Giant optical nonlinearity induced by a single two-level system interacting with a cavity in the Purcell regime
Résumé
A two-level system that is coupled to a high-finesse cavity in the Purcell regime exhibits a giant optical nonlinearity due to the saturation of the two-level system at very low intensities, of the order of one photon per lifetime. We perform a detailed analysis of this effect, taking into account the most important practical imper- fections. Our conclusion is that an experimental demonstration of the giant nonlinearity is feasible using semiconductor micropillar cavities containing a single quantum dot in resonance with the cavity mode.