We study the characteristics of the light generated by few emitters in a cavity at strong light-matter coupling. By means of the Glauber $g^{(2)}$-function we can identify clearly distinguished parameter regimes with super-Poissonian and sub-Poissonian photon statistics. We establish a relation between the emission characteristics for one and multiple emitters, and explain its origin in terms of the photon-dressed emitter states. Cooperative effects lead to the generation of nonclassical light already at reduced light-matter coupling if the number of emitters is increased. Our results are obtained with a full input-output formalism and master equation valid also at strong light-matter coupling. We compare the behavior obtained with and without counter-rotating light-matter interaction terms in the Hamiltonian, and find that the generation of nonclassical light is robust against such modifications. Finally, we contrast our findings with the predictions of the quantum optical master equation and find that it fails entirely at predicting regimes with different photon statistics.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures. Published versio

The emission of entangled light from planar semiconductor microcavities is studied and the entanglement properties are analyzed and quantified. Phase-matching of the intra-cavity scattering dynamics for multiple pump beams or pulses, together with the coupling to external radiation, leads to the emission of a manifold of entangled photon pairs. A decomposition of the emitted photons into two parties leads to a strong entanglement of the resulting bipartite system. For the quantification of the entanglement, the Schmidt number of the system is determined by the construction of Schmidt number witnesses. It is analyzed to which extend the resources of the originally strongly entangled light field are diminished by dephasing in propagation channels.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, extended versio

We study the dissipative quantum harmonic oscillator with general nonthermal preparations of the harmonic oscillator bath. The focus is on equilibration of the oscillator in the long-time limit and the additional requirements for thermalization. Our study is based on the exact solution of the microscopic model obtained by means of operator equations of motion, which provides us with the time evolution of the central oscillator density matrix in terms of the propagating function. We find a hierarchy of conditions for thermalization, together with the relation of the asymptotic temperature to the energy distribution in the initial bath state. We discuss the presence and absence of equilibration for the example of an inhomogeneous chain of harmonic oscillators, and we illustrate the general findings about thermalization for the nonthermal environment that results from a quench.

We formulate exact generalized nonequilibrium fluctuation relations for the quantum mechanical harmonic oscillator coupled to multiple harmonic baths. Each of the different baths is prepared in its own individual (in general nonthermal) state. Starting from the exact solution for the oscillator dynamics we study fluctuations of the oscillator position as well as of the energy current through the oscillator under general nonequilibrium conditions. In particular, we formulate a fluctuation-dissipation relation for the oscillator position autocorrelation function that generalizes the standard result for the case of a single bath at thermal equilibrium. Moreover, we show that the generating function for the position operator fulfils a generalized Gallavotti-Cohen-like relation. For the energy transfer through the oscillator, we determine the average energy current together with the current fluctuations. Finally, we discuss the generalization of the cumulant generating function for the energy transfer to nonthermal bath preparations.

The generation and the characterization of multipartite entangled light is an important and challenging task in quantum optics. In this paper the entanglement properties of the light emitted from a planar semiconductor microcavity are studied. The intracavity scattering dynamics leads to the emission of light that is described by a fourpartite W state. Its multipartite correlations are identified by using the method of entanglement witnesses. Entanglement conditions are derived, which are based on a general witness constructed from W states. The results can be used to detect entanglement of light that propagates through lossy and even turbulent media.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, minor correction