Microcavity polaritons are a hybrid photonic system that arises from the strong coupling of confined photons to quantum-well excitons. Due to their light-matter nature, polaritons possess a Kerr-like nonlinearity while being easily accessible by standard optical means. The ability to engineer confinement potentials in microcavities makes polaritons a very convenient system to study spatially localized bosonic populations, which might have great potential for the creation of novel photonic devices. Careful engineering of this system is predicted to induce Gaussian squeezing, a phenomenon that lies at a heart of the so-called unconventional photon blockade associated with single photon emission. This paper reveals a manifestation of the predicted squeezing by measuring the ultrafast time-dependent second-order correlation function g(2)(0) by means of a streak-camera acting as a single photon detector. The light emitted by the microcavity oscillates between Poissonian and super-Poissonian in phase with the Josephson dynamics. This behavior is remarkably well explained by quantum simulations, which predict such dynamical evolution of the squeezing parameters. The paper shows that a crucial prerequisite for squeezing is presence of a weak, but non-zero nonlinearity. Results open the way towards generation of nonclassical light in solid-state systems possessing a single particle nonlinearity like microwave Josephson junctions or silicon-on-chip resonators.
Microcavity polaritons are a hybrid photonic system that arises from the strong coupling of confined photons to quantum-well excitons. Due to their light-matter nature, polaritons possess a Kerr-like nonlinearity while being easily accessible by standard optical means. The ability to engineer confinement potentials in microcavities makes polaritons a very convenient system to study spatially localized bosonic populations, which might have great potential for the creation of novel photonic devices. Careful engineering of this system is predicted to induce Gaussian squeezing, a phenomenon that lies at a heart of the so-called unconventional photon blockade associated with single photon emission. This paper reveals a manifestation of the predicted squeezing by measuring the ultrafast time-dependent second-order correlation function g(2)(0) by means of a streak-camera acting as a single photon detector. The light emitted by the microcavity oscillates between Poissonian and super-Poissonian in phase with the Josephson dynamics. This behavior is remarkably well explained by quantum simulations, which predict such dynamical evolution of the squeezing parameters. The paper shows that a crucial prerequisite for squeezing is presence of a weak, but non-zero nonlinearity. Results open the way towards generation of nonclassical light in solid-state systems possessing a single particle nonlinearity like microwave Josephson junctions or silicon-on-chip resonators.
The use of a Kerr nonlinearity to generate squeezed light is a well-known way to surpass the quantum noise limit along a given field quadrature. Nevertheless, in the most common regime of weak nonlinearity, a single Kerr resonator is unable to provide the proper interrelation between the field amplitude and squeezing required to induce a sizable deviation from Poissonian statistics. We demonstrate experimentally that weakly coupled bosonic modes allow exploration of the interplay between squeezing and displacement, which can give rise to strong deviations from the Poissonian statistics. In particular, we report on the periodic bunching in a Josephson junction formed by two coupled exciton-polariton modes. Quantum modeling traces the bunching back to the presence of quadrature squeezing. Our results, linking the light statistics to squeezing, are a precursor to the study of nonclassical features in semiconductor microcavities and other weakly nonlinear bosonic systems.
We theoretically study the emission statistics of a nonlinear photonic dimer during coherent Josephson-like oscillations. We show that the phase and population oscillations allow to periodically approach an optimal squeezing condition resulting in strongly nonclassical emission statistics. By considering a realistic exciton-polariton field in a appropriately designed microcavity, we show that the antibunching should emerge in such semiconductor system where nonclassical signatures have remained elusive to date.
Summary form only given. Semiconductor microcavities can be engineered to produce strong coupling between photons and quantum well excitons leading to the formation of new eigenstates called polaritons. Due to their peculiar dispersion, enabling non-equilibrium Bose-Einstein condensation [1], and their straightforward experimental accessibility, microcavity polaritons have gained considerable interest in recent years. Polariton states can be selectively populated by choosing the excitation angle and the wavelength of the excitation laser. After a lifetime of a few picoseconds the polariton decays and a photon is emitted from the cavity, carrying the complete information on the underlying polariton state. Several theoretical works [2-3] suggest that polariton-polariton interactions can be a source of non-classical photon correlations, producing photon pairs that are entangled in either the energy, the polarization, or the momentum degree of freedom. One appeal of such a system is that many parameters such as the polariton-polariton interaction strength are tunable [4] and multipartite entangled states can be created in a single device [5]. However, due to the lack of high-quality samples, experimental realisations of these schemes have been elusive so far. In this contribution, we will discuss some of our experimental work on the statistics of polariton-polariton parametric scattering. Excited polaritons can scatter in a four-wave mixing process into signal and idler states lying on a figure-eight shaped curve in k-space, where phase-matching is fulfilled. We make use of a sample with ultra narrow exciton resonances, which allows for the generation and detection of correlated light. We present our measurements of the second order correlation functions using time-correlated photon counting. We discuss in detail, how polariton quantum correlations depend on a number of experimental parameters, such as phase space location and excitation density and find that the results can be understood in the framework of the well known Bogoliubov theory for 2D Bose gases utilised for microcavity polaritons [6]. We find bunching below the parametric threshold and a slow buildup of coherence above the threshold similar to the quantum statistics of a non-degenerate optical parametric oscillator, which is well known for its nonclassical properties [7]. We discuss in particular the influence of strong background processes on the observed photon statistics.
We theoretically study the emission statistics of a weakly nonlinear photonic dimer during coherent oscillations. We show that the phase and population dynamics allow to periodically meet an optimal squeezing condition resulting in a strongly nonclassical emission statistics. By considering an exciton-polariton Josephson junction driven resonantly by a pulsed classical source, we show that a sizable antibunching should emerge in such a semiconductor system where intrinsic nonclassical signatures have remained elusive to date.
Photon correlations are the basic conveyor of optical information in the quantum information age. By regulating a stream of photons and/or endowing them with quantum correlations such as entanglement, one can use them as qubits or to distribute cryptographic keys. Every time that a platform demonstrates its ability to generate photons that have such correlations, new prospects arise to extend the frontiers of quantum technology. One rising star to engineer quantum states in solid state optics are microcavity polaritons. These semiconductor heterostructures can trap both light (cavity photons) and matter (electron-hole pairs) to keep them under strong interaction for a long time. The resulting eigenstates, polaritons, have had resounding successes in the investigation of quantum phases such as Bose-Einstein condensates, superfluids and nonlinear quantum fluids. They also progress quickly to implement actual devices. Lately, their quantum character was consolidated by the observation of squeezing, indicating nonclassical features at a macroscopic level. Only missing to the polariton prize list is quantum correlation at the single particle level. In this Letter, we report the observation of single-photon antibunching from the emission of an out-of-equilibrium Bose-Eintein condensate. This is made possible thanks to generalized photon correlations that preserve the energy information as well as their time of detection. The success of this technique and its results open the era of quantum polaritonics in microcavities and demonstrate the concept of a new class of quantum correlations that can be pursued in a wide range of optical platforms.
The main scope of this thesis is the investigation of quantum properties of nonlinear, dissipative, optical and condensed matter systems. Compared with previous studies on this subjects, we reached several milestone of general interests for the theoretical and experimental community. \nThe main experimental platform we refer to in this thesis is microcavity polaritons: polaritons arise from the coupling of light with excitons in a quantum well, i.e., a 2D semiconductor material embedded in the microcavity. They have attracted the interest of the scientific community for their rich physics. Polaritons can form out-of-equilibrium Bose-Einstein condensates, they can experience superfluid phase transition and, due to their interaction via the excitonic component, they show a variety of phenomena which are typical of nonlinear physics, such as bistability and parametric scattering. \nIn particular, motivated by recent proposals about the generation of single photons from weakly nonlinear system, like the unconventional photon blockade, and by the production of squeezed states in polariton systems, we studied the possibility of obtaining antibunched light and other quantum states (like squeezed states and entangled states), when the nonlinear system shows some peculiar features: in particular we consider polariton soliton and cascade systems. \nFinally, when considering nonlinear incoherent processes, we investigate the effect of the PT-symmetry and the PT-symmetry breaking on the quantum state of the emitted light. \nHence, this research work has two main objectives: first, from the fundamental physics point of view, to understand the interplay between nonlinear phenomena and quantum optics, second to provide useful tools for future technological applications. Specifically, for the latter case, we demonstrate a theorem that links the measurement of intensity correlations with the occurrence of certain phase transitions, and we propose a setup to maximize the non-classicality of the light emitted by weakly non-linear systems via a cascade configuration. \n \n \n