Nondemolition measurement of the vacuum state or its complement

Oi, D. K.L., Potocek, V. and Jeffers, J. (2013) Nondemolition measurement of the vacuum state or its complement. Physical Review Letters, 110(210504), (doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.210504)

Abstract

Measurement is integral to quantum information processing and communication; it is how information encoded in the state of a system is transformed into classical signals for further use. In quantum optics, measurements are typically destructive, so that the state is not available afterwards for further steps. Here we show how to measure the presence or absence of the vacuum in a quantum optical field without destroying the state, implementing the ideal projections onto the respective subspaces. This not only enables sequential measurements, useful for quantum communication, but it can also be adapted to create novel states of light via bare raising and lowering operators.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Potocek, Dr Vaclav
• Authors: Oi, D. K.L., Potocek, V., and Jeffers, J.
• Subjects: Q Science > QC Physics
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
• Journal Name: Physical Review Letters
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• ISSN: 0031-9007
• ISSN (Online): 1079-7114
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2013 American Physical Society
• First Published: First published in Physical Review Letters 110:210504
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License