Abstract
Quantum fluids of light in a nonlinear planar microcavity can exhibit antibunched photon statistics at short distances due to repulsive polariton interactions. We show that, despite the weakness of the nonlinearity, the antibunching signal can be amplified orders of magnitude with an appropriate free-space optics scheme to select and interfere output modes. Our results are understood from the unconventional photon blockade perspective by analyzing the approximate Gaussian output state of the microcavity. In a second part, we illustrate how the temporal and spatial profile of the density-density correlation function of a fluid of light can be reconstructed with free-space optics. Also here the nontrivial (anti)bunching signal can be amplified significantly by shaping the light emitted by the microcavity.
Highlights
Our results are understood from the unconventional photon blockade perspective by analyzing the approximate Gaussian output state of the microcavity
We illustrate how the temporal and spatial profile of the density-density correlation function of a fluid of light can be reconstructed with free-space optics
Since the antibunching in this setup originates from genuine particle interactions inside a planar microcavity, we devote the second part of this manuscript to investigating the spatial profile of correlations in the quantum fluid of light itself
Summary
Generation and manipulation of nonclassical states of light has been at the heart of quantum optics ever since its development in the early days [1]. The statistics of these pairs of fluctuations is described in terms of a two-mode squeezed Gaussian state It was shown in a number of recent studies [15,16,17,18] that strongly antibunched photon statistics is not necessarily a consequence of a strong cavity nonlinearity. The setup that we introduce in this work, illustrated, utilizes the photons generated from quantum fluctuations in a 2D planar microcavity to engineer an interference between two squeezed intracavity modes, with opposite momentum (k, −k), and the coherent pumping field to produce the desired antibunched statistics. Since the antibunching in this setup originates from genuine particle interactions inside a planar microcavity, we devote the second part of this manuscript to investigating the spatial profile of correlations in the quantum fluid of light itself. Technical details on the Bogoliubov approximation and on the time-dependence of operators are given in Appendices A and B, while Appendix C is devoted to a brief discussion of the principal imperfections and noise sources that may disturb the unconventional blockade effect in realistic planar microcavity devices
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