Enhancement of photon blockade via topological edge states

Abstract: Quantum technologies, holding the promise of exponentially superior performance than their classical counterparts for certain tasks, have consistently encountered challenges, including instability in quantum light sources, quantum decoherence and vulnerability to losses that topological photonics happens to adeptly address. Here, we theoretically put forth a quantum Su-Schrieffer-Heeger-type chain designed to greatly enhance single-photon blockade (single-PB) effect with topological protection. By designing the deliberate coupling strengths, the quantum-level lattices take the form of a one-dimensional array with a topological edge state in single-excitation space and a two-dimensional square breathing lattice with topological corner states in two-excitation space, resulting in enhanced single-photon excitation and the suppression of two-photon transitions. Therefore the second-order correlation function is diminished by up to two orders of magnitude at the cavity resonance frequency, accompanied by stronger brightness.Furthermore, the PB effect is robust to local perturbations in cavity-qubit coupling and qubit frequency, benefitting from topological protection.