2021/12/22 by Cory M. Nunn, C. M. Nunn, J. D. Franson +1 · 24 citations
Computer Science · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Beam splitter #Laser #Mathematics #Photon #Physics #Quantum #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum computer #Quantum mechanics #Quantum network #Quantum optics #Quantum optics and atomic interactions #Statistical physics #Subtraction #Zero (linguistics) #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreva.105.033702
published in Physical Review A 105(3) (American Physical Society) · 7 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2021/12/22 · openalex publication_date 2022/03/02 · arxiv updated 2022/03/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The process of single-photon subtraction (SPS) is known to dramatically alter the properties of certain quantum optical states. Somewhat surprisingly, subtracting zero photons can also modify quantum states and has practical applications in quantum communication. Here we experimentally investigate zero-photon subtraction (ZPS) using a wide variety of input states and conditional measurements based on actively detecting zero photons in one output port of a variable beamsplitter. We find that SPS and ZPS can exhibit complementary behavior depending on the photon statistics of the input states, and highlight deeper connections with Mandel's Q-parameter for classifying quantum states.