2020/08/31 by Jan Gulla, Johannes Skaar
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic physics #Computer science #Detector #Envelope (radar) #Fidelity #High fidelity #Laser #Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications #Optics #Photon #Physics #Pulse (music) #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum optics and atomic interactions #Telecommunications #Ultrashort pulse #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.126.073601
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 073601 (2021)
openalex publication_date 2021/02/19 · arxiv created 2021/02/22 · arxiv updated 2021/02/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Single-photon pulses cannot be generated on demand, due to incompatible requirements of positive frequencies and positive times. Resulting states therefore contain small probabilities for multiphotons. We derive upper and lower bounds for the maximum fidelity of realizable states that approximate single-photon pulses. The bounds have implications for ultrafast optics; the maximum fidelity is low for pulses with few cycles or close to the onset, but increases rapidly as the pulse envelope varies more slowly. We also demonstrate strictly localized states that are close to single photons.