Sisyphus Thermalization of Photons in a Cavity-Coupled Double Quantum Dot

Abstract

We investigate the non-classical states of light that emerge in a microwave resonator coupled to a periodically-driven electron in a nanowire double quantum dot (DQD). Under certain drive configurations, we find that the resonator approaches a thermal state at the temperature of the surrounding substrate with a chemical potential given by a harmonic of the drive frequency. Away from these thermal regions we find regions of gain and loss, where the system can lase, or regions where the DQD acts as a single-photon source. These effects are observable in current devices and have broad utility for quantum optics with microwave photons.