108 research outputs found
Photon statistics in the macroscopic realm measured without photon-counters
In a macroscopic realm, in which photons are too many for being counted by
any photon counting detector, photon statistics can be measured by using
detectors simply endowed with linear response. We insert one of such detectors
in a conventional photon-counting apparatus, which returns a voltage every time
the detector responds to light by generating a number of elementary charges via
its primary photo-detection process. We only assume that, when a single charge
is photo-generated, the probability density of the voltages is a distribution
that is narrow with respect to its mean value. Under this hypothesis the output
voltages can be suitably binned so that their probability distribution is the
same as that of the photo-generated charges, that is, of the detected photons
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)
Gaussian and Non-Gaussian operations on non-Gaussian state: engineering non-Gaussianity
Multiple photon subtraction applied to a displaced phase-averaged coherent
state, which is a non-Gaussian classical state, produces conditional states
with a non trivial (positive) Glauber-Sudarshan -representation. We
theoretically and experimentally demonstrate that, despite its simplicity, this
class of conditional states cannot be fully characterized by direct detection
of photon numbers. In particular, the non-Gaussianity of the state is a
characteristics that must be assessed by phase-sensitive measurements. We also
show that the non-Gaussianity of conditional states can be manipulated by
choosing suitable conditioning values and composition of phase-averaged states
Towards underwater quantum communication in the mesoscopic intensity regime
The problem of secure underwater communication can take advantage of the exploitation of quantum resources and novel quantum technologies. At variance with the current experiments performed at the single photon level, here we propose a different scenario involving mesoscopic twin-beam states of light and two classes of commercial photon-number-resolving detectors. We prove that twin-beam states remain nonclassical even if the signal propagates in tubes filled with water, while the idler is transmitted in free space. We also demonstrate that from the study of the nonclassicality information about the loss and noise sources affecting the transmission channels can be successfully extracted
Novel scheme for secure data transmission based on mesoscopic twin beams and photon-number-resolving detectors
Quantum resources can improve the quality and security of data transmission. A novel communication protocol based on the use of mesoscopic twin-beam (TWB) states of light is proposed and discussed. The message sent by Alice to Bob is encoded in binary single-mode thermal states having two possible mean values, both smaller than the mean value of the TWB. Such thermal states are alternately superimposed to the portion of TWB sent to Bob. We demonstrate that in the presence of an eavesdropping attack that intercepts and substitutes part of the signal with a thermal noise, Bob can still successfully decrypt the message by evaluating the noise reduction factor for detected photons. The protocol opens new perspectives in the exploitation of quantum states of light for applications to Quantum Communication
Chaotic imaging in frequency downconversion
We analyze and realize the recovery, by means of spatial intensity
correlations, of the image obtained by a seeded frequency downconversion
process in which the seed field is chaotic and an intensity modulation is
encoded on the pump field. Although the generated field is as chaotic as the
seed field and does not carry any information about the modulation of the pump,
an image of the pump can be extracted by measuring the spatial intensity
correlations between the generated field and one Fourier component of the seed
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