Photon blockade in quadratically coupled optomechanical systems

Abstract: We study the steady-state photon statistics of a quadratically coupled optomechanical cavity, which is weakly driven by a monochromatic laser field. We examine the photon blockade by evaluating the second-order correlation function of the cavity photons. By restricting the system within the zero-, one-, and two-photon subspace, we obtain an approximate analytical expression for the correlation function. We also numerically investigate the correlation function by solving the quantum master equation including both optical and mechanical dissipations. The results show that, in the deep-resolved-sideband and single-photon strong-coupling regimes, the single-photon resonant driving will induce a photon blockade, which is limited by the thermal noise of the mechanical environment.