English

The time-dependent spectrum of a single photon and its POVM

Quantum Physics 2017-09-27 v2 Optics

Abstract

Suppose we measure the time-dependent spectrum of a single photon. That is, we first send the photon through a set of frequency filters (which we assume to have different filter frequencies but the same finite bandwidth Γ\Gamma), and then record at what time (with some finite precision Δt\Delta t, and with some finite efficiency η\eta) and after passing what filter the photon is detected. What is the POVM (Positive-Operator Valued Measure, the most general description of a quantum measurement) corresponding to such a measurement? We show how to construct the POVM in various cases, with special interest in the case ΓΔt1\Gamma\Delta t\ll 1 (time-frequency uncertainty still holds, even in that limit). One application of the formalism is to heralding single photons. We also find a Hong-Ou-Mandel type of interference effect with two photons entering a frequency filter.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1705.09033,
  title  = {The time-dependent spectrum of a single photon and its POVM},
  author = {S. J. van Enk},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1705.09033},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

expanded version, 8 pages