Tunable photon statistics in weakly nonlinear photonic molecules

TL;DR

This paper explores how photon statistics in a weakly nonlinear photonic molecule can be tuned by adjusting coupling, driving strength, and phase, enabling controlled single-photon sources and quantum gates.

Contribution

It introduces a method to control photon statistics in a two-driven-mode photonic molecule, expanding potential applications in quantum photonics.

Findings

Photon statistics can be tuned by coupling, strength ratio, and phase.

Controlled photon antibunching enables single-photon source development.

Weak Kerr nonlinearity suffices for quantum gate operations.

Abstract

In recent studies [Liew et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 183601 (2010); Bamba et al., Phys. Rev. A 83, 021802(R) (2011)], due to destructive interference between different paths for two-photon excitation, strong photon antibunching can be obtained in a photonic molecule consisting of two coupled cavity modes with weak Kerr nonlinearity when one of the cavity modes is driven resonantly. Here, we study the photon statistics in a nonlinear photonic molecule with both the two cavity modes being driven coherently. We show that the statistical properties of the photons can be controlled by regulating the coupling constant between the cavity modes, the strength ratio and the relative phase between the driving fields. The photonic molecules with two driven modes can be used to generate tunable single-photon sources or controlled photonic quantum gates with weak Kerr nonlinearity.