2023/06/23 by Khalid, Sana, Fabrice P. Laussy, Laussy, Fabrice P.
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Optics (physics.optics) #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #Quantum optics and atomic interactions
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2306.13646
openalex publication_date 2023/06/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We introduce the "gapped coherent state" in the form of a single-photon source (SPS) that consists of uncorrelated photons as a background, except that we demand that no two photons can be closer in time than a time gap tG. While no obvious quantum mechanism is yet identified to produce exactly such a photon stream, a numerical simulation is easily achieved by first generating an uncorrelated (Poissonian) signal and then for each photon in the list, either adding such a time gap or removing all successive photons that are closer in time from any photon that is kept than tG. We study the statistical properties of such a hypothetical signal, which exhibits counter-intuitive features. This provides a neat and natural connection between continuous-wave (stationary) and pulsed single-photon sources, with also a bearing on what it means for such sources to be perfect in terms of single-photon emission.