Photon-number correlations by photon-number resolving detectors

We demonstrate that by using a pair of photodetectors endowed with internal gain we are able to quantify the correlation coefficient between the two components of a pulsed bipartite state in the mesoscopic intensity regime (less than 100 mean photons)

Photon-number tomography and fidelity

The scheme of photon-number tomography is discussed in the framework of star-product quantization. The connection of dual quantization scheme and observables is reviewed. The quantizer and dequantizer operators and kernels of star product of tomograms in photon-number tomography scheme and its dual one are presented in explicit form. The fidelity and state purity are discussed in photon{number tomographic scheme, and the expressions for fidelity and purity are obtained in the form of integral of the product of two photon-number tomograms with integral kernel which is presented in explicit form. The properties of quantumness are discussed in terms of inequalities on state photon{number tomograms.Comment: the paper is submitted for publication in AIP Conference Serie

Quantum key distribution with realistic states: photon-number statistics in the photon-number splitting attack

Quantum key distribution can be performed with practical signal sources such as weak coherent pulses. One example of such a scheme is the Bennett-Brassard protocol that can be implemented via polarization of the signals, or equivalent signals. It turns out that the most powerful tool at the disposition of an eavesdropper is the photon-number splitting attack. We show that this attack can be extended in the relevant parameter regime such as to preserve the Poissonian photon number distribution of the combination of the signal source and the lossy channel.Comment: 4 page

Density Matrix From Photon Number Tomography

We provide a simple analytic relation which connects the density operator of the radiation field with the number probabilities. The problem of experimentally "sampling" a general matrix elements is studied, and the deleterious effects of nonunit quantum efficiency in the detection process are analyzed showing how they can be reduced by using the squeezing technique. The obtained result is particulary useful for intracavity field reconstruction states.Comment: LATEX,6 pages,accepted by Europhysics Letter

Phase estimation with photon number constraint

Many researches proposed the use of the noon state as the input state for phase estimation, which is one topic of quantum metrology. This is because the input noon state provides the maximum Fisher information at the specific point. However, the Fisher information does not necessarily give the attainable bound for estimation error. In this paper, we adopt the local asymptotic mini-max criterion as well as the mini-max criterion, and show that the maximum Fisher information does not give the attainable bound for estimation error under these criteria in the phase estimation. We also propose the optimal input state under the constraints for photon number of the input state instead of the noon state.Comment: Several typos are fixed. New section "ANALYSIS ON NOON STATE" is adde

Photon number variance in isolated cavities

We consider a strictly isolated single-mode optical cavity resonating at angular frequency omega containing atoms whose one-electron level energies are supposed to be: hbar*omega, 2*hbar*omega,...B*hbar\omega, and m photons. If initially the atoms are in their highest energy state and m=0, we find that at equilibrium: variance(m)/mean(m)=(B+1)/6, indicating that the internal field statistics is sub-Poissonian if the number of atomic levels B does not exceed 4. Remarkably, this result does not depend on the number of atoms, nor on the number of electrons that each atom incorporates. Our result has application to the statistics of the light emitted by pulsed lasers and nuclear magnetic resonance. On the mathematical side, the result is based on the restricted partitions of integers.Comment: 4 pages, to be submitted to Journal of Physics

Photon-number statistics with Silicon photomultipliers

We present a description of the operation of a multi-pixel detector in the presence of non-negligible dark-count and cross-talk effects. We apply the model to devise self-consistent calibration strategies to be performed on the very light under investigation

Photon number conservation and photon interference

The group theoretical aspect of the description of passive lossless optical four-ports (beam splitters) is revisited. It is shown through an example, that this approach can be useful in understanding interferometric schemes where a low number of photons interfere. The formalism is extended to passive lossless optical six-ports, their SU(3)-theory is outlined.Comment: Contribution at "Classical and Quantum Interference" workshop in RCO, Olomouc, Oct. 25-26 2001. A corrected versio