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arXiv:quant-ph/0508094 · Physical Review A

Single-photon excitation of a coherent state: Catching the elementary step of stimulated light emission

Alessandro Zavatta, Silvia Viciani, Marco Bellini

Published Aug 23, 2005• 204 citations
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Abstract

When a single quantum of electromagnetic field excitation is added to the same spatiotemporal mode of a coherent state, a new field state is generated that exhibits intermediate properties between those of the two parents. Such a single-photon-added coherent state is obtained by the action of the photon creation operator on a coherent state and can thus be regarded as the result of the most elementary excitation process of a classical light field. Here we present and describe in depth the experimental realization of such states and their complete analysis by means of a novel ultrafast, time-domain, quantum homodyne tomography technique clearly revealing their nonclassical character.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.72.023820

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When a single quantum of electromagnetic field excitation is added to the same spatiotemporal mode of a coherent state, a new field state is generated that exhibits intermediate properties between those of the two parents. Such a single-photon-added coherent state is obtained by the action of the photon creation operator on a coherent state and can thus be regarded as the result of the most elementary excitation process of a classical light field. Here we present and describe in depth the experimental realization of such states and their complete analysis by means of a novel ultrafast, time-domain, quantum homodyne tomography technique clearly revealing their nonclassical character.
A new class of non-classical light states has been experimentally generated and their complete phase-space characterization has been achieved by quantum homodyne tomography. Such states are produced by the action of the photon creation operator on a coherent light field and are thus the result of the elementary excitation process of a classical field by a single quantum. Being intermediate between a single-photon Fock state and a coherent one, they offer the unique opportunity to closely follow the smooth evolution between the particle-like and the wave-like behavior of the light field.
A new class of non-classical light states has been experimentally generated and their complete phase-space characterization has been achieved by quantum homodyne tomography. Such states are produced by the action of the photon creation operator on a coherent light eld and are thus the result of the elementary excitation process of a classical eld by a single quantum. Being intermediate between a single-photon Fock state and a coherent one, they o er the unique opportunity to closely follow the smooth evolution between the particle-like and the wave-like behavior of the light eld.
Single-photon-added coherent states are the result of the most elementary amplification process of classical light fields by a single quantum of excitation. Being intermediate between a single-photon Fock state (fully quantum-mechanical) and a coherent (classical) one, these states offer the opportunity to closely follow the smooth transition between the particle-like and the wavelike behavior of light. We report the experimental generation of single-photon-added coherent states and their complete characterization by quantum tomography. Besides visualizing the evolution of the quantum-to-classical transition, these states allow one to witness the gradual change from the spontaneous to the stimulated regimes of light emission.
We present the experimental generation of a new class of non-classical light states and their complete phasespace characterization by quantum homodyne tomography. These states are the result of the most elementary amplification process of classical light fields by a single quantum of excitation and can be generated by the process of stimulated emission of a single photon in the mode of a coherent state. Being intermediate between a single-photon Fock state and a coherent one, they offer the unique opportunity to closely follow the smooth evolution between the particle-like and the wave-like behavior of the light field and to witness the gradual change from the spontaneous to the stimulated regimes of light emission.
We present the experimental generation of a new class of non-classical light states and their complete phase-space characterization by quantum homodyne tomography. These states are the result of the most elementary amplification process of classical light fields by a single quantum of excitation and can be generated by the process of stimulated emission of a single photon in the mode of a coherent state. Being intermediate between a single-photon Fock state and a coherent one, they offer the unique opportunity to closely follow the smooth evolution between the particle-like and the wave-like behavior of the light field and to witness the gradual change from the spontaneous to the stimulated regimes of light emission.
Conditional addition of photons represents a crucial tool for optical quantum state engineering and it forms a fundamental building block of advanced quantum photonic devices. Here we report on experimental implementation of the conditional addition of several photons. We demonstrate the addition of one, two, and three photons to input coherent states with various amplitudes. The resulting highly nonclassical photon-added states are completely characterized with time-domain homodyne tomography, and the nonclassicality of the prepared states is witnessed by the negativity of their Wigner functions. We experimentally demonstrate that the conditional addition of photons realizes approximate noiseless quantum amplification of coherent states with sufficiently large amplitude. We also investigate certification of the stellar rank of the generated multiphoton-added coherent states, which quantifies the non-Gaussian resources required for their preparation. Our results pave the way towards the experimental realization of complex optical quantum operations based on combination of multiple photon additions and subtractions.