Quantum-noise power spectrum of fields with discrete classical components

We present an algorithmic approach to calculate the quantum-noise spectral density of photocurrents generated by optical fields with arbitrary discrete classical spectrum in coherent or squeezed states. The measurement scheme may include an arbitrary number of demodulations of the photocurrent. Thereby, our method is applicable to the general heterodyne detection scheme, which is implemented in many experiments. For some of these experiments, e.g., in laser-interferometric gravitational-wave detectors, a reliable prediction of the quantum noise of fields in coherent and squeezed states plays a decisive role in the design phase and detector characterization. Still, our investigation is limited in two ways. First, we consider only coherent and squeezed states of the field, and second, we demand that the photocurrent depends linearly on the field’s vacuum amplitudes, which means that at least one of the classical components is comparatively strong.

Figure 1

Representation of the relevant frequency ranges for a classical heterodyne power measurement. The black boxes indicate the detection bandwidth.

Figure 2

Sorting scheme for three demodulation frequencies.