Photon blockade in optomechanical systems with a position-modulated Kerr-type nonlinear coupling

Abstract

We explore the photon blockade in optomechanical systems with a position-modulated Kerr-type nonlinear coupling, i.e. . We find that the Kerr-type nonlinear coupling can enhance the photon blockade greatly. We evaluate the equal-time second-order correlation function of the cavity photons and find that the optimal photon blockade does not happen at the single photon resonance. By working within the few-photon subspace, we get an approximate analytical expression for the correlation function and the condition for the optimal photon blockade. We also find that the photon blockade effect is not always enhanced as the Kerr-type nonlinear coupling strength g2 increases. At some values of g2, the photon blockade is even weakened. For the system we considered here, the second-order correlation function can be smaller than 1 even in the unresolved sideband regime. By numerically simulating the master equation of the system, we also find that the thermal noise of the mechanical environment can enhance the photon blockade. We give out an explanation for this counter-intuitive phenomenon qualitatively.