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arXiv:quant-ph/0610172 · Physical Review A

Giant optical nonlinearity induced by a single two-level system interacting with a cavity in the Purcell regime

Alexia Auffèves, Christoph Simon, Jean‐Michel Gérard, J.-Ph. Poizat

Published May 30, 2007• 204 citations
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Abstract

A two-level system that is coupled to a high-finesse cavity in the Purcell regime exhibits a giant optical nonlinearity due to the saturation of the two-level system at very low intensities, of the order of one photon per lifetime. We perform a detailed analysis of this effect, taking into account the most important practical imperfections. Our conclusion is that an experimental demonstration of the giant nonlinearity is feasible using semiconductor micropillar cavities containing a single quantum dot in resonance with the cavity mode.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.75.053823

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A two-level system that is coupled to a high-finesse cavity in the Purcell regime exhibits a giant optical nonlinearity due to the saturation of the two-level system at very low intensities, of the order of one photon per lifetime. We perform a detailed analysis of this effect, taking into account the most important practical imperfections. Our conclusion is that an experimental demonstration of the giant nonlinearity is feasible using semiconductor micropillar cavities containing a single quantum dot in resonance with the cavity mode.
Photonic information processing requires giant optical non-linearities to implement logic gates between photons and optical switches at the single photon level. A very promising non-linear medium is a "one dimensional atom", that is a directional high-finesse cavity containing a resonant two-level system in the Purcell regime. We aim at experimentally demonstrating this effect using a single quantum dot in a symmetric micropillar, the directionality of the micropillar ensuring the one-dimensionality of the problem.
We analyze the transmission character of a single-mode cavity containing a resonant two-level atom. Such a simple structure exhibits optical nonlinearity and spatial symmetry breaking, as well as time-reversal symmetry breaking. We perform a detailed analysis in the Purcell regime and find out that there is giant optical nonreciprocity in proper parameter space. Therefore, it is feasible to assemble such a simple atom–cavity structure to realize an acceptable optical nonreciprocal device after carefully designing.
Giant optical nonlinearity is observed under both continuous wave and pulsed excitation in a deterministically coupled quantum dot-micropillar system, in a pronounced strong-coupling regime. Using absolute reflectivity measurements we determine the critical intracavity photon number as well as the input and output coupling efficiencies of the device. Thanks to a near-unity input-coupling efficiency, we demonstrate a record nonlinearity threshold of only 8 incident photons per pulse. The output-coupling efficiency is found to strongly influence this nonlinearity threshold. We show how the fundamental limit of single-photon nonlinearity can be attained in realistic devices, which would provide an effective interaction between two coincident single-photons.
We coherently probe a quantum dot that is strongly coupled to a photonic crystal nano-cavity by scattering of a resonant laser beam. The coupled system's response is highly nonlinear as the quantum dot saturates with nearly one photon per cavity lifetime. This system enables large amplitude and phase shifts of a signal beam via a control beam, both at single photon levels. We demonstrate photon-photon interactions with short pulses in a system that is promising for ultra-low power switches and two-qubit quantum gates.