Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Optics Express

Photon blockade by enhancing coupling via a nonlinear medium

Jin-Song Liu, Junya Yang, Hongyu Liu, Ai‐Dong Zhu

Published May 30, 2020• 12 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A significantly low value of the single-photon coupling constant is a major challenge in the creation of a single-photon source via photon blockade. Here, we propose a photon blockade scheme composed of a weakly second-order nonlinear medium with an optical parametric amplification in a low-frequency cavity. Unlike the traditional weakly coupled system, the effective coupling strength in the proposed scheme can be significantly higher than the decay rate of the cavity mode. This can be achieved by adjusting the squeezing parameter even if the original coupling strength is weak. The thermal noise of the squeezed cavity mode can be suppressed by a squeezed vacuum field. Using a probability amplitude method, we obtain the optimal condition of photon blockade in the steady-state. By solving the master equation numerically in the steady-state, a strong photon antibunching effect that is consistent with the optimal conditions can be obtained in the cavity with low frequency. Besides, the photon blockade phenomenon and cross-correlation of two cavities can be significantly enhanced under a specific squeezing parameter. Our results may be useful for future studies on the characteristics of photon statistics.

DOI
10.1364/oe.395618

Related papers

Unconventional photon blockade based on double second order nonlinear coupling system

Hongyu Lin, Xiaoqian Wang, Zhuo Yu +1 more

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 $χ^{(2)}$ 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.

arXiv:2001.05831•Jan 16, 2020•0 citations

Photon blockade effect from synergistic optical parametric amplification and driving force in Kerr-medium single-mode cavity

Zhang Zhiqiang

This work investigates photon blockade control in a hybrid quantum system containing a Kerr-nonlinear cavity coupled to an optical parametric amplifier (OPA). The dynamics are governed by a master equation derived from an effective Hamiltonian that includes cavity decay. To obtain analytical solutions, the system's quantum state is expanded in the Fock basis up to the two-photon level. Solving the steady-state Schrodinger equation yields probability amplitudes and the analytical conditions for optimal photon blockade. Results confirm that photon blockade is achievable with suitable parameters. Excellent agreement is found between the analytical solutions and numerical simulations for the steady-state, equal-time second-order correlation function, validating both the analytical method and the blockade effect. Numerically, the average intracavity photon number increases significantly under resonance, providing a theoretical pathway for enhancing single-photon source brightness. Furthermore, the driving phase is shown to regulate the optimal blockade region: it shifts the parabolic region within the two-dimensional parameter space of driving strength and OPA nonlinearity and can even reverse its opening direction. The influence of Kerr nonlinearity is also examined. Photon blockade remains robust across a wide range of Kerr strengths. Physical analysis attributes the effect to destructive quantum interference between two distinct excitation pathways that suppress two-photon states. While Kerr nonlinearity shifts the system's energy levels, it does not disrupt this interference mechanism, explaining the effect's stability over a broad parameter range.

quant-pharXiv:2601.01819•Acta Physica Sinica•Jan 6, 2026•1 citation

Unconventional photon blockade with second-order nonlinearity

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

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.

Physical Review A•Aug 20, 2015•178 citations

Unconventional Photon Blockade in Quantum‐Well Microcavities with Squeezed Light

Houcem Jabri, Hichem Eleuch

The single‐photon blockade effect arising in a cavity containing a quantum well and interacting with squeezed light, resulting from a down‐conversion process through a nonlinear medium, is investigated. Optical parametric oscillator (OPO) materials with positive and negative second‐order susceptibilities are considered. By solving the master equation analytically in the weak‐driving limit and calculating the second‐order equal‐time correlation function, it is found that strong photon antibunching can be achieved in this system with weak excitonic nonlinearity or squeezed light via a destructive quantum interference mechanism. The optimal conditions for the photon blockade are derived analytically and discussed in details. Unlike the excitonic nonlinearity, a strong photon blockade occurs with the squeezed light at total or quasitotal resonance, even in the weak coupling regime, using an OPO material with negative second‐order nonlinear susceptibility. By acting on the driving coherent pump frequency, the control of the cavity output is achieved and the scheme can serve as a tunable single‐photon emission source.

physica status solidi (b)•May 13, 2021•2 citations

Universal photon blockades via parametric amplification in second-order nonlinearly coupled cavities

Guo-Hua Lv, Rui Hou, Y. H. Zhou +3 more

Photon blockade (PB) is generally classified into conventional and unconventional types based on their distinct physical mechanisms. Recent studies have aimed to bridge the two regimes to realize a universal photon blockade (universal PB) that combines their respective advantages. Here, we propose a scheme for achieving universal PB based on second-order nonlinearity. The second-order nonlinear coupling between two cavity modes mediates the fundamental interaction, while an optical parametric amplifier embedded in one cavity introduces additional quantum interference pathways. We analytically derive the optimal conditions for universal PB, and the analytical results show excellent agreement with numerical simulations. By comparing universal PB with conventional PB, we highlight its unique performance advantages: the scheme operates effectively in both strong and weak coupling regimes, relaxes experimental constraints, and achieves an ultra-low equal-time second-order correlation function g (2) (0) down to 10 −7 , while maintaining a moderate mean photon number N a ∼ 10 −2 . This work provides a feasible and tunable platform for realizing high-purity single-photon sources and exploring quantum statistical properties in nonlinear cavity systems.

Optics Express•Dec 15, 2025•4 citations

Unconventional photon blockade in two coupled Kerr nonlinear cavities at resonance

Li-Yuan Xue, Yang Shao, Yan-Zhe Song +3 more

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.

International Journal of Quantum Information•Feb 19, 2026•0 citations
A significantly low value of the single-photon coupling constant is a major challenge in the creation of a single-photon source via photon blockade. Here, we propose a photon blockade scheme composed of a weakly second-order nonlinear medium with an optical parametric amplification in a low-frequency cavity. Unlike the traditional weakly coupled system, the effective coupling strength in the proposed scheme can be significantly higher than the decay rate of the cavity mode. This can be achieved by adjusting the squeezing parameter even if the original coupling strength is weak. The thermal noise of the squeezed cavity mode can be suppressed by a squeezed vacuum field. Using a probability amplitude method, we obtain the optimal condition of photon blockade in the steady-state. By solving the master equation numerically in the steady-state, a strong photon antibunching effect that is consistent with the optimal conditions can be obtained in the cavity with low frequency. Besides, the photon blockade phenomenon and cross-correlation of two cavities can be significantly enhanced under a specific squeezing parameter. Our results may be useful for future studies on the characteristics of photon statistics.
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 work investigates photon blockade control in a hybrid quantum system containing a Kerr-nonlinear cavity coupled to an optical parametric amplifier (OPA). The dynamics are governed by a master equation derived from an effective Hamiltonian that includes cavity decay. To obtain analytical solutions, the system's quantum state is expanded in the Fock basis up to the two-photon level. Solving the steady-state Schrodinger equation yields probability amplitudes and the analytical conditions for optimal photon blockade. Results confirm that photon blockade is achievable with suitable parameters. Excellent agreement is found between the analytical solutions and numerical simulations for the steady-state, equal-time second-order correlation function, validating both the analytical method and the blockade effect. Numerically, the average intracavity photon number increases significantly under resonance, providing a theoretical pathway for enhancing single-photon source brightness. Furthermore, the driving phase is shown to regulate the optimal blockade region: it shifts the parabolic region within the two-dimensional parameter space of driving strength and OPA nonlinearity and can even reverse its opening direction. The influence of Kerr nonlinearity is also examined. Photon blockade remains robust across a wide range of Kerr strengths. Physical analysis attributes the effect to destructive quantum interference between two distinct excitation pathways that suppress two-photon states. While Kerr nonlinearity shifts the system's energy levels, it does not disrupt this interference mechanism, explaining the effect's stability over a broad parameter range.
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.
The single‐photon blockade effect arising in a cavity containing a quantum well and interacting with squeezed light, resulting from a down‐conversion process through a nonlinear medium, is investigated. Optical parametric oscillator (OPO) materials with positive and negative second‐order susceptibilities are considered. By solving the master equation analytically in the weak‐driving limit and calculating the second‐order equal‐time correlation function, it is found that strong photon antibunching can be achieved in this system with weak excitonic nonlinearity or squeezed light via a destructive quantum interference mechanism. The optimal conditions for the photon blockade are derived analytically and discussed in details. Unlike the excitonic nonlinearity, a strong photon blockade occurs with the squeezed light at total or quasitotal resonance, even in the weak coupling regime, using an OPO material with negative second‐order nonlinear susceptibility. By acting on the driving coherent pump frequency, the control of the cavity output is achieved and the scheme can serve as a tunable single‐photon emission source.
Photon blockade (PB) is generally classified into conventional and unconventional types based on their distinct physical mechanisms. Recent studies have aimed to bridge the two regimes to realize a universal photon blockade (universal PB) that combines their respective advantages. Here, we propose a scheme for achieving universal PB based on second-order nonlinearity. The second-order nonlinear coupling between two cavity modes mediates the fundamental interaction, while an optical parametric amplifier embedded in one cavity introduces additional quantum interference pathways. We analytically derive the optimal conditions for universal PB, and the analytical results show excellent agreement with numerical simulations. By comparing universal PB with conventional PB, we highlight its unique performance advantages: the scheme operates effectively in both strong and weak coupling regimes, relaxes experimental constraints, and achieves an ultra-low equal-time second-order correlation function g (2) (0) down to 10 −7 , while maintaining a moderate mean photon number N a ∼ 10 −2 . This work provides a feasible and tunable platform for realizing high-purity single-photon sources and exploring quantum statistical properties in nonlinear cavity systems.
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.