PHYSICAL REVIEW A 74, 033811 共2006兲

Input-output theory of cavities in the ultrastrong coupling regime:

The case of time-independent cavity parameters
Cristiano Ciuti1,* and Iacopo Carusotto2
1
Laboratoire Pierre Aigrain, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 24, rue Lhomond, 75005 Paris, France
2
BEC-CNR-INFM and Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Trento, I-38050 Povo, Italy
共Received 30 May 2006; published 18 September 2006兲
We present a full quantum theory for the dissipative dynamics of an optical cavity in the ultrastrong
light-matter coupling regime, in which the vacuum Rabi frequency is a significant fraction of the active
electronic transition frequency and the antiresonant terms of the light-matter coupling play an important role.
In particular, our model can be applied to the case of intersubband transitions in doped semiconductor quantum
wells embedded in a microcavity. The coupling of the intracavity photonic mode and of the electronic polar-
ization to the external, frequency-dependent, dissipation baths is taken into account by means of quantum
Langevin equations in the input-output formalism. In the case of a time-independent vacuum Rabi frequency,
exact analytical expressions for the operators are obtained, which allows us to characterize the quantum
dissipative response of the cavity to an arbitrary initial condition 共vacuum, coherent field, thermal excitation兲.
For a vacuum input in both the photonic and electronic polarization modes, the ground state of the cavity
system is a two-mode squeezed vacuum state with a finite population in both photonic and electronic modes.
These excitations are, however, virtual and cannot escape from the cavity: for a vacuum input, a vacuum output
is found, without any trace of the intracavity squeezing. For a coherent photonic input the linear optical
response spectra 共reflectivity, absorption, transmission兲 have been studied, and signatures of the ultrastrong
coupling have been identified in the asymmetric and peculiar anticrossing of the polaritonic eigenmodes.
Finally, we have calculated the electroluminescence spectra in the case of an incoherent electronic input: the
emission intensity in the ultrastrong coupling regime results in being significantly enhanced as compared to the
case of an isolated quantum well without a surrounding cavity.

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.74.033811 PACS number共s兲: 42.50.Pq, 71.36.⫹c, 78.67.De, 03.70.⫹k

I. INTRODUCTION which the vacuum Rabi frequency ⍀R becomes comparable

to the intersubband electronic transition ␻12. In this regime,
In recent years, the study of cavity quantum electrody-
the standard rotating-wave approximation is no longer valid
namics 关1,2兴 has been a subject of an intense and fruitful and antiresonant terms of the light-matter interaction start
research. In particular, a considerable deal of activity has playing a significant role. In particular, it has been shown in
been devoted to the so-called strong light-matter coupling Ref. 关9兴 that the ground state of an isolated cavity is a two-
regime. This regime is achieved when the vacuum Rabi fre- mode squeezed vacuum containing a finite number of virtual
quency ⍀R of an electronic excitation 共i.e., the Rabi fre- and correlated photons and intersubband excitations.
quency associated with electric-field vacuum fluctuations兲 In the present paper, a full quantum description of the
exceeds the frequency broadening of the photonic and elec- system is developed, which now explicitly includes the cou-
tronic excitations. In the case of atoms in high-finesse cavi- pling to dissipation baths. In the specific case of intersub-
ties 共either in the optical 关1兴 or in the microwave 关2兴 do- band excitations in planar semiconductor microcavities con-
mains兲, the strong coupling occurs thanks to the strong sidered here, the dissipation baths are not only responsible
spatial localization of the electromagnetic field and the very for damping rates which are typically as large as 5%–10% of
high quality factors 共as high as 108兲 of the cavity mode and the transition frequency 关4,7,8兴, but also provide a way of
the atomic resonance, but the vacuum Rabi frequency ⍀R exciting and observing the cavity dynamics. The photonic
still remains a tiny fraction of the active transition frequency mode is coupled to the external world mostly because of the
␻eg. In the case of semiconductor planar microcavities 关3,4兴, finite reflectivity of the cavity mirrors, while the intersub-
the quality factors are by far less impressive 共typically not band transition is coupled to other excitations in the semi-
much larger than Q ⬇ 103兲, but the strong coupling can be conductor material—e.g., acoustic and optical phonons and
still comfortably obtained thanks to the strong photon con- free carriers in levels other than the ones involved in the
finement and the large electric-dipole moment of the active considered transition. In particular, the coupling to this elec-
electronic transitions in the quantum well. Both these facts tronic bath allows one to electrically excite the intersubband
cooperate to give a much larger vacuum Rabi frequency. Us- transitions.
ing intersubband transitions in doped semiconductor quan- The theory developed here is based on the so-called input-
tum wells 关4–8兴, it is even possible to achieve an unprec- output formalism 关10–12兴, in which the dynamics of the
edented ultrastrong light-matter coupling regime 关9兴, in electronic polarization and cavity photonic fields is described
in terms of quantum Langevin equations for the two coupled
quantum fields. Differently from previous treatments, we
*Electronic address: [email protected] have to take into account here all the antiresonant terms of

1050-2947/2006/74共3兲/033811共13兲 033811-1 ©2006 The American Physical Society

CRISTIANO CIUTI AND IACOPO CARUSOTTO PHYSICAL REVIEW A 74, 033811 共2006兲

the vacuum Rabi coupling, which forces us for consistency

to keep track in an exact way of the frequency dependence of
the dissipation baths.
The paper is organized as follows. In Sec. II, we introduce
the model Hamiltonian for the considered system and for the
baths. In Sec. III, the quantum Langevin equations for the
intracavity photonic and electronic polarization fields are de-
rived. Their exact solution for the intracavity operators as
well as for the output operators is given in Sec. IV. The case
of a vacuum input both for the photonic and polarization
fields is analyzed in Sec. V, where the properties of the
ground state of the system are characterized and the presence
of squeezing in the intracavity fields is pointed out. The
question of the observability or not of this squeezing in the
output field is addressed in Sec. VI, where we predict that no
squeezing can be observed in the output modes unless the
input is itself squeezed.
After the brief discussion of single- and double-sided
cavities of Sec. VII A, the main features of the linear optical
spectra 共reflectivity, absorption, transmission兲 under optical
excitation are considered in Sec. VII B. The electrolumines- FIG. 1. 共Color online兲 A sketch of the investigated model with
cence emission spectra under an electronic excitation are the corresponding operators and frequencies. The system is repre-
studied in Sec. VII C, where a remarkable enhancement of sented by a planar cavity mode embedding a doped multiple-
the emission intensity is found as compared to the case of an quantum-well structure. The cavity photon field is coupled to the
isolated quantum well in free space. Conclusions and per- quantum well electronic polarization associated with a resonant in-
spectives are finally drawn in Sec. VIII. tersubband transition in the doped quantum wells. The Hopfield
Hamiltonian for the cavity system includes the antiresonant light-
matter interaction terms, which are significant in the ultrastrong
II. MODEL HAMILTONIAN coupling regime 共vacuum Rabi frequency ⍀R,k comparable to the
As schematically shown in Fig. 1, the Hamiltonian of the transition frequency ␻12兲. The cavity mode is coupled to the extra-
cavity electromagnetic field. The electronic polarization is coupled
present system contains three main blocks:
to a bath of electronic excitations.
phot
H = Hsys + Hbath el
+ Hbath , 共1兲
where Hsys is the Hamiltonian describing the closed-cavity Hanti = ប 兺 兵i⍀R,k共akb−k − a†kb−k
†
兲 + Dk共aka−k + a†ka−k
†
兲其.
phot el k
system, while Hbath and Hbath take into account the coupling
to, respectively, the photonic and electronic reservoirs. 共4兲
The Hamiltonian Hsys = H0 + Hres + Hanti for the closed-
cavity system has the typical Hopfield 关13兴 form already dis- Translational invariance along the cavity plane has been here
cussed in detail in Ref. 关9兴 and contains three parts respec- assumed. ak† is the creation operator of a cavity photon with
tively describing the energy of the bare cavity photons and of in-plane wave vector k and energy ប␻cav,k. bk† is the creation
the electronic excitations 共H0兲, the resonant part of the light- operator of the bright intersubband excitation mode of wave
matter interaction 共Hres兲, and the antiresonant terms1 usually vector k of the doped quantum wells 关9兴:
neglected in the so-called rotating-wave approximation 关14兴
NQW
共Hanti兲: 1
冑NQW␴elS 兺 兺 共j兲† 共j兲
bk† = 共5兲
冉 冊
c2,q+k c1,q .
1 j=1 兩q兩⬍kF
H0 = 兺 ប ␻cav,k a†kak + + 兺 ប ␻12b†kbk , 共2兲
k 2 k Here, NQW is the number of quantum wells present in the
cavity 共which are assumed for simplicity to be situated at the
Hres = ប 兺 兵i⍀R,k共a†kbk − akb†k兲 + Dk共a†kak + aka†k兲其, 共3兲 antinodes of the cavity mode and therefore identically
k coupled to the photonic mode兲, ␴el = Nel / S is electron density
per unit area in each quantum well, and S is the quantization
共j兲
1
Note that the antiresonant terms Hanti in the Hamiltonian are due area. The fermionic operator c1,q annihilates an electron of
to the same vacuum Rabi coupling responsible for the resonant in-plane wave vector q from the lowest subband of the jth
共j兲†
terms Hres. Hence, this problem, although there is some formal quantum well, while c2,q creates an electron with wave vec-
reminiscence, is different from the case of antiresonant transitions tor q in the second, excited, subband of the jth quantum
and Bloch-Siegert-like shifts 关15兴 induced by a classical Rabi cou- well. kF is the Fermi wave vector of the two-dimensional
pling produced by an intense and coherent pump field, which is electron gas in each well, and the electronic ground state is
comprehensively studied in Ref. 关16兴. written as

033811-2
INPUT-OUTPUT THEORY OF CAVITIES IN THE¼ PHYSICAL REVIEW A 74, 033811 共2006兲

NQW ⬎0 region.2 The coupling between the cavity and extracavity

兩F典 = 兿 兿 共j兲†
c1,q 兩0cond典 共6兲 radiation fields is quantified by the tunneling matrix element
j=1 兩q兩⬍kF ␬q,k
ph
through the cavity mirror, whose value depends on the
specific mirror structure and can be calculated by solving the
in terms of the empty conduction-band state 兩0cond典. In the classical Maxwell equations.
following, we shall always restrict ourselves to a weak exci- The Hamiltonian 共10兲 takes into account a single radiative
tation regime, bath, coupled to the cavity through one of its mirrors. For the
sake of simplicity, we shall start our analysis from this sim-
1
兺 具b† bk典
␴el ,
S k k
共7兲 plified case, which is then extended in Sec. VII A to the
more realistic case of two photonic baths coupled to the cav-
ity through the front and back mirrors. All this discussion is
phot
in which the operators bk are approximately bosonic: performed by neglecting the antiresonant terms in Hbath
whose effect is quantitatively small; the general case includ-
关bk,bk⬘兴 = ␦k,k⬘ .
†
共8兲 ing the antiresonant terms would not, however, pose any ad-
ditional problem and is considered and solved in Appendix.
The NQWNel − 1 states orthogonal to bk† 兩 F典 are dark excita- Concerning the bath coupled to the electronic transition,
tions 共uncoupled to the cavity photon兲 which do not play any the modeling is not as straightforward as in the photonic
role in the optical processes taking place in the system. The case. In the case of intersubband transitions in doped semi-
first and second electronic subbands have been here assumed conductor quantum wells 关18兴, the damping and decoherence
to be perfectly parallel 关17兴, with a momentum-independent of the electronic transition at the frequency ␻12 is due to the
transition frequency ␻12. interplay of different processes, such as the interaction with
⍀R,k is the vacuum Rabi frequency which quantifies the crystal phonons 共optical and acoustical兲 and the scattering
strength of the light-matter dipole coupling: as it has been with impurities and with free carriers in levels other than the
shown in Ref. 关9兴, it can become a significant fraction of the ones involved in the considered electronic transition 关19兴. As
intersubband transition ␻12. The explicit expression is our purpose is to study the role of the electronic losses and
decoherence on the peculiar quantum optical properties of

⍀R,k = 冉 2␲e2
⑀⬁m0Lcaveff ␴elNQW f 12sin ␪
2
冊 1/2
, 共9兲
cavities in the ultrastrong coupling regime, we do not at-
tempt here to address the specific nature of the decoherence
channels, but we will rather model them as a phenomeno-
logical bath of harmonic excitations in the spirit of the
where Lcaveff
is the effective length of the cavity mode, ⑀⬁ is
Caldeira-Leggett model 关20兴. As for the photonic bath, the
the cavity dielectric constant, and ␪ is the intracavity photon
propagation angle such that sin ␪ = ck / 共␻12冑⑀⬁兲.
harmonic oscillators modes coupled to the intersubband ex-
citation of wave vector k are labeled by a continuous index q
Dk is the related term originating from the squared elec-
and have frequency ␻q,kel
. They affect the electronic intersub-
tromagnetic vector potential term in the minimal coupling
band transition according to the Hamiltonian
light-matter Hamiltonian 关9兴: for a typical quantum well po-
tential, one has Dk ⯝ ⍀R,k2
/ ␻12.
The environment of the open-cavity system is modeled by
two baths of excitations, associated with, respectively, the
el
Hbath = 冕 dq 兺 ប ␻q,k
k
el †
冉
␤q,k ␤q,k +
1
2
冊
photonic and electronic degrees of freedom. In this paper, we
shall focus our attention on cavity configurations in which
the photonic mode is coupled to the external electromagnetic
+iប 冕 dq 兺 关␬q,k
k
el
␤q,kbk† − ␬q,k ␤q,kbk兴 .
el* †

field via the finite transmittivity of the planar mirrors enclos- Here, the bath operators ␤q,k satisfy the harmonic oscillator
ing the cavity, as recently done 关4,5,7兴. In a planar geometry, commutation rule 关␤q,k , ␤q† ,k 兴 = ␦共q − q⬘兲␦k,k⬘. ␬q,k
el
are the
the coupling of the cavity photon to the extra-cavity electro- ⬘ ⬘
matrix elements quantifying the coupling to the electronic
magnetic modes is well described by the Hamiltonian polarization. Inclusion of the antiresonant terms in Hbathel
is

冕 冉 冊
straightforward, as discussed in the Appendix. The model
1 parameters ␻q,k and ␬q,k
dq 兺 ប ␻q,k
el el
ph
Hbath = ph
␣q,k
†
␣q,k + are to be chosen so as to quantita-
k 2 tively reproduce the properties of the specific system under

冕
examination, in particular the frequency-dependent damping
+iប dq 兺 共␬q,k
ph
␣q,kak† − ␬q,k ␣q,kak兲 ,
ph* †
共10兲 rate of the electronic excitations. A recapitulative scheme of
k the investigated model is depicted in Fig. 1. For a more
detailed description of the specific system of semiconductor
where ␻q,k
ph
is the frequency of an extra-cavity photon with
in-plane wave vector k and wave vector q in the orthogonal 2
Each q mode of the extracavity field is in fact the superposition
direction and ␣q,k†
is the corresponding creation operator, of an incident and a reflected wave. This fact is automatically taken
obeying the commutation rule 关␣q,k , ␣q† ,k 兴 = ␦共q − q⬘兲␦k,k⬘.
⬘ ⬘ into account in the input-output formalism, where it can be shown
As the extra-cavity photon mode is confined in a half-space, that the input operators correspond to the incident field, and the
the integration over the wave vector q is restricted to the q output operators correspond to the reflected one.

033811-3
CRISTIANO CIUTI AND IACOPO CARUSOTTO PHYSICAL REVIEW A 74, 033811 共2006兲

microcavities embedding intersubband transitions, the reader

can refer to Refs. 关4,9兴. ⌫12,k共␶兲 = ⌰共␶兲 冕 el 2 −i␻q,k␶
dq兩␬q,k 兩e
el
共19兲

III. QUANTUM DYNAMICAL EQUATIONS

A. Quantum Langevin equations and the Langevin force

The equation of motion for the extra-cavity photon opera-

冕
tor in Heisenberg representation reads
el
el −i␻q,kt in
F12,k共t兲 = dq␬q,k e ␤q,k . 共20兲
d␣q,k i
= − 关␣q,k,H兴 = − i␻q,k
ph
␣q,k − ␬q,k
ph*
ak , 共11兲
dt ប
and its solution can be formally written as The input operators ␤q,k
in
for the electronic bath are here de-

冕 t fined in the same way as the photonic ones 共14兲.

dt⬘e−i␻q,k共t−t⬘兲ak共t⬘兲,
ph ph
␣q,k共t兲 = e−i␻q,k共t−t0兲␣q,k共t0兲 − ␬q,k
ph*

t0
B. Input-output relations
共12兲
The extra-cavity asymptotic output operators at t = + ⬁ can
t0 being the initial time. Inserting these formulas into the be related to the input operators at t0 = −⬁ and the cavity
evolution equation for the cavity photon amplitude, one finds photon ones through a linear relationship. Taking t0 → −⬁
dak
dt
i
= − 关ak,Hsys兴 +
ប
冕 dq␬q,k
ph
␣q,k
and t → + ⬁ in Eq. 共12兲, we obtain the formula

=−
i
ប
关ak,Hsys兴 + 冕 dq␬q,k
ph
␣q,k共t0兲e−i␻q,k共t−t0兲
ph ␣q,k
out
= ␣q,k
in
− ␬q,k
ph쐓
ãk共␻q,k
ph
兲, 共21兲

− 冕 dq兩␬q,k
ph 2
兩 冕 t

t0
dt⬘e−i␻q,k共t−t⬘兲ak共t⬘兲.
ph
共13兲 where ãk共␻兲 is the Fourier transform3 of ak共t兲. An analogous
expression holds for the electronic bath operators:
Using the standard definition
ph
␣q,k
in
= ␣q,k共t0兲e−i␻q,kt0 共14兲 ␤q,k
out
= ␤q,k
in
− ␬q,k
el쐓
b̃k共␻q,k
el
兲. 共22兲

for the input fields at t0 → −⬁, one can cast Eq. 共13兲 in the
form of a quantum Langevin equation
C. Equations in frequency space
dak
dt
i
= − 关ak,Hsys兴 −
ប
冕 −⬁
⬁
dt⬘⌫cav,k共t − t⬘兲ak共t⬘兲 + Fcav,k共t兲, In the present case of a time-independent Hsys, the quan-
tum Langevin equations 共15兲 and 共18兲 are most conveniently
共15兲 solved in the frequency space. By Fourier transforming them
and their Hermitian conjugates, we get the following equa-
where the 共causal兲 damping memory kernel is given by
tion:

⌫cav,k共␶兲 = ⌰共␶兲 冕 ph 2 −i␻q,k␶

dq兩␬q,k 兩e
ph
共16兲

冢 冣冢 冣
ãk共␻兲 F̃cav,k共␻兲
and the fluctuating Langevin force is represented by the op-
erator b̃k共␻兲 F̃12,k共␻兲
M̄k,␻ +i = 0, 共23兲
ã−k共− ␻兲
冕
†
ph
†
F̃cav,−k 共− ␻兲
ph −i␻q,kt in
Fcav,k共t兲 = dq␬q,k e ␣q,k . 共17兲 †
共− ␻兲
b̃−k †
F̃12,−k 共− ␻兲

Analogously, one obtains a quantum Langevin equation for

the electronic polarization field, where the 4 ⫻ 4 matrix
dbk
dt
i
= − 关bk,Hsys兴 −
ប
冕 ⬁

t0
dt⬘⌫12,k共t − t⬘兲bk共t⬘兲 + F12,k共t兲, 3
For the Fourier transforms, we have used the definition Ã共␻兲
⬁
⬅ F关A共t兲兴共␻兲 ⬅ 兰−⬁ dtei␻tA共t兲. For the Fourier transforms of
共18兲
Hermitian-conjugated operators, we will use the simplified notation
in terms of the memory kernel Æ共−␻兲 ⬅ F关A†共t兲兴共␻兲 ⬅ 关Ã共−␻兲兴†.

033811-4
INPUT-OUTPUT THEORY OF CAVITIES IN THE¼ PHYSICAL REVIEW A 74, 033811 共2006兲

冢 冣
˜
␻cav,k + 2Dk − ␻ − i⌫ cav,k共␻兲
i⍀R,k 2Dk − i⍀R,k
− i⍀R,k ˜ 共␻兲
␻12 − ␻ − i⌫ − i⍀R,k 0
12,k
M̄k,␻ =
− 2Dk − i⍀R,k ˜ 쐓 共− ␻兲
− ␻cav,k − 2Dk − ␻ − i⌫ i⍀R,k
cav,k

− i⍀R,k 0 − i⍀R,k ˜ 쐓 共− ␻兲
− ␻12 − ␻ − i⌫ 12,k
共24兲

is the Hopfield 关9,13兴 matrix of our system, including the

terms accounting for the damping and for the frequency shift
produced by the coupling to the baths. The complex self-
F̃12,k共␻兲 = 冕 dq⬘␬q⬘,k2␲␦共␻ − ␻q⬘,k兲␤q⬘,k
el el in

el in
energy shift of the cavity photon due to the coupling to the = 2␲␬q̄⬘␳kel共␻兲␤q̄⬘,k , 共31兲
photonic bath is indeed
where q̄ and q̄⬘ on the right-hand sides are such that ␻q̄,k
ph

˜⌫
cav,k共␻兲 = 冕 dq␲兩␬q,k
ph 2
兩 ␦共␻ − ␻q,k
ph
兲 + iP 冕 dq
兩␬q,k
ph 2
兩
␻ − ␻q,k
.
el
= ␻q̄⬘,k = ␻. In analogy with Eq. 共29兲, one therefore has

F̃cav,k共␻ ⬍ 0兲 = F̃12,k共␻ ⬍ 0兲 = 0. 共32兲

共25兲
A recapitulative sketch of the input-output framework here
Its real part represents the frequency-dependent radiative developed is drawn in Fig. 2.
damping of the cavity mode due to radiative losses. This, in
agreement with the usual Fermi golden rule IV. EXACT SOLUTIONS FOR THE OPERATORS

˜ Eq. 共23兲 for the Fourier-space cavity field operators is

cav,k共␻兲兴 = ␲兩␬q̄,k兩 ␳k 共␻兲,
ph 2 ph
Re关⌫ 共26兲
immediately solved by matrix inversion:

冢 冣 冢 冣
where ␳kph共␻兲 = 关d␻q=q̄,k
ph
/ dq兴−1 is the photonic density of ãk共␻兲 F̃cav,k共␻兲
states at in-plane wave vector k and q̄ is the resonant wave
vector such that ␻q̄,k = ␻. The imaginary part Im关⌫˜ b̃k共␻兲 F̃12,k共␻兲
cav,k共␻兲兴
ph
= Ḡ共k, ␻兲 , 共33兲
accounts instead for the corresponding Lamb shift 关14兴: for a ã−k共− ␻兲
† †
F̃cav,−k 共− ␻兲
˜ ˜
given Re关⌫ cav,k共␻兲兴, the Lamb shift Im关⌫cav,k共␻兲兴 is in fact †
共− ␻兲
b̃−k †
F̃12,−k 共− ␻兲
univocally fixed by the Kramers-Kronig causality relation-
ships where

˜
Im兵⌫ cav,k共␻兲其 = −
1
␲
P 冕 ⬁

−⬁
d␻⬘
˜
Re兵⌫
␻
cav,k共␻⬘兲其
⬘−␻
. 共27兲
Ḡ共k, ␻兲 = − i关M̄k,␻兴−1 .
For ␻ ⬎ 0, this can be simplified as
共34兲

An analogous formula holds for the electronic excitation

counterpart:

˜⌫ 共␻兲 =
12,k 冕 dq兩␬q̄,k
el 2
兩 ␲␦共␻ − ␻q,k
el
兲 + iP 冕 dq
兩␬q,k
el 2
兩
␻ − ␻q,k
el ,

共28兲

The real part of ˜⌫12,k共␻兲 represents the frequency-dependent

broadening of the electronic transition, of nonradiative ori-
gin. As all real excitations of the considered baths have by
FIG. 2. 共Color online兲 A recapitulative sketch of the input-
definition positive frequency ␻q,k
ph,el
⬎ 0, one has
output scheme. The initial condition on the extracavity photon op-
˜ ˜ erators and the electronic bath operators at t = −⬁ represents the
Re兵⌫ cav,k共␻ ⬍ 0兲其 = Re兵⌫12,k共␻ ⬍ 0兲其 = 0. 共29兲 input. The intracavity dynamics for the cavity mode and electronic
In frequency space, the Langevin forces have the form polarization field is described by quantum Langevin equations in-
cluding the antiresonant terms of the light-matter interaction. The

F̃cav,k共␻兲 = 冕 dq␬q,k
ph
2␲␦共␻ − ␻q,k
ph
兲␣q,k
in
= 2␲␬q̄ph␳kph共␻兲␣q̄,k
in
,
radiative and nonradiative baths produce a complex frequency-
dependent damping as well as frequency-dependent Langevin
forces. The bath operators at t = + ⬁ represent the radiative and non-
共30兲 radiative output.

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CRISTIANO CIUTI AND IACOPO CARUSOTTO PHYSICAL REVIEW A 74, 033811 共2006兲

关F̃cav,k共␻兲,F̃cav,k⬘共␻⬘兲兴 = 2␲␦共␻ − ␻⬘兲2Re关⌫

˜
cav,k共␻兲兴␦k,k⬘ ,
†
ãk共␻ ⬎ 0兲 = Ḡ11共k, ␻兲F̃cav,k共␻兲 + Ḡ12共k, ␻兲F̃12,k共␻兲,
共35兲 共44兲
one can finally write
b̃k共␻ ⬎ 0兲 = Ḡ21共k, ␻兲F̃cav,k共␻兲 + Ḡ22共k, ␻兲F̃12,k共␻兲.
共36兲 关a共t兲,a†共t兲兴 = 2 冕 d␻
2␲
˜
兵兩Ḡ11共k, ␻兲兩2Re关⌫ cav,k共k, ␻兲兴

Using the expressions 共21兲 and 共22兲 for the output field and
˜ 共␻兲兴
+ 兩Ḡ12共k, ␻兲兩2Re关⌫
the expressions 共30兲 and 共31兲 for the Langevin forces, one 12,k
finally gets the input-output relation ˜
− 兩Ḡ13共k, ␻兲兩2Re关⌫ cav,k共− ␻兲兴

冉 冊冉
␣q,k
out

␤qout
⬘,k
=
Ū11共k, ␻兲 Ū12共k, ␻兲
Ū21共k, ␻兲 Ū22共k, ␻兲
冊冉 冊 ␣q,k
in

␤qin⬘,k
. 共37兲
˜ 共− ␻兲兴其,
− 兩Ḡ14共k, ␻兲兩2Re关⌫ 12,k

which has been numerically checked to give 1 as expected.

共45兲

This fact critically depends on the consistent inclusion of the

This is a linear relation linking the output operators of the
photonic and electronic bath modes to the corresponding in- real and imaginary parts of ˜⌫cav,k共␻兲 and ˜⌫12,k共␻兲 satisfying
put ones; as expected by the time invariance of the Hamil- the causality relation 共27兲.
tonian under examination, the pair of photonic and electronic Note finally that the presence of the antiresonant terms in
modes involved in Eq. 共37兲 share by construction the same Hsys implies that the cavity operators ãk共␻兲 and b̃k共␻兲 have
frequency ␻q,k
ph
= ␻qel⬘,k = ␻. The matrix elements of Ū are nonvanishing values also for negative frequencies:

˜
Ū11共k, ␻兲 = 1 − 2Re兵⌫ ãk共␻ ⬍ 0兲 = Ḡ13共k, ␻兲F̃cav,−k
†
共− ␻兲 + Ḡ14共k, ␻兲F̃12,−k
†
共− ␻兲,
cav,k共␻兲其Ḡ11共k, ␻兲, 共38兲
共46兲
␬q,k
ph*
˜ 共␻兲其
Ū12共k, ␻兲 = − 2Re兵⌫ Ḡ12共k, ␻兲, 共39兲 b̃k共␻ ⬍ 0兲 = Ḡ23共k, ␻兲F̃cav,−k
†
共− ␻兲 + Ḡ24共k, ␻兲F̃12,−k
†
共− ␻兲.
12,k
␬qel*
⬘,k 共47兲

␬qel*
⬘,k
˜
Ū21共k, ␻兲 = − 2Re兵⌫ cav,k共␻兲其 Ḡ21共k, ␻兲, 共40兲 V. CASE OF A VACUUM INPUT: PROPERTIES OF
␬q,k
ph*
THE INTRACAVITY QUANTUM GROUND STATE

Once we have obtained explicit expressions for the output

˜ 共␻兲其Ḡ 共k, ␻兲.
Ū22共k, ␻兲 = 1 − 2Re兵⌫ 共41兲
12,k 22 operators in terms of the input ones, we can apply this for-
malism to study the quantum dissipative response of the cav-
The unitarity of the matrix Ū共k , ␻兲 共which has been numeri- ity system for different initial states.
cally checked兲 guarantees that the usual Bose commutation We shall start from the simplest case of a bath initially in
rules hold for the output operators ␣q,k out
and ␤q,k
out
—namely, its vacuum state 兩0典 such that
关␣q,k , ␣q ,k 兴 = ␦共q − q⬘兲 ␦k,k⬘ and 关␤q,k , ␤q ,k 兴 = ␦共q − q⬘兲␦k,k⬘.
out out † out out †
⬘ ⬘ ⬘ ⬘ ␣q,k
in
兩0典 = ␤q,k
in
兩0典 = 0 共48兲
From a more physical point of view, the unitarity of Ū共k , ␻兲
means that the total energy is conserved during a scattering for every k and q. As expected on physical grounds, no ex-
process when energy is sent onto the cavity as radiation or as citations are created and the bath remains in its vacuum state.
electronic energy, and both the emerging light and the elec- It is in fact a straightforward consequence of Eq. 共37兲 that
tronic absorption are taken into account:
␣q,k
out
兩0典 = ␤q,k
out
兩0典 = 0. 共49兲
具␣q,k ␣q,k
out † out
+ ␤qout † out
␤ 典
⬘,k q⬘,k
= 具␣q,k ␣q,k
in † in
+ ␤qin⬘,k† ␤qin⬘,k典. 共42兲 On the other hand, the cavity system itself is not in the usual
vacuum state and a finite number of photons are present in
It is interesting and an important check of consistency to
this anomalous ground state. This can be calculated by
verify that the usual commutation rules 关ak共t兲 , ak† ⬘共t兲兴 = ␦k,k⬘ means of Eq. 共33兲, which relates the in-cavity field ak to the
hold for the cavity 共as well as for the electronic polarization兲 †
input bath operators Fcav,12 and Fcav,12:
operators. This has been verified on our specific model in the
following way. By definition, one has
具ak† 共t兲ak共t兲典 =
1
冕 冕 ⬁
d␻
⬁
d␻⬘具ãk† 共␻兲ãk共␻⬘兲典e−i共␻−␻⬘兲t

冕 冕
共2␲兲2
d␻ d␻⬘ −i␻t i␻⬘t −⬁ −⬁

冕
† †
关ak共t兲,ak⬘共t兲兴 = e e 关ãk共␻兲,ãk⬘共␻⬘兲兴. ⬁
2␲ 2␲ 1 ˜
= d␻兩Ḡ13共k,− ␻兲兩2Re兵⌫ cav,k共␻兲其
共43兲 ␲ 0

Inserting here Eq. 共33兲, and noticing that ˜ 共␻兲其.

+ 兩Ḡ14共k,− ␻兲兩2Re兵⌫ 共50兲
12,k

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INPUT-OUTPUT THEORY OF CAVITIES IN THE¼ PHYSICAL REVIEW A 74, 033811 共2006兲

able to describe the system under consideration for colored

baths with an arbitrary frequency dependence of ˜⌫cav,k共␻兲
and ˜⌫12,k共␻兲.
It is interesting to check that in the limit ˜⌫cav,k , ˜⌫12,k → 0
the values of Eqs. 共50兲 and 共51兲 are in quantitative agreement
with the result of a direct diagonalization of the isolated cav-
ity Hamiltonian Hsys as done in Ref. 关9兴. Up to moderate
values of the broadening values, the difference from the iso-
lated cavity prediction remains small; in particular, the total
number of virtual photons is only slightly changed.
Insight into the structure of the ground state can be ob-
tained by looking at other observables which are most sen-
sitive to two-mode squeezing effects. In the right panel of
Fig. 3 we show the results for the photonic correlation Ck,−k
共solid line兲 between the noise amplitudes of the k and −k
modes. As usual, the amplitude quadrature operator of the k
FIG. 3. Quantum properties of the intracavity ground state for
mode is defined as X̂k = ak + ak† . In the ground state, this cor-
input fields in the vacuum state. In this case, the output is also in the
relation is
vacuum state, which implies that the cavity photons present in the
cavity are purely virtual ones and cannot escape the cavity. Left
panel: cavity photon number 具ak† ak典 共solid line兲 and the real part of 具共X̂k − 具X̂k典兲共X̂−k − 具X̂−k典兲典 2Re兵具aka−k典其
the anomalous expectation value 具aka−k典 共dashed line兲 as a function
Ck,−k =
冑具共X̂k − 具X̂k典兲2典具共X̂−k − 具X̂−k典兲2典 =
1 + 2具ak† ak典
,
of the normalized vacuum Rabi frequency ⍀R / ␻12. Right panel:
corresponding cavity photon correlation Ck,−k 共solid line兲 and the 共52兲
normalized difference noise Fdiff 共dashed line兲. ␻cav,k = ␻12, and the
damping rates are taken as frequency-independent ones. The calcu- where we have used the fact that in the ground state 具X̂k典
lations have been performed for a symmetric double-sided cavity
˜ ¯ ˜ ⬘ 共␻ ⬎ 0兲其 = ¯⌫⬘ = 0.04␻ ,
= 具X̂−k典 = 0. As shown in right panel of Fig. 3, the correlation
with Re兵⌫ cav,k共␻ ⬎ 0兲其 = ⌫cav,k = Re兵⌫cav,k cav,k 12
tends to 0 when ⍀R / ␻12 → 0; i.e., the normal vacuum is re-
˜ ¯
and Re兵⌫12,k共␻ ⬎ 0兲其 = ⌫12,k = 0.08␻12. obtained in the weak coupling limit.
In the right panel of Fig. 3, the normalized variance of the
As the input bath here is taken in the vacuum state difference between the amplitude quadratures of two corre-
Fcav,12 兩 0典 = 0, only the terms involving Fcav,12
†
contribute to lated modes is shown—namely,
the result 共50兲. The presence of the antiresonant light-matter
coupling Hanti is here crucial, as it is responsible for the 1
Fdiff = 具共X̂k − X̂−k兲2典 = 1 + 2具ak† ak典 − 2Re兵具aka−k典其.
nonvanishing value of the matrix elements Ḡ13 and Ḡ14 con- 2
necting creation and destruction operators. 共53兲
Remarkably, the ground state shows finite anomalous cor-
relations between modes with opposite wave vectors, Fluctuations below the shot noise level correspond to Fdiff

冕 冕
⬁ ⬁ ⬍ 1. As shown in the figure, Fdiff tends to 1 for vanishing
1
具ak共t兲a−k共t兲典 = d␻ d␻⬘具ãk共␻兲ãk共␻⬘兲典ei共␻+␻⬘兲t ⍀R / ␻12. When entering the ultrastrong coupling regime, Fdiff
共2␲兲2 −⬁ −⬁ decreases, becoming smaller than 1, and the two-mode

冕 ⬁ squeezing of the quantum ground state becomes more and

1 ˜
= d␻Ḡ11共k, ␻兲Ḡ13共− k,− ␻兲Re兵⌫ cav,k共␻兲其 more significant.
␲ 0 It is important to stress that the discussion in the present
˜ 共␻兲其, section involves the state of the intracavity field and that the
+ Ḡ22共k, ␻兲Ḡ14共− k,− ␻兲Re兵⌫ 12,k 共51兲 virtual photonic and electronic excitations present in the cav-
ity ground state are trapped inside the cavity. For an input
which suggest the ground state to be a sort of squeezed
field in the vacuum state, the output is in fact always in the
vacuum.
vacuum state as well and no radiation will be emitted, in
The predictions 共50兲 and 共51兲 for, respectively, the num-
agreement with energy conservation requirements. On the
ber of photons 共solid line兲 and the anomalous correlations
other hand, if the properties of the cavity system were modu-
共dashed line兲 are plotted in the left panel of Fig. 3
lated in time in a nonadiabatic way, a creation of real exci-
as a function of the normalized vacuum Rabi frequency
tations is possible inside the cavity, which in turn leads to a
⍀R / ␻12 for the resonant case ␻cav,k = ␻12. For simplicity, in
finite emission of quantum vacuum radiation 关9兴 analogous
Fig. 3 as well as in all the following figures, a frequency-
to what is predicted to happen in the so-called dynamical
independent damping of the cavity and electronic excitation
˜ ¯ Casimir effect 关21,22兴. A complete study of these issues, and
modes has been used—i.e., Re兵⌫ cav,k共␻ ⬎ 0兲其 = ⌫cav,k and in particular of the emission intensity, is presently the subject
˜ ¯
Re兵⌫12,k共␻ ⬎ 0兲其 = ⌫12,k. Note, however, that our theory is of detailed investigations 关23兴.

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VI. EXTRACAVITY TWO-MODE SQUEEZING the back mirror. This can be done by simply including an-
FROM A NONSQUEEZED OPTICAL INPUT other term analogous to Eq. 共10兲:
An interesting question which has been raised in the lit-
erature of interband excitonic transitions 关24–26兴 is whether
any quantum optical squeezing can be observed as a conse-
ph⬘
Hbath = 冕 dq 兺 ប ␻q,k
k
ph †
冉
␣⬘q,k ⬘ +
␣q,k
1
2
冊
quence of the finite anomalous correlation shown by the po-
lariton vacuum. In our specific case, the question we ask is
whether the finite anomalous correlations 共51兲 shown by the
+iប 冕 dq 兺 关␬q,k
k
ph⬘
⬘ ,ak† − ␬q,k
␣q,k ␣⬘q,kak兴 . 共58兲
ph⬘* †

intracavity photon field can be observed as a squeezing of The new Hopfield matrix M̄k,
double
is obtained by M̄k,␻ in Eq.
␻
the output field emitted by the cavity. This is, obviously, in 共24兲 by simply replacing
the absence of any squeezing in the input field.
The most general nonsqueezed optical input state is iden- ˜⌫ ˜T ˜ ˜ ⬘ 共␻兲,
cav,k共␻兲 → ⌫cav,k共␻兲 = ⌫cav,k共␻兲 + ⌫cav,k 共59兲
tified by the condition
in in ⬘ 共␻兲 is the complex linewidth of the cavity mode
where ˜⌫cav,k
具␣q,k
in
␣q⬘,k⬘典 − 具␣q,k
in
典具␣q⬘,k⬘典 = 0, 共54兲
due to the finite transmittivity of the second mirror, defined
which is well satisfied by a thermal incident state, as well as in a way analogous to the definition 共25兲 of ˜⌫cav,k共␻兲. Cor-
by a coherent incident field 关12兴. The electronic input is as- respondingly, a new Langevin force Fcav,k ⬘ 共t兲 analogous to
sumed to be in a thermal state and to have no correlations Eq. 共17兲 has to be included, which means to replace, in Eq.
with the optical input. 共33兲,
As Eq. 共37兲 relates the annihilation operators of the output
to the annihilation operators of the input without involving F̃cav,k共␻兲 → F̃cav,k
T
⬘ 共␻兲.
共␻兲 = F̃cav,k共␻兲 + F̃cav,k 共60兲
the creation ones, one has
Following the same steps as in the case of the one-sided
cavity, the solutions for the output operators are
具␣q,k
out
典 = Ū11共k, ␻ = ␻q,k
ph
兲具␣q,k
in
典, 共55兲

冢 冣 冢 冣
␣q,k
out
␣q,k
in

out ph in
具␣q,k
out
␣q⬘,k⬘典 = Ū11共k, ␻ = ␻q,k
ph
兲Ū11共k, ␻ = ␻q⬘,k⬘兲具␣q,k
in
␣q⬘,k⬘典, ␤qout in
= Ūdouble共k, ␻兲 ␤q⬘,k , 共61兲
⬘,k
共56兲 ␣⬘q,k
out
␣⬘q,k
in

from which it is immediate to prove that no squeezing is where Udouble共k , ␻兲 is a 3 ⫻ 3 unitary matrix. Similarly to the
present in the output field either: single-sided case of Eqs. 共38兲–共41兲, its matrix elements can
out out be written as
具␣q,k
out
␣q⬘,k⬘典 − 具␣q,k
out
典具␣q⬘,k⬘典 = 0. 共57兲

This answers our initial question: no squeezing can be ever

observed in the output unless the input field is itself
Ūdouble
jl
˜ 共␻兲其 ␬q,k
共k, ␻兲 = ␦ jl − 2Re兵⌫ l,k l
j

冉 冊
␬q⬘,k
*
Ḡdouble
jl 共k, ␻兲.

squeezed, or the properties of the cavity are modulated in 共62兲

time.
Here, a shorthand notation has been used: for j = 兵1 , 2 , 3其, the
quantities ˜⌫ j,k共␻兲, respectively, mean ˜⌫cav,k共␻兲, ˜⌫12,k共␻兲, and
VII. OPTICAL SPECTRA ˜⌫⬘ 共␻兲. Analogously, ␬ j , respectively, mean ␬ ph , ␬el ,
cav,k q,k q,k q,k

So far, the discussion has been limited to the case of a and ␬⬘q,k
ph
and all three are evaluated at wave vector values
single photonic bath coupled to the cavity. This model is such that ␻q,k ph
= ␻qel⬘,k = ␻. Ḡdouble共k , ␻兲 is defined as
sufficient to describe a single-sided cavity in which the cav- Ḡdouble共k , ␻兲 = −i关M̄k, ␻ 兴 .
double −1
ity mode is coupled to the radiative modes through only one
In the single-sided cavity limit, one has Ūdouble
jk 共k , ␻兲
of its mirrors, while the other one is supposed to be perfectly
reflecting. In order to obtain quantitative predictions for = Ū jk共k , ␻兲 and Ū j3 共k , ␻兲 = Ū3j 共k , ␻兲 = 0 for j , k
double double

quantities of actual experimental interest like reflection, = 兵1 , 2其 and Ū33

double
共k , ␻兲 = 1.
transmission, and absorption spectra, one has to generalize
the model adding a second photonic bath so as to include the B. Linear optical spectra
radiation emitted by the cavity through its back mirror, as The results of the previous subsection can be used to ob-
sketched in Fig. 1. tain quantitative predictions for the optical properties of the
cavity—namely, its reflection, absorption, and transmission
spectra as a function of the frequency ␻ of the incident light.
A. Double-sided cavity: General theory Here, we assume that no input other than optical is present—
The total Hamiltonian must now include a second photo- i.e., 具␤q,k ␤q,k典 = 0—and that radiation incides onto the cavity
in,† in

nic bath associated with the radiation in the half-space be- from the half-space in front of it—i.e., 具␣q,k ␣q,k典 ⬎ 0, while
in,† in

hind the cavity, which is coupled to the cavity mode through 具␣⬘q,k ␣⬘q,k典 = 0.
in,† in

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INPUT-OUTPUT THEORY OF CAVITIES IN THE¼ PHYSICAL REVIEW A 74, 033811 共2006兲

FIG. 4. Reflectivity Rk共␻兲 共left兲, absorption Ak共␻兲 共center兲, and FIG. 5. Reflectivity Rk共␻兲 共left兲, absorption Ak共␻兲 共center兲, and
transmission Tk共␻兲 共right兲 spectra as a function of the normalized transmittivity Tk共␻兲 共right兲 spectra as a function of the normalized
photon frequency ␻ / ␻12 for different values of the normalized photon frequency ␻ / ␻12 for different values of the normalized
detuning ␦ = 共␻cav,k − ␻12兲 / ␻12 共from ␦ = −0.5 to ␦ = + 0.5 in equal vacuum Rabi frequency ⍀R / ␻12 for the resonant case ␻cav,k = ␻12.
steps兲. The different curves are offset for clarity. The bottom curve The different curves are offset for clarity. The bottom curve corre-
corresponds to ␦ = −0.5, while the top one has been obtained for sponds to ⍀R = 0, while the top curve corresponds to ⍀R = 0.5␻12
␦ = 0.5. Parameters: ⍀R,k / ␻12 = 0.4. Broadening parameters as in 共⍀R / ␻12 is increased in equal steps兲. Same broadening parameters
Fig. 3. as in Fig. 4.

In the considered geometry, reflection is described by the polariton eigenmodes, a significative fraction of the incident
output operator ␣q,k
out
, so that the reflectivity is equal to energy is dissipated in the electronic bath as absorption.

具␣q,k ␣q,k典
out † out
C. Electroluminescence
R k共 ␻ 兲 = = 兩Ū11
double
共k, ␻兲兩2 . 共63兲
具␣q,k ␣q,k典
in † in
Another physical quantity which can be successfully stud-
ied by the present theory is the intensity of the light emitted
The transmission through the second mirror is described by
by the cavity when this is incoherently excited from the elec-
the output operator ␣⬘q,k
out
. Therefore, the transmittivity reads
tronic bath in a so-called electroluminescence experiment.
具␣⬘q,k ␣⬘q,k典
out † out Electrically excited intersubband transitions are in fact play-
T k共 ␻ 兲 = = 兩Ū31
double
共k, ␻兲兩2 . 共64兲 ing an important role as light sources in the mid-infrared and
具␣q,k ␣q,k典
in † in
far-infrared regions, but they still suffer from a poor quantum
efficiency of radiative emission as compared to nonradiative
Note that Tk共␻兲 = 0 in the single-sided case. The presence of
processes. A way of enhancing the emission efficiency would
the electronic bath implies that the incident light can be ab-
therefore be of great interest.
sorbed into electronic energy. The corresponding absorption
Consider a purely electronic, incoherent input, distributed
coefficient of the microcavity system is
among the different q modes:
Ak共␻兲 = 兩Ū21
double
共k, ␻兲兩2 . 共65兲 具␤q,k ␤q,k典 = Iexc,q
in,† in el
⬎ 0, 共66兲
As expected, the total energy is conserved—i.e., Rk共␻兲
具␣⬘q,k ␣⬘q,k典 = 具␣⬘q,k
in,† in
␣⬘q,k典 = 0.
in,† in
共67兲
+ Ak共␻兲 + Tk共␻兲 = 1—as one can verify from the unitarity of
Ūdouble共k , ␻兲. The intensity of the spontaneously emitted light through the
In Fig. 4, we show an example of reflectivity, transmis- front mirror 共defined as the mean number of photons in the q
sion, and absorption spectra for different values of the nor- mode兲 is proportional to the quantity
malized detuning ␦ = 共␻cav,k − ␻12兲 / ␻12, which is varied from
−0.5 to 0.5 in steps equal to 0.1. The linear optical spectra
have resonances corresponding to the cavity polariton eigen-
Lk = 冕 dq具␣q,k ␣q,k典 =
out,† out
冕 d␻␳kph共␻兲兩Ū12
double
共k, ␻兲兩2Iexc
el
共␻兲.

modes. For the large vacuum Rabi frequency here considered 共68兲
共⍀R = 0.4␻12兲, it is apparent that the optical spectra show an
anticrossing of the polariton eigenmodes, which is strongly The dimensionless quantity 兩Ū12 double
共k , ␻兲兩2 is represented in
asymmetric, as was anticipated in the case of a closed-cavity Fig. 6 for a weak coupling situation 共dashed line兲 and for a
system 关9兴 without dissipation. This can be also seen in Fig. strong coupling case 共solid line兲, where it exhibits two po-
5, showing the reflection, transmission, and absorption spec- laritonic resonances. Suppose that in the spectral region
tra for zero detuning 共␻cav,k = ␻12兲 and increasing values of where 兩Ū12double
共k , ␻兲兩2 is significant we can roughly neglect
⍀R / ␻12 共from 0 to 0.5 in steps of 0.05兲. Remarkably, note the frequency dependence of the electronic excitation
that for an incident frequency close to resonance with the 共Iexc
el
共␻兲 ⬇ Iexc
el
兲 and of the extracavity photon density of states

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CRISTIANO CIUTI AND IACOPO CARUSOTTO PHYSICAL REVIEW A 74, 033811 共2006兲

−1
10

−2
10

−3
10

geff/w12
−4
10

−5
10

−6
10 −3 −2 −1 0
10 10 10 10
W /w
R 12
FIG. 6. A logarithmic-scale plot of the dimensionless quantity
兩Ūdouble
12 共k , ␻兲兩2 共proportional to the electroluminescence spectrum兲 FIG. 7. 共Color online兲 Solid line: the effective spontaneous
as a function of the normalized frequency ␻ / ␻12 in a weak coupling emission rate ␥eff
k 共in units of ␻12兲 as a function of the normalized
regime ⍀R / ␻12 = 0.001 共dashed line兲 and in a strong coupling one vacuum Rabi frequency ⍀R,k / ␻12 for ␻cav,k = ␻12. Dashed line: the
⍀R / ␻12 = 0.3 共solid line兲. Other parameters as in Fig. 5. The small Purcell rate in Eq. 共71兲. Horizontal line: the strong coupling limit in
increase at very low ␻ is a consequence of the specific choice of ⬘ = 0.04␻12 and ¯⌫12,k = 0.08␻12.
Eq. 共72兲. Parameters: ¯⌫cav,k = ¯⌫cav,k
˜ ˜
constant values for Re兵⌫ cav,k共␻ ⬎ 0兲其 and Re兵⌫12,k共␻ ⬎ 0兲其, produc-
ing a Kramers-Kronig singularity of the imaginary part 共Lamb shift兲
D. Comparison with the free-space case:
at ␻ = 0.
Enhancement of electroluminescence

共␳kph共␻兲 ⬇ ␳kph兲. With these approximations, the luminescence It is interesting to compare the predictions for the ultras-
intensity is given by the simplified expression trong coupling regime to what occurs for the isolated quan-
tum well in the absence of the surrounding microcavity. In
Lk ⬇ 2␲␳kphIexc ␥k ,
el eff
共69兲 order for the comparison of the electroluminescence rates to
where the effective rate of the luminescence is be fair, exactly the same model 共66兲 has to be used in both
cases for the excitation of the intersubband transition by the
␥keff = 冕 d␻ double
兩Ū
2␲ 12
共k, ␻兲兩2 . 共70兲
electronic bath. A huge Hilbert space is in fact available for
the electronic excitations of the present many-electron sys-
tem, and the spontaneous emission rate dramatically depends
If we further neglect the frequency dependence of the on the specific state under consideration. In our model, the
broadening 关i.e., Re兵⌫cav,k共␻ ⬎ 0兲其 ⬇ ¯⌫cav,k
T
, Re兵⌫12,k共␻ ⬎ 0兲其 only bright states are the ones created by the action of the
⬇ ¯⌫12,k兴 and consider the resonant case ␻cav,k = ␻12, the re- electronic polarization field creation operators bk† , while the
sults can be expressed by simple analytical expressions. In much larger number of other states remain dark. This is in
stark contrast with what happens in a two-level atom, where
the weak coupling regime ⍀R,k2

¯⌫cav,k
T ¯⌫ , it can be accu-
12,k
the presence of a single excited state makes the spontaneous
rately approximated by a Purcell-like 关27,28兴 law
emission rate to be an univocally defined quantity. In particu-
¯⌫ ⍀R,k
2 lar, an explicit calculation of the quantum efficiency of the
cav,k
␥keff ⯝ 2 , 共71兲 electroluminescence process with a realistic model of the
¯⌫T ¯⌫T + ¯⌫
cav,k cav,k 12,k electronic injection process would require a more refined
model taking into account the energy that flows into all the
where we recall that ¯⌫cav,k
T
⬘ is the total cavity
= ¯⌫cav,k + ¯⌫cav,k
dark excited states, orthogonal to the bright mode. For this
broadening 共due to the front and back mirrors兲. In contrast,
reason, we do not attempt to estimate it in the present paper,
in the strong coupling regime, ␥keff saturates around the value
but we rather focus our attention on comparing the predic-
¯⌫ ¯⌫ tions for the emission intensities that are obtained in the two
12,k cav,k
␥keff ⯝ 2 . 共72兲 cases using the very same model for the electronic injection
¯⌫ + ¯⌫T
12,k cav,k mechanism.
The numerical dependence of ␥keff as a function of ⍀R,k / ␻12 In the absence of the surrounding microcavity, no cou-
is shown in Fig. 7, showing the Purcell-like behavior 共71兲 in pling to any cavity mode is present and the intersubband
the weak coupling limit and the saturation value 共72兲 in the transition is directly coupled to free-space radiative modes.
strong coupling limit. The slight decrease at very large ⍀R,k For the frequency-flat excitation of the electronic bath 共66兲,
is due to the specific shape chosen for the real parts of the the emission intensity can be analytically calculated to be
damping kernels ⌫cav,k共␻兲 and ⌫12,k共␻兲, which are constant
for ␻ ⬎ 0 and vanishing for ␻ ⬍ 0, with a jump at ␻ = 0. LkQW = 2␲␳kphIexc ␥bright,k ,
el QW
共73兲

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INPUT-OUTPUT THEORY OF CAVITIES IN THE¼ PHYSICAL REVIEW A 74, 033811 共2006兲

where ␥bright,k
QW
is spontaneous emission rate of the bright in- The fact that Eq. 共76兲 holds only in the strong coupling
tersubband excitation of wave vector k when the quantum regime 冑¯⌫cav,k
T ¯⌫
⍀ imposes that
12,k R,k
well is embedded in a bulk material of refractive index ⑀QW
without any surrounding cavity. ⍀R,k
␩k
, 共77兲
For an electronic surface density in the quantum well ␥bright,k
rad
equal to ␴el, the free-space spontaneous emission rate of the
bright excitation mode is calculated by applying Fermi’s which means that the enhancement cannot be made arbitrary
golden rule, giving the result large by simply choosing larger linewidths.
As a final remark, note that the expression 共76兲 has been
1 e2 NQW␴el sin2 ␪ obtained under the resonant condition ␻cav,k = ␻12 and is
␥bright,k
QW
= f 12 , 共74兲
2冑⑀⬁ c 2m0 cos ␪ therefore expected to hold in a cone of wave vectors k
around the resonant wave vector kres such as ␻cav,kres = ␻12.
where e is the electron charge, m0 the free-electron mass, c On the other hand, when the cavity mode resonance is de-
the speed of light, and NQW the number of identical quantum tuned from the intersubband transition resonance of an
wells. The propagation angle ␪ of the emitted photon is given amount larger than the linewidths, the enhancement with re-
by sin ␪ = ck / 共␻12冑⑀⬁兲. The oscillator strength f 12 of the in- spect to the free-space case disappears.
tersubband transition is written in terms of the electric-dipole
matrix element z12 as 关29兴
VIII. CONCLUSIONS AND PERSPECTIVES
2m0␻12z12
2
f 12 = . 共75兲 In conclusion, we have presented a full quantum theory of
ប
cavities in the ultrastrong light-matter coupling regime 共i.e.,
Note that the bright state bk† 兩 F典 is the excited state with the when the vacuum Rabi frequency is comparable to the active
largest spontaneous emission rate. In particular, ␥bright,k QW
in- electronic transition frequency兲, including the coupling of
creases with the density of the two-dimensional electron gas the cavity system to dissipative baths. In the case of a time-
and does not depend on the emission frequency ␻12. It is independent cavity properties, we have solved exactly the
interesting to compare ␥bright,kQW
with the spontaneous emission quantum Langevin equations for the intracavity operators
rate of a different excited state of the two-dimensional elec- within an input-output approach and we have determined
共j兲† 共j兲
tron gas—namely, c2,k+q c1,k 兩 F典. In this case, the intersub- analytically the output operators, allowing us to determine
band excitation does not coherently involve any longer all the response of the cavity system to an arbitrary input.
the electrons in the lower subband, but only the one initially In the case of a vacuum input for the photonic and elec-
at k, so that the corresponding spontaneous emission rate is tronic polarization fields, we have characterized the proper-
suppressed by a factor equal to the total number NQWNel of ties of the ground state of the cavity system: due to the anti
electrons. Note that an atomiclike spontaneous emission rate resonant terms of the light-matter interaction, it turns out to
关30兴 共i.e., proportional to z12 2 3
␻12 and very weak for long- be a two-mode squeezed vacuum, whose properties are
wavelength transitions in the far infrared兲 is achieved only weakly renormalized by the interaction with the photonic
†共j兲
for a state like c2,k 兩 0cond典 共one electron in the second sub- and electronic baths. In particular, we have checked that the
band, none in the first one兲. In contrast, the strong radiative photons and electronic excitations present in the ground state
properties of the bright state bk† 兩 F典 with spontaneous emis- are purely virtual ones and cannot escape from the cavity: if
sion rate ␥bright,k
rad
occur in presence of a dense electron gas, as the input is in the vacuum state, the output is itself in the
considered in this paper. vacuum state and no radiation is emitted by the system. Fur-
For a quantum well with very high barriers f 12 does not thermore, we have explicitly shown that if no anomalous
depend on the quantum well thickness 共i.e., on ␻12兲 and is correlations are present in the input beam, no correlations
approximately given by f 12 ⯝ 0.96m0 / m*, m* being the effec- will be present in the output either, so that no extra-cavity
tive electronic mass in the semiconductor 关17兴. Using GaAs squeezing is observable unless the input is itself squeezed.
parameters 共⑀⬁ = 13.5, f 12 ⯝ 14兲, with an electron density ␴el On the other hand, the anomalous properties due to the
= 5 ⫻ 1011 cm−2 and NQW = 10, the radiative linewidth of the antiresonant terms of the large vacuum Rabi coupling show
bright state is approximately ប␥bright,k QW
⯝ 0.04 meV. up as a peculiar asymmetric anticrossing of the polariton
Comparing this result with the one 共72兲 for the ultrastrong excitation branches that can be easily observed in the optical
coupling regime, the cavity-induced enhancement ␩k of the reflection, transmission, and absorption spectra under coher-
spontaneous emission of the quantum well is given at reso- ent light excitation.
nance ␻k = ␻12 by Finally, the input-output formalism has been applied to
the study of the electroluminescence emission intensity in
Lk ␥keff the case of an electronic excitation: the use of a microcavity
␩k ⬅ = . 共76兲 surrounding the quantum well provides a significant en-
LkQW ␥bright,k
QW
hancement of the emission performances as compared to the
For an intersubband transition for which ប␻12 ⬇ 100 meV, ones of an isolated quantum well.
typical values for the non radiative broadening and the cavity As a future perspective, the theory presented here can be
mode broadening are ប⌫12,k , ប ⌫cav,k ⬇ 10 meV. The en- generalized to explore the interesting and fascinating sce-
hancement is then as large as ␩k ⬇ 100. nario of a time-modulated cavity. Even in the case of a

033811-11
CRISTIANO CIUTI AND IACOPO CARUSOTTO PHYSICAL REVIEW A 74, 033811 共2006兲

vacuum input for the photonic and electronic polarization

fields, a nonadiabatic temporal variation of the vacuum Rabi
frequency 共which is possible in the case of intersubband tran-
ph,gen
Hbath ph
= Hbath +iប 冕 dq 兺 共␬q,k
k
ph
␣q,kak − ␬q,k ␣q,kak† 兲
ph* †

sitions in doped quantum well 关7兴兲 is expected to produce an 共A1兲

output radiation of correlated photons 关9兴, an effect reminis-
cent of the dynamical Casimir effect. The calculation of the and
quantum vacuum radiation spectra in the modulated case will
be possible using and generalizing the comprehensive for-
malism developed in this paper.
el,gen
Hbath el
= Hbath +iប 冕 dq 兺 共␬q,k
k
el
␤q,kbk − ␬q,k ␤q,kbk† 兲 .
el* †

共A2兲
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The generalized damping kernels
We wish to thank A. Anappara, G. Bastard, V. Berger, Y.
Castin, R. Colombelli, S. De Liberato, C. Fabre, L. Sapienza, ␥cav,k共t兲 = ⌫cav,k共t兲 − ⌫cav,−k
†
共t兲, 共A3兲
C. Sirtori, A. Tredicucci, A. Vasanelli, and A. Verger for dis-
cussions. LPA-ENS is a “Unité Mixte de Recherche Associé ␥12,k共t兲 = ⌫12,k共t兲 − ⌫12,−k
†
共t兲, 共A4兲
au CNRS 共UMR 8551兲 et aux Universités Paris 6 et 7.”
and the generalized Langevin forces
APPENDIX: GENERALIZATION OF THE INPUT-OUTPUT f cav,k共t兲 = Fcav,k共t兲 − Fcav,−k
†
共t兲, 共A5兲
THEORY INCLUDING ALSO THE ANTIRESONANT
COUPLING TERMS IN THE BATH HAMILTONIAN
f 12,k共t兲 = F12,k共t兲 − F12,−k
†
共t兲. 共A6兲
In this appendix, we generalize the input-output theory of
the present system in order to include also the antiresonant The quantum Langevin equations in frequency space become

冢 冣冢 冣
terms in the coupling with the photonic and electronic baths.
These additional Hamiltonian terms make the calculations ãk共␻兲 f̃ cav,k共␻兲
more cumbersome, but the results are still analytical. We b̃k共␻兲 f̃ 12,k共␻兲
have verified explicitly that when the broadening of the cav- M̄k,
gen
␻ +i = 0, 共A7兲
ã−k共− ␻兲
†
− f̃ cav,k共␻兲
ity and electronic transition modes is moderate, the effect of
the antiresonant terms in the bath Hamiltonians are negli- †
b̃−k 共− ␻兲 − f̃ 12,k共␻兲
gible. The bath Hamiltonians including the antiresonant
terms are where

冢 冣
␻cav,k + 2D̄k − ␻ − i˜␥cav,k共␻兲 i⍀̄R,k 2D̄k − i˜␥cav,k共␻兲 − i⍀̄R,k
− i⍀̄R,k ␻12 − ␻ − i˜␥12,k共␻兲 − i⍀̄R,k − i˜␥12,k共␻兲
M̄k,
gen
␻= ,
− 2D̄k + i˜␥cav,k共␻兲 − i⍀̄R,k − ␻cav,k − 2D̄k − ␻ + i˜␥cav,k共␻兲 i⍀̄R,k
− i⍀̄R,k i˜␥12,k共␻兲 − i⍀̄R,k − ␻12 − ␻ + i˜␥12,k共␻兲
共A8兲

冢 冣 冢 冣
and the output operators ␣q,k
out
and ␤q,k
out
are related to the input ãk共␻兲 f̃ cav,k共␻兲
and cavity ones by
b̃k共␻兲 f̃ 12,k共␻兲
= Ḡgen共k, ␻兲 , 共A11兲
ã−k共− ␻兲
†
− f̃ cav,k共␻兲
␣q,k
out
= ␣q,k
in
− ␬q,k
ph쐓
关ãk共␻q,k
ph
兲 + ã−k
†
共− ␻q,k
ph
兲兴, 共A9兲
†
b̃−k 共− ␻兲 − f̃ 12,k共␻兲

where

␤q,k
out
= ␤q,k
in
− ␬q,k
el쐓
关b̃k共␻q,k
el
兲 + b̃−k
†
共− ␻q,k
el
兲兴. 共A10兲 Ḡgen共k, ␻兲 = − i关M̄k, ␻兴 .
gen −1
共A12兲
As previously, Eq. 共A7兲 can be solved exactly: The relation between the input and output operators is

033811-12
INPUT-OUTPUT THEORY OF CAVITIES IN THE¼ PHYSICAL REVIEW A 74, 033811 共2006兲

冉 冊冉
␣q,k
out

␤qout
⬘,k
=
Ū11
gen

Ū21
gen
共k, ␻兲 Ū12
共k, ␻兲
gen
共k, ␻兲
Ū22
gen
共k, ␻兲
冊冉 冊
␣q,k
in

␤qin⬘,k
, 共A13兲 Ū21
gen
共k, ␻兲 ˜
= − 2Re兵⌫ cav,k共␻兲其
␬qel쐓
⬘,k
␬q,k
ph쐓 关Ḡ21gen共k, ␻兲 + Ḡ41gen共k, ␻兲
with the generalized matrix − Ḡ23
gen
共k, ␻兲 − Ḡ43
gen
共k, ␻兲 , 兴 共A16兲

Ū11
gen ˜
共k, ␻兲 = 1 − 2Re兵⌫ 关
cav,k共␻兲其 Ḡ11 共k, ␻兲 + Ḡ31 共k, ␻兲
gen gen
Ū22
gen
关
˜ 共␻兲其 Ḡgen共k, ␻兲 + Ḡgen共k, ␻兲
共k, ␻兲 = 1 − 2Re兵⌫ 12,k 22 42

− Ḡ13
gen
共k, ␻兲 − Ḡ33
gen
共k, ␻兲 , 兴 共A14兲 − Ḡ24
gen
共k, ␻兲 − Ḡ44
gen
共k, ␻兲 . 兴 共A17兲

␬q,k
ph쐓 We have verified explicitly that the matrix Ūgen共k , ␻兲 is uni-
Ū12
gen ˜ 共␻兲其
共k, ␻兲 = − 2Re兵⌫ 12,k
␬qel쐓
关 Ḡ12
gen
共k, ␻兲 + Ḡ32
gen
共k, ␻兲
tary. For the parameters used in this paper, Ūgen共k , ␻兲
⬘,k
⯝ Ū共k , ␻兲, where Ū共k , ␻兲 is the unitary matrix 共38兲–共41兲 in
− Ḡ14
gen
共k, ␻兲 − Ḡ34
gen
共k, ␻兲 , 兴 共A15兲 the absence of the bath antiresonant terms.

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