Ultrasensitive pulsed, balanced homodyne detector: application to time-domain quantum measurements.

Optics letters 26:21 (2001) 1714-1716

Authors:

H Hansen, T Aichele, C Hettich, P Lodahl, AI Lvovsky, J Mlynek, S Schiller

Abstract:

A pulsed, balanced homodyne detector has been developed for precise measurement of the electric field quadratures of pulsed optical quantum states. A high level of common mode suppression (>85 dB) and low electronic noise (730 electrons per pulse) provide a signal-to-noise ratio of 14 dB for measurement of the quantum noise of individual pulses. Measurements at repetition rates as high as 1 MHz are possible. As a test, quantum tomography of the coherent state was performed, and the Wigner function and the density matrix were reconstructed with 99.5% fidelity. The detection system can be used for ultrarsensitive balanced detection in cw mode, e.g., for weak absorption measurements.

Nonlinear Optical Studies of Surface Structures of Rubbed Polyimides and Adsorbed Liquid Crystal Monolayers

Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals Science and Technology Section A Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals Taylor & Francis 364:1 (2001) 427-434

Authors:

Masahito Oh-E, Alexander I Lvovsky, Xing Wei, Doseok Kim, YR Shen

Quantum state reconstruction of the single-photon Fock state

Physical Review Letters 87:5 (2001)

Authors:

AI Lvovsky, H Hansen, T Aichele, O Benson, J Mlynek, S Schiller

Abstract:

The phase-averaged Wigner function and the density matrix diagonal elements of an optical single-photon Fock state |1> were reconstructed using the method of phase-randomized pulsed optical homodyne tomography. A total measurement efficiency of 55.3 ± 1.3% was obtained. The measurement technique and error analysis were checked by performing a simultaneous measurement on the vacuum state.

Quantum state reconstruction of the single-photon Fock state.

Physical review letters 87:5 (2001) 050402

Authors:

AI Lvovsky, H Hansen, T Aichele, O Benson, J Mlynek, S Schiller

Abstract:

We have reconstructed the quantum state of optical pulses containing single photons using the method of phase-randomized pulsed optical homodyne tomography. The single-photon Fock state 1> was prepared using conditional measurements on photon pairs born in the process of parametric down-conversion. A probability distribution of the phase-averaged electric field amplitudes with a strongly non-Gaussian shape is obtained with the total detection efficiency of (55+/-1)%. The angle-averaged Wigner function reconstructed from this distribution shows a strong dip reaching classically impossible negative values around the origin of the phase space.

High-resolution Doppler-free molecular spectroscopy with a continuous-wave optical parametric oscillator

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) (2001) 539

Authors:

EV Kovalchuk, D Dekorsy, AI Lvovsky, C Braxmaier, J Mlynek, A Peters, S Schiller