Single Photons by Quenching the Vacuum

Heisenberg's uncertainty principle implies that the quantum vacuum is not empty but fluctuates. These fluctuations can be converted into radiation through nonadiabatic changes in the Hamiltonian. Here, we discuss how to control this vacuum radiation, engineering a single-photon emitter out of a two-level system (2LS) ultrastrongly coupled to a finite-band waveguide in a vacuum state. More precisely, we show the 2LS nonlinearity shapes the vacuum radiation into a non-Gaussian superposition of even and odd cat states. When the 2LS bare frequency lays within the band gaps, this emission can be well approximated by individual photons. This picture is confirmed by a characterization of the ground and bound states, and a study of the dynamics with matrix-product states and polaron Hamiltonian methods.