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International Conference on Quantum Information

Probing Quantum Rules with Single-Photon Creation and Annihilation Operators

Alessandro Zavatta, Valentina Parigi, M. S. Kim, Marco Bellini

Published Jan 1, 2008• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We experimentally apply simple sequences of photon creation and annihilation operators to a light field. By a tomographic analysis of the resulting light states we provide the first direct test of quantum non-commutativity.
DOI
10.1364/icqi.2008.qwa2

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The possibility of arbitrarily "adding" and "subtracting" single photons to and from a light field may give access to a complete engineering of quantum states and to fundamental quantum phenomena. We experimentally implemented simple alternated sequences of photon creation and annihilation on a thermal field and used quantum tomography to verify the peculiar character of the resulting light states. In particular, as the final states depend on the order in which the two actions are performed, we directly observed the noncommutativity of the creation and annihilation operators, one of the cardinal concepts of quantum mechanics, at the basis of the quantum behavior of light. These results represent a step toward the full quantum control of a field and may provide new resources for quantum information protocols.
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