Qubit-induced strong Wigner negativity at steady state
We show that a Kerr-nonlinear cavity coupled to an incoherently pumped two-level qubit can stabilize a nonclassical steady state with pronounced Wigner negativity. Without the qubit, two-photon drive and dissipation preserve photon-number parity and confine vacuum-initiated dynamics to the even-parity Fock subspace, preventing the emergence of odd-parity-induced central Wigner negativity. The qubit opens a frequency-selective injection channel into the odd-parity Fock subspace, while Kerr nonlinearity suppresses unwanted higher-order transitions, driving the system toward a steady state dominated by the single-photon Fock state that can approach a nearly pure state in the optimal regime. The resulting Wigner negativity remains robust over broad experimentally relevant loss and dephasing regimes, providing a route to the dissipative stabilization of nonclassical light in cavity quantum electrodynamics platforms.
Authors
- Jiahua Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1794-676X)
- Yan Liu
Institutions
- Huazhong University of Science and Technology (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Applied Physics Letters
- Published
- 2026-09-14
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0352690
- Primary Topic
- Quantum optics and atomic interactions
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- National Key Research and Development Program of China