Unveiling vacuum fluctuations and nonclassical states with cavity-enhanced tripartite interactions

Enhancing and tailoring light–matter interactions offer remarkable nonlinear resources with wide-ranging applications in various scientific disciplines. In this study, strong and deterministic tripartite “beamsplitter” (“squeeze”) interactions are constructed by utilizing cavity-enhanced nonlinear anti-Stokes (Stokes) scattering within spin–photon–phonon degrees of freedom. We explore exotic dynamical and steady-state properties associated with the confined motion of a single atom within a high-finesse optical cavity. Notably, we demonstrate the direct extraction of vacuum fluctuations of photons and phonons, which are inherent in Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, without requiring any free parameters. Moreover, our approach enables the realization of high-quality single-quanta sources with large average photon (phonon) occupancies. The underlying physical mechanisms responsible for generating the nonclassical quantum emitters are attributed to the decay-enhanced single-quanta blockade and long-lived motional phonons, resulting in strong nonlinearity. This work unveils significant opportunities for hitherto studying unexplored physical phenomena and provides novel perspectives on fundamental physics dominated by strong tripartite interactions.