Unveiling Vacuum Fluctuations and Nonclassical States with Cavity-Enhanced Tripartite Interactions

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates cavity-enhanced tripartite interactions enabling direct extraction of vacuum fluctuations and the creation of nonclassical states, advancing quantum optics and fundamental physics research.

Contribution

It introduces a method to construct strong tripartite beamsplitter interactions using cavity-enhanced nonlinear scattering, revealing new ways to generate nonclassical states.

Findings

Direct extraction of vacuum fluctuations of photons and phonons.

Realization of high-quality single-quanta sources with large occupancies.

Identification of decay-enhanced single-quanta blockade as a mechanism for nonclassical emitters.

Abstract

Enhancing and tailoring light-matter interactions offer remarkable nonlinear resources with wide-ranging applications in various scientific disciplines. In this study, we investigate the construction of strong and deterministic tripartite `beamsplitter' (`squeeze') interactions by utilizing cavity-enhanced nonlinear anti-Stokes (Stokes) scattering within the spin-photon-phonon degrees of freedom. We explore the exotic dynamical and steady-state properties associated with the confined motion of a single atom within a high-finesse optical cavity. Notably, we demonstrate the direct extraction of vacuum fluctuations of photons and phonons, which are inherent in Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, without requiring any free parameters. Moreover, our approach enables the realization of high-quality single-quanta sources with large average photon (phonon) occupancies. The underlying physical mechanisms responsible for generating nonclassical quantum emitters are attributed to decay-enhanced single-quanta blockade and the utilization of long-lived motional phonons, resulting in strong nonlinearity. This work unveils significant opportunities for studying hitherto unexplored physical phenomena and provides novel perspectives on fundamental physics dominated by strong tripartite interactions.