No Arabic abstract
We investigate the reduction of the electromagnetic field fluctuations in resonance fluorescence from a single emitter coupled to an optical nanostructure. We find that such hybrid system can lead to the creation of squeezed states of light, with quantum fluctuations significantly below the shot noise level. Moreover, the physical conditions for achieving squeezing are strongly relaxed with respect to an emitter in free space. A high degree of control over squeezed light is feasible both in the far and near fields, opening the pathway to its manipulation and applications on the nanoscale with state-of-the-art setups.
Quantum frequency conversion (QFC), a nonlinear optical process in which the frequency of a quantum light field is altered while conserving its non-classical correlations, was first demonstrated 20 years ago. Meanwhile, it is considered an essential tool for the implementation of quantum repeaters since it allows for interfacing quantum memories with telecom-wavelength photons as quantum information carriers. Here we demonstrate efficient (>30%) QFC of visible single photons (711 nm) emitted by a quantum dot (QD) to a telecom wavelength (1,313 nm). Analysis of the first and second-order coherence before and after wavelength conversion clearly proves that important properties, such as the coherence time and photon antibunching, are fully conserved during the frequency translation process. Our findings underline the great potential of single photon sources on demand in combination with QFC as a promising technique for quantum repeater schemes.
Recent advances in micro- and nanofabrication techniques have led to corresponding improvement in the performance of optomechanical systems, which provide a promising avenue towards quantum-limited metrology and the study of quantum behavior in macroscopic mechanical objects. One major impediment to reaching the quantum regime is thermal excitation, which can be overcome for sufficiently high mechanical quality factor Q. Here, we propose a method for increasing the effective Q of a mechanical resonator by stiffening it via the optical spring effect exhibited by linear optomechanical systems, and show how the associated quantum radiation pressure noise can be evaded by sensing and feedback control. In a parameter regime that is attainable with current technology, this method allows for realistic quantum cavity optomechanics in a frequency band well below that which has been realized thus far.
We measure the dynamics of a non-classical optical field using two-time second-order correlations in conjunction with pulsed excitation. The technique quantifies single-photon purity and coherence during the excitation-decay cycle of an emitter, illustrated here using a quantum dot. We observe that for certain pump wavelengths, photons detected early in the cycle have reduced single-photon purity and coherence compared to those detected later. A model indicates that the single-photon purity dynamics are due to exciton recapture after initial emission and within the same pulse cycle.
We put forward a general approach for calculating the quantum energy level shift for emitter in arbitrary nanostructures, in which the energy level shift is expressed by the sum of the real part of the scattering photon Green function (GF) and a simple integral about the imaginary part of the photon GF in the real frequency range without principle value. Compared with the method of direct principal value integral over the positive frequency axis and the method by transferring into the imaginary axis, this method avoids the principle value integral and the calculation of the scattering GF with imaginary frequency. In addition, a much narrower frequency range about the scattering photon GF in enough to get a convergent result. It is numerically demonstrated in the case for a quantum emitter (QE) located around a nanosphere and in a gap plasmonic nanocavity. Quantum dynamics of the emitter is calculated by the time domain method through solving Schr{o}dinger equation in the form of Volterra integral of the second kind and by the frequency domain method based on the Greens function expression for the evolution operator. It is found that the frequency domain method needs information of the scattering GF over a much narrower frequency range. In addition, reversible dynamics is observed. These findings are instructive in the fields of coherent light-matter interactions.
We show an optical wave-mixing scheme that generates quantum light by means of a single three-level atom. The atom couples to an optical cavity and two laser fields that together drive a cycling current within the atom. Weak driving in combination with strong atom-cavity coupling induces transitions between the dark states of the system, accompanied by single-photon emission and suppression of atomic excitation by quantum interference. For strong driving, the system can generate coherent or Schrodinger cat-like fields with frequencies distinct from those of the applied lasers.