytical expressions for the steady state are derived to calculate photon-number distribution and correlation functions. Based on this analysis, we establish the theoretical conditions required for generating PB by controlling both drivings and propose a scheme to identify conventional photon blockade (CPB) and unconventional photon blockade (UPB) by analyzing the second- and third-order correlation functions. We validate our findings through numerical simulations conducted in an artificial atom system. We discuss two cases, one in which the transition frequency of the two-level atom is in two-photon resonance with the cavity frequency and the other in which it is off-resonance. We observe a significant interplay between CPB and UPB effects in the resonant case. In the off-resonance case, we demonstrate that UPB can be achieved by manipulating the strengths of atom driving and cavity driving to satisfy a specific relationship while meeting the requirements for optimal detuning relations. This work provides essential insights into controlling the PB effect using the two-photon JC model with both the atom and cavity drivings.
Abstract We propose an innovative model predicated on giant atom-cavity system, wherein three cavity modes are interconnected via nearest-neighbor photon tunneling, and a giant atom is simultaneously coupled with two single-mode cavities on each side. This model demonstrates both photon blockade and photon bunching effects simultaneously. Specifically, when the giant atom is weakly driven, the central cavity displays unconventional photon blockade with g b ( 2 ) ( 0 ) ≈ 1 0 − 5.97 , while the side cavities exhibit photon bunching effects with g a ( 2 ) ( 0 ) = g c ( 2 ) ( 0 ) ≈ 1 0 4.85 due to the quantum interference and the anharmonicity of energy eigenvalues. This model introduces a fresh perspective for investigating intricate photon behaviors in multi-cavity systems.
We investigate theoretically the photon statistics in a coupled cavity system mediated by a two-level atom. The system consists of a linear cavity weakly driven by a continuous laser, and a nonlinear cavity containing an atom inside. We find that there exists a photon blockade in the linear cavity for both parameter regimes where the coupling strength between the atom and the nonlinear cavity is greater (or less) than the dissipation rate of the linear cavity. We also extend our model by pumping the two cavities simultaneously and find that the conventional photon blockade is apparent in the linear cavity, whereas the unconventional photon blockade appears in the nonlinear cavity. These results show that our work has potential applications for a single photon source in a weakly nonlinear system.
We theoretically study the photon blockade (PB) effect in a double-cavity optomechanical system with the two-photon driving. By analytical calculations and numerical simulations, the physical mechanisms of conventional photon blockade (CPB) and unconventional photon blockade (UPB) are discussed in detail. And then we obtain the optimal parameter conditions for PB. In our work, there exist both the CPB induced by strong nonlinear interaction and the UPB caused by quantum interference. In particular, we find that CPB and UPB can occur simultaneously under the same parameters. In addition, we also prove that the appropriate values of nonreciprocal coupling and two-photon driving are favorable to the improvement of PB. Our proposal provides an idea for simultaneously realizing CPB and UPB in the optomechanical system and offers a route for constructing high-quality single-photon sources.
Photon blockade (PB), an effective method of generating antibunching effect, is a critical way to construct a single photon source. The PB effect can be divided into conventional PB effect (CPB) and unconventional PB effect (UPB). Most studies focus on designing systems to successfully enhance CPB or UPB effect individually. However, CPB extremely depends on the nonlinearity strength of the Kerr materials to achieve strong antibunching effect while UPB relies on quantum interference beset with the high probability of the vacuum state. Here, we propose a method to utilize the relevance and complementarity of CPB and UPB to realize these two types simultaneously. We employ a hybrid Kerr nonlinearity two-cavity system. Because of the mutual assistance of two cavities, CPB and UPB can coexist in the system under certain states. In this way, for the same Kerr material, we reduce the value of the second-order correlation function due to CPB by three orders of magnitude without losing the mean photon number due to the presence of UPB, so the advantages of both PB effects are fully reflected in our system, which is a huge performance boost for single photons.