Abstract
The optical precursor refers to the propagation of the front of a step optical pulse that always travels at c, the speed of light in vacuum, in any dispersive medium. In particular, it is directly related to the maximum speed of information transmission. However, the classical precursors are entirely based on the propagation of macroscopic electromagnetic (EM) wave, whereas the envisioned applications, particularly in quantum cryptography, involve the interactions of single photons with atoms or molecules quantum mechanically. In this chapter, we review the heralded single photon source and single-photon waveform reshaping. The first direct observation of optical precursors of a single photon was reported for heralded single photons passing through cold atoms. The classical precursor theory applies to the case of single photons. Also, the causality holds for a single photon. This observation is important for understanding the speed limit of quantum information transmission.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Eisaman, M.D., et al.: Electromagnetically induced transparency with tunable single photon pulses. Nature 438, 837 (2005). (London)
Steinberg, A.M., Kwiat, P.G., Chiao, R.Y.: Measurement of the single-photon tunneling time. Phys. Rev. Letts 71, 708 (1993)
Gauthier, D.J., Boyd, R.W.: Fast light slow light and optical precursors: What does it all mean? Photonic Spectra Jan Features 41(1), 82–92 (2007)
Kimble, H.J.: The quantum internet. Nature 453(7198), 1023–1030 (2008)
O’Brien, J.L., Furusawa, A., Vučković, J.: Photonic quantum technologies. Nat. Photonics 3, 687–695 (2009)
Raymer, M.G., Srinvasan, K.: Manipulating the color and shape of single photons. Phys. Today 65(11), 32–37 (2012)
Michler, P., Kiraz, A., Becher, C., Schoenfeld, W.V., Petroff, P.M., Zhang, L., Hu, E., Imamoğlu, A.: A quantum dot single-photon turnstile device. Science 290, 2282–2285 (2000)
Santori, C., Pelton, M., Solomon, G., Dale, Y., Yamamoto, Y.: Triggered single photons from a quantum dot. Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 1502–1505 (2001)
Brunel, C., Lounis, B., Tamarat, P., Orrit, M.: Triggered source of single photons based on controlled single molecule fluorescence. Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 2722–2725 (1999)
Lounis, B., Moerner, W.E.: Single photon on demand from a single molecule at room temperature. Nature 407, 491–493 (2000)
Parkins, A.S., Marte, P., Zoller, P., Carnal, O., Kimble, H.J.: Quantum-state mapping between multilevel atoms and cavity light fields. Phys. Rev. A 51, 1578–1596 (1995)
Cirac, J.I., Zoller, P., Kimble, H.J., Mabuchi, H. Quantum state transfer and entanglement distribution among distant nodes in a quantum network. Phys. Rev. Lett. 78(16), 3221–3224 (1997)
Kuhn, A., Hennrich, M., Bondo, T., Rempe, G.: Controlled generation of single photons from a strongly coupled atom-cavity system. Appl. Phys. B 69, 373–377 (1999)
Kuzmich, A., Bowen, W.P., Boozer, A.D., Boca, A., Chou, C.W., Duan, L.M.: Generation of nonclassical photon pairs for scalable quantum communication with atomic ensembles. Nature 423, 731–734 (2003)
van der Wal, C.H., Eisaman, M.D., André, A., Walsworth, R.L., Philips, D.F., Zibrov, A.S., Lukin, M.D.: Atomic memory for correlated photon states. Science 301, 196–200 (2003)
Jiang, W., Han, C., Xue, P., Duan, L.-M., Guo, G.-C.: Nonclassical photon pairs generated from a room-temperature atomic ensemble. Phys. Rev. A 69, 043819 (2004)
Chou, C.W., Polyakov, S.V., Kuzmich, A., Kimble, H.J.: Single photon generation from stored excitation in an atomic ensemble. Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 213601 (2004)
Balic, V., Braje, D.A., Kolchin, P., Yin, G.Y., Harris, S.E.: Generation of paired photons with controllable waveforms. Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 183601 (2005)
Kolchin, P., Du, S., Belthangady, C., Yin, G.Y., Harris, S.E.: Generation of narrow-bandwidth paired photons: use of a single driving laser. Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 113602 (2006)
Du, S., Wen, J., Rubin, M.H., Yin, G.Y.: Four-wave mixing and biphoton generation in a two-level system. Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 053601 (2007)
Kolchin, P., Belthangady, C., Du, S., Yin, G.Y., Harris, S.E.: Electro-optic modulation of single photons. Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 103601 (2008)
Zhang, S., Chen, J.F., Liu, C., Loy, M.M.T., Wong, G.K.L., Du, S.: Optical precursor of a single photon. Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 243602 (2011)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Chen, J., Jeong, H., Loy, M.M.T., Du, S. (2013). Optical Precursor of a Single Photon. In: Optical Precursors. SpringerBriefs in Physics. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4451-94-9_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4451-94-9_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-4451-93-2
Online ISBN: 978-981-4451-94-9
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)