1999/09/24 by Matteo G. A. Paris, Matteo G A Paris · 1 citation
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum optics and atomic interactions #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreva.62.033813
published as Phys. Rev. A. vol 62, 033813 (2000) · RevTeX, 4 pictures (6 ps-files). Web contact at http://enterprise.pv.infn.it/~paris
arxiv created 1999/09/24 · openalex publication_date 2000/08/15 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
We suggest a method to prepare any chosen superposition a0|0〉+a1|1〉 of the vacuum and one-photon states. The method is based on a conditional double interferometer fed by a one-photon state and a coherent state. The scheme involves only linear optical elements and avalanche photodetectors, and therefore it should be realizable with current technology. A realistic description of the triggering photodetectors is employed, i.e., we assume that they can only check, with a certain efficiency, whether or not any photon is present. We discuss two working regimes, and show that output states with fidelity arbitrarily close to unit may be obtained, with nonvanishing conditional probability, also for low quantum efficiency at the photodetectors.