Experimental demonstration of negative-valued polarization quasiprobability distribution
Spasibko KY, Chekhova MV, Khalili FY (2017)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2017
Journal
Book Volume: 96
Article Number: 023822
Journal Issue: 2
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.96.023822
Abstract
Polarization quasiprobability distribution defined in the Stokes space shares many important properties with the Wigner function for position and momentum. Most notably, they both give correct one-dimensional marginal probability distributions and therefore represent the natural choice for the probability distributions in classical hidden-variable models. In this context, negativity of the Wigner function is considered as proof of nonclassicality for a quantum state. On the contrary, the polarization quasiprobability distribution demonstrates negativity for all quantum states. This feature comes from the discrete nature of Stokes variables; however, it was not observed in previous experiments, because they were performed with photon-number averaging detectors. Here we reconstruct the polarization quasiprobability distribution of a coherent state with photon-number resolving detectors, which allows us to directly observe for the first time its negativity. Furthermore we derive a theoretical polarization quasiprobability distribution for any linearly polarized quantum state.
Authors with CRIS profile
Involved external institutions
Max-Planck-Institut für die Physik des Lichts (MPL) / Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light
Germany (DE)
Lomonosov Moscow State University / Московский государственный университет имени М.В.Ломоносова
Russian Federation (RU)
Germany (DE)
Lomonosov Moscow State University / Московский государственный университет имени М.В.Ломоносова
Russian Federation (RU)
How to cite
APA:
Spasibko, K.Y., Chekhova, M.V., & Khalili, F.Y. (2017). Experimental demonstration of negative-valued polarization quasiprobability distribution. Physical Review A, 96(2). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.96.023822
MLA:
Spasibko, K. Yu., Maria V. Chekhova, and F. Ya. Khalili. "Experimental demonstration of negative-valued polarization quasiprobability distribution." Physical Review A 96.2 (2017).
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