Conditional Spectroscopy via Non-Stationary Optical Homodyne Quantum State Tomography

Abstract

Continuous variable quantum state tomography is one of the most powerful techniques to study the properties of light fields in quantum optics. However, the need for a fixed phase reference has so far prevented widespread usage in other fields such as semiconductor spectroscopy. Here, we introduce non-stationary quantum state tomography, which adapts the technique to the special requirements of ultrafast spectroscopy. In detail, we gain access to the amplitude and phase of light fields with a temporal resolution of about 100\,fs without the need for a fixed phase reference. Further, we show how our technique allows us to perform conditional studies of stochastic dynamics that are inaccessible experimentally by conventional means, and demonstrate the capabilities experimentally by monitoring the stochastic dynamics of a thermal light field on the sub-ps scale. Finally, we discuss differences and similarities to more standard Hanbury Brown-Twiss photon correlation experiments, which may be considered as the discrete variable analogues of our technique.

12 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Quantum State Engineering and Precision Metrology using State-Insensitive Light Traps
• Coherent Oscillations in an Exciton-Polariton Josephson Junction
• Signatures of a dissipative phase transition in photon correlation measurements
• Complete temporal characterization of a single photon
• An eavesdropping attack on a trusted continuous-variable quantum random number generator