On the nonlinear dynamics of quantum fluctuations

Chiara Boccato, Serena Cenatiempo, Benjamin Schlein

Chiara Boccato, Serena Cenatiempo, Benjamin Schlein

Asian Selvakumaran, Anna Minguzzi, Iacopo Carusotto +1 more

We theoretically investigate the response of a coherently-driven nonlinear optical cavity to an additional incident single photon. Using a quantum description of the nonlinear dynamics that fully accounts for the quantum fluctuations of the cavity field and for the discrete nature of the incident photon, we characterize the quantum dynamics of single-photon-stimulated jumps from the low-photon-number to the high-photon-number state of the optical bistability loop. We find that the system can exhibit a giant response to this single quantum of excitation, rooted in the phase-transition picture of optical bistability. In addition to shedding light on the role of quantum fluctuations in the non-equilibrium dynamics of a nonlinear optical cavity, our results suggest a strategy for an all-optical single-photon avalanche detector.

Mieke De Cock

R. Tanaś

A. Gatti, L. A. Lugiato, Irene Marzoli +3 more

The recent investigations on quantum effects in nonlinear optical patterns and spatial aspect of squeezing have focused on the concept of quantum image [1,2,3]. These are very noisy images images, dominated by quantum fluctuations and can be revealed either 1) by high frequency observation, which is able to reveal the fast dynamics of fluctuations, or 2) by low frequency observation, by measuring the spatial correlation function. This displays a regular modulation, which anticipates the stripe pattern that appear above threshold [4], while the intensity distribution is uniform on average.