IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,373,721
Granted Patent B2
US 12,373,721 · App. 18/161,569 · Granted Jul 29, 2025

Controlled photon Fock state generation using arbitrarily weak photonic nonlinearities

Inventors: Aashish Clerk (Chicago, IL); Andrew Lingenfelter (Chicago, IL)
Assignee: The University of Chicago
G06N10/40
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,373,721
App. No.
18/161,569
Granted
Jul 29, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

A method and system that harnesses extremely weak Kerr-type nonlinearities in a single driven cavity to deterministically generate single photon Fock states, and more general photon-blockaded states are disclosed. The disclosed scheme is effective even for nonlinearities that are much smaller than photonic loss in the cavity. The disclosed scheme generates photon-blockade states that are non-Gaussian, exhibit a sharp cut-off in their photon number distribution, and can be arbitrarily close to, for example, a single-photon Fock state. This scheme relies only standard linear and parametric drives, and are hence compatible with a variety of different photonic platforms.

Claims (36)

1. A method for generating a non-classical photonic Fock state in a resonant electromagnetic mode of a nonlinear electromagnetic resonator, comprising:

adjusting and applying a first electromagnetic drive in a first time period to displace the resonant electromagnetic mode from a lab frame into a displaced frame;

adjusting and applying the first electromagnetic drive and a second electromagnetic drive in a second time period subsequent to the first time period to the nonlinear electromagnetic resonator to generate a photonic Fock state of the resonant electromagnetic mode in the displaced frame with photon number n by turning off a matrix element between photonic Fock states with photon numbers n and n+1, thereby creating a photon blockade between the photonic Fock states with photon numbers n and n+1; and

adjusting and applying the first electromagnetic drive in a third time period subsequent to the second time period to restore the resonant electromagnetic mode into the lab frame from the displaced frame while maintaining the photonic Fock state.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein n=1 and the photon Fock state corresponds to a single-photon Fock state.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein:

the first electromagnetic drive is detuned by a first frequency offset to a single photon resonance of the resonant electromagnetic mode of the nonlinear electromagnetic resonator; and

the second electromagnetic drive is detuned by a second frequency offset to a two-phone resonance of the resonant electromagnetic mode of the nonlinear electromagnetic resonator, the second frequency offset being commensurate with the first frequency offset.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein amplitude of the first electromagnetic drive and a length of the first time period are adjusted such that the resonant electromagnetic mode is displaced into a coherent state at end of the first time period.

5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising applying and adjusting the second electromagnetic drive during the first time period to assist in compensating for a consequence of a nonlinearity of the nonlinear electromagnetic resonator.

6. The method of claim 3 , further comprising applying and adjusting the second electromagnetic drive during the third time period to assist in compensating for a consequence of a nonlinearity of the nonlinear electromagnetic resonator.

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein a nonlinearity of the nonlinear electromagnetic resonator at the resonant electromagnetic mode is smaller in comparison to a photonic loss rate of the nonlinear electromagnetic resonator.

8. The method of claim 3 , wherein a time length of the second time period is chosen to be inversely proportional to an effective drive amplitude of the second electromagnetic drive in the displaced frame.

9. The method of claim 3 , wherein the nonlinear electromagnetic resonator is dominated at the resonant electromagnetic mode by Kerr-type (x (3) ) optical nonlinearity.

10. The method of claim 3 , wherein the nonlinear electromagnetic resonator is dominated at the resonant electromagnetic mode by x (2) type of optical nonlinearity.

11. The method of claim 3 , wherein the nonlinear electromagnetic resonator comprises a optical ring resonator or an optical Fabry-Pérot resonator.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first electromagnetic drive and the second electromagnetic drive during the first, second, and third time period effectively generate a Hamiltonian in a form of:

Ĥ target =({tilde over (Λ)} 3 â †( â†â−n )+ h.c .)+ Uâ†â†ââ,

where â and ↠are cavity photon generation and annihilation operators of the resonant electromagnetic mode, U represents cavity nonlinearity, and {tilde over (Λ)} 3 represents a nonlinear drive amplitude, and wherein the Hamiltonian above describes a nonlinear driving process that can pump up an initial vacuum state of the nonlinear electromagnetic resonator to n-photon Fock state, but no higher.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising out-coupling the photonic Fock state from the nonlinear electromagnetic resonator via an electromagnetic wave transport structure.

14. A system for generating a non-classical photonic Fock state; comprising:

a nonlinear electromagnetic resonator having a resonant electromagnetic mode characterized by a resonant frequency and corresponding nonlinearity;

a first electromagnetic source;

a second electromagnetic source; and

a controller circuitry configured to:

control the first electromagnetic source to generate and apply a first electromagnetic drive to the resonant electromagnetic mode in a first time period to displace the resonant electromagnetic mode from a lab frame into a displaced frame;

control the second electromagnetic source to generate and apply a second electromagnetic drive to the resonant electromagnetic mode in a second time period subsequent to the first time period to generate a photonic Fock state in the resonant electromagnetic mode with photon number n by turning off a matrix element between thereby creating a photon blockade between the photonic Fock state and a next higher photon number state with photon number n+1; and

control the first electromagnetic source to generate and apply the first electromagnetic drive to the resonant electromagnetic mode in a third time period subsequent to the second time period to restore the resonant electromagnetic mode into the lab frame from the displaced frame while maintaining the photonic Fock state.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein n=1 and the photon Fock state corresponds to a single-photon Fock state.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein:

the first electromagnetic drive is detuned by a first frequency offset to a single photon resonance of the resonant electromagnetic mode of the nonlinear electromagnetic resonator; and

the second electromagnetic drive is detuned by a second frequency offset to a two-phone resonance of the resonant electromagnetic mode of the nonlinear electromagnetic resonator, the second frequency offset being commensurate with the first frequency offset.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein amplitude of the first electromagnetic drive and a length of the first time period are adjusted such that the nonlinear electromagnetic resonator is displaced into a coherent state of the electromagnetic mode at end of the first time period.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the controller circuitry is further configured to apply and adjust the second electromagnetic drive during the first time period to assist in compensating for a consequence of a nonlinearity of the nonlinear electromagnetic resonator.

19. The system of claim 16 , wherein the controller circuitry is further configured to apply and adjust the second electromagnetic drive during the third time period to assist in compensating for a consequence of a nonlinearity of the nonlinear electromagnetic resonator.

20. The system of claim 16 , wherein a nonlinearity of the nonlinear electromagnetic resonator at the electromagnetic mode is smaller in comparison to a photonic loss rate of the nonlinear electromagnetic resonator.

Assignments (2)
CONFIRMATORY LICENSE Recorded Jun 26, 2025
From: UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
To: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Reel/Frame 071735/0450 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 30, 2023
From: CLERK, AASHISH; LINGENFELTER, ANDREW
To: THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Reel/Frame 062536/0453 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 63312461 · Feb 22, 2022
Related Publication 20230267361A1 · Aug 24, 2023
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