Photon correlations in a two-site nonlinear cavity system under coherent drive and dissipation

We calculate the normalized second-order correlation function for a system of two tunnel-coupled photonic resonators, each one exhibiting a single-photon nonlinearity of the Kerr type. We employ a full quantum formulation: The master equation for the model, which takes into account both a coherent continuous drive and radiative as well as nonradiative dissipation channels, is solved analytically in steady state through a perturbative approach, and the results are compared to exact numerical simulations. The degree of second-order coherence displays values between 0 and 1, and divides the diagram identified by the two energy scales of the system—the tunneling and the nonlinear Kerr interaction—into two distinct regions separated by a crossover. When the tunneling term dominates over the nonlinear one, the system state is delocalized over both cavities, and the emitted light is coherent. In the opposite limit, photon blockade sets in, and the system shows an insulatorlike state with photons locked on each cavity, identified by antibunching of emitted light.