From quantum to classical: watching a single photon become a wave

Marco Bellini; Alessandro Zavatta; Silvia Viciani

doi:10.1117/12.614374

4 August 2005 From quantum to classical: watching a single photon become a wave

Marco Bellini, Alessandro Zavatta, Silvia Viciani

Proceedings Volume 5866, The Nature of Light: What Is a Photon?; (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.614374
Event: Optics and Photonics 2005, 2005, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

We present the experimental generation of a new class of non-classical light states and their complete phase-space characterization by quantum homodyne tomography. These states are the result of the most elementary amplification process of classical light fields by a single quantum of excitation and can be generated by the process of stimulated emission of a single photon in the mode of a coherent state. Being intermediate between a single-photon Fock state and a coherent one, they offer the unique opportunity to closely follow the smooth evolution between the particle-like and the wave-like behavior of the light field and to witness the gradual change from the spontaneous to the stimulated regimes of light emission.

Citation Download Citation

Marco Bellini, Alessandro Zavatta, and Silvia Viciani "From quantum to classical: watching a single photon become a wave", Proc. SPIE 5866, The Nature of Light: What Is a Photon?, (4 August 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.614374

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