Multiphoton tomography with linear optics and photon counting
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Banchi, Leonardo
Kolthammer, W Steven
Kim, MS
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Determining an unknown quantum state from an ensemble of identical systems is a fundamental, yet experimentally demanding, task in quantum science. Here we study the number of measurement bases needed to fully characterize an arbitrary multimode state containing a definite number of photons, or an arbitrary mixture of such states. We show this task can be achieved using only linear optics and photon counting, which yield a practical though nonuniversal set of projective measurements. We derive the minimum number of measurement settings required and numerically show that this lower bound is saturated with random linear optics configurations, such as when the corresponding unitary transformation is Haar random. Furthermore, we show that for N photons, any unitary 2N design can be used to derive an analytical, though nonoptimal, state reconstruction protocol.
Date Issued
2018-12-21
Date Acceptance
2018-12-01
Citation
Physical Review Letters, 2018, 121 (25)
ISSN
0031-9007
Publisher
American Physical Society (APS)
Journal / Book Title
Physical Review Letters
Volume
121
Issue
25
Copyright Statement
© 2018 American Physical Society.
Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (E
The Royal Society
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Korea Institute of Science and Technology
Grant Number
EP/K034480/1
WM140063
N/A
n/a
Subjects
quant-ph
02 Physical Sciences
General Physics
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
250402
Date Publish Online
2018-12-18