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Phys. Rev. A 64, 043814 (2001) [6 pages]

Removal of a single photon by adaptive absorption

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John Calsamiglia1, Stephen M. Barnett2, Norbert Lütkenhaus3, and Kalle-Antti Suominen1,4
1Helsinki Institute of Physics, PL 64, FIN-00014 Helsingin yliopisto, Finland
2Department of Physics and Applied Physics, University of Strathclyde, John Anderson Building, 107 Rottenrow, Glasgow G4 0NG, Scotland
3MagiQ Technologies Inc., 275 Seventh Avenue, 26th Floor, New York, New York 10001-6708
4Department of Applied Physics, University of Turku, FIN-20014 Turun yliopisto, Finland

Received 12 June 2001; published 19 September 2001

We present a method to remove, using only linear optics, exactly one photon from a field mode. This is achieved by putting the system in contact with an absorbing environment, which is under continuous monitoring. A feedback mechanism then decouples the system from the environment as soon as the first photon is absorbed. We propose a possible scheme to implement this process and provide the theoretical tools to describe it.


©2001 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevA.64.043814
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.64.043814
PACS: 42.50.Dv, 03.67.Hk, 42.50.-p, 03.65.Yz

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