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Physical Review A

Unconventional photon blockade with second-order nonlinearity

Y. H. Zhou, H. Z. Shen, X. X. Yi

Published Aug 20, 2015• 178 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The photon blockade based on weak nonlinearities is called the unconventional photon blockade. The study of the unconventional photon blockade in recent decades has mainly focused on the ${\ensuremath{\chi}}^{(3)}$ Kerr nonlinearity. In this paper, we study the photon blockade in two weakly coupled nonlinear cavities via ${\ensuremath{\chi}}^{(2)}$ nonlinearity, where ${\ensuremath{\chi}}^{(2)}$ mediates the conversion of a single photon in the cavity with high frequency into two photons with low frequency in another cavity. When the two cavity modes are driven simultaneously, our calculations show that the strong photon antibunching can be obtained in the cavity. The optimal condition for strong antibunching is found by analytic calculations and numerical simulations, and discussions of the optimal condition are presented. The differences between the present scheme and that with ${\ensuremath{\chi}}^{(3)}$ nonlinearity are discussed. This scheme is not sensitive to the change of decay rates, which makes the experimental realization easy.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.92.023838

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The photon blockade based on weak nonlinearities is called the unconventional photon blockade. The study of the unconventional photon blockade in recent decades has mainly focused on the \ensuremathχ(3){\ensuremath{\chi}}^{(3)}\ensuremathχ(3) Kerr nonlinearity. In this paper, we study the photon blockade in two weakly coupled nonlinear cavities via \ensuremathχ(2){\ensuremath{\chi}}^{(2)}\ensuremathχ(2) nonlinearity, where \ensuremathχ(2){\ensuremath{\chi}}^{(2)}\ensuremathχ(2) mediates the conversion of a single photon in the cavity with high frequency into two photons with low frequency in another cavity. When the two cavity modes are driven simultaneously, our calculations show that the strong photon antibunching can be obtained in the cavity. The optimal condition for strong antibunching is found by analytic calculations and numerical simulations, and discussions of the optimal condition are presented. The differences between the present scheme and that with \ensuremathχ(3){\ensuremath{\chi}}^{(3)}\ensuremathχ(3) nonlinearity are discussed. This scheme is not sensitive to the change of decay rates, which makes the experimental realization easy.
In the recent publications [Phys. Rev. A 92,023838 (2015)], the unconventional photon blockade are studied in a two-mode-second-order-nonlinear system with nonlinear coupling between the low frequency and high frequency modes. In this paper, we study the unconventional photon blockade in a three-mode system with weakly coupled nonlinear cavities via χ(2)χ^{(2)}χ(2) nonlinearity. By solving the master equation in the steady-state limit and calculating the zero-delay time second-order correlation function, we obtain the conditions of strong photon antibunching in the low frequency mode. The numerical result are compared with the analytical results, the results show that they are in complete agreement. By the analysis of numerical solutions, we find that this scheme is not sensitive to the change of decay rates and the reservoir temperature, and the three-mode drives make the system have more adjustable parameters, both of which increases the possibility of experimental implementation.
This study systematically investigates unconventional photon blockade in two coupled Kerr nonlinear cavities at resonance. By solving the master equation in the steady-state limit and calculating the equal-time second-order correlation function, the photon antibunching effect within the nonlinear regime is revealed. Through analytical derivations, four sets of optimal antibunching conditions are obtained and validated through numerical simulations, unveiling new characteristics of photon blockade. Furthermore, the influence of system parameters on photon blockade is discussed, providing valuable theoretical support for optimizing the design and implementation of single-photon sources.
In this paper, we show that photon blockade can be observed in a system with weak Kerr nonlinearities. The system consists of two spatially overlapping single-mode semiconductor cavities with tunable one- and two-photon tunneling. We find that both conventional and unconventional single-photon blockades are controllable by manipulating the phase in the hopping regardless of the weakness of nonlinearity. We refer to the photon blockade with weak nonlinearities as an unconventional photon blockade. The unconventional photon blockade effect originates from the destructive interference between different paths from the ground state to two-photon states. We analytically derive the exact optimal conditions for strong antibunching, which are in good agreement with those obtained by numerical simulations. The optimal parameters for photon blockade are derived. Based on these parameters, the semiconductor cavity systems can be used as a single-photon source in regimes of both weak and strong nonlinearities.
We propose a scheme of photon blockade in a system comprising of coupled cavities embedded in Kerr nonlinear material, where two cavities are driven and dissipated. We analytically derive the exact optimal conditions for strong photon antibunching, which are in good agreement with those obtained by numerical simulations. We find that conventional and unconventional photon blockades have controllable flexibilities by tuning the strength ratio and relative phase between two complex driving fields. Such unconventional photon-blockade effects are ascribed to the quantum interference effect to avoid two-photon excitation of the coupled cavities. We also discuss the statistical properties of the photons under given optimal conditions. Our results provide a promising platform for the coherent manipulation of photon blockade, which has potential applications for quantum information processing and quantum optical devices.
The conventional photon blockade (CPB) for high-frequency mode is investigated in a second-order nonlinear system with Kerr nonlinearity. By solving the master equation and calculating the zero-delay-time second-order correlation function g(2)(0), we obtain that strong photon antibunching can be achieved in this scheme. The optimal condition for strong antibunching is also calculated analytically and discussed in detail. We find that the Kerr nonlinearity can largely enhance the CPB effect in the high-frequency mode, and this scheme is not sensitive to the reservoir temperature. In addition, when compared with the linear coupled system, the system has obvious advantages in CPB implementation.