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Strong photon antibunching and photon pair emission in a two-atom cavity QED system with van der Waals interaction

Z. Y. Yu1, J. P. Xu1, C. J. Zhu2,*, Z. Y. Bai3,†, and Y. P. Yang1,‡

  • 1MOE Key Laboratory of Advanced Micro-Structured Materials, School of Physics Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
  • 2School of Physical Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China
  • 3National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and School of Physics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China

  • *Contact author: cjzhu@suda.edu.cn
  • †Contact author: zhybai@nju.edu.cn
  • ‡Contact author: yang_yaping@tongji.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. Research 7, 043248 – Published 3 December, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/3v2q-7g6r

Abstract

We investigate the generation of strong antibunching photons/photon pairs in a two-atom cavity QED system leveraging interatomic van der Waals (vdW) interaction. We show that the vdW interaction shifts the energy of double excited state, enabling the suppression of two-photon excitation via destructive interference in a diamond configuration. This leads to antibunching photon emission with extremely high purity. Furthermore, by tuning the vdW interaction strength, the conditions for conventional and unconventional photon blockades can be satisfied simultaneously, which significantly enhances the generation of single photon. Conversely, at the antiblockade excitation frequency, quantum Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate the feasibility of generating antibunching photon pairs with a high purity and reasonable leaking rate by selecting appropriate driving field Rabi frequency and vdW interaction strength. These findings on enhanced photon antibunching and photon pair emission may lead to more efficient and brighter quantum light sources, which is a key mechanism for optical quantum devices.

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Phys. Rev. Research 7, 043248– Published 3 December, 2025
  • Received 4 August 2025
  • Accepted 27 October 2025
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