Indefinite-Mean Pareto Photon Distribution from Amplified Quantum Noise

Mathieu Manceau, Kirill Yu. Spasibko, Gerd Leuchs, Radim Filip, and Maria V. Chekhova
Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 123606 – Published 20 September 2019
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Abstract

Extreme events appear in many physics phenomena, whenever the probability distribution has a “heavy tail” differing very much from the equilibrium one. Most unusual are the cases of power-law (Pareto) probability distributions. Among their many manifestations in physics, from “rogue waves” in the ocean to Lévy flights in random walks, Pareto dependences can follow very different power laws. For some outstanding cases, the power exponents are less than 2, leading to indefinite values not only for higher moments but also for the mean. Here we present the first evidence of indefinite-mean Pareto distribution of photon numbers at the output of nonlinear effects pumped by parametrically amplified vacuum noise, known as bright squeezed vacuum (BSV). We observe a Pareto distribution with power exponent 1.31 when BSV is used as a pump for supercontinuum generation, and other heavy-tailed distributions (however, with definite moments) when it pumps optical harmonics generation. Unlike in other fields, we can flexibly control the Pareto exponent by changing the experimental parameters. This extremely fluctuating light is interesting for ghost imaging and for quantum thermodynamics as a resource to produce more efficiently nonequilibrium states by single-photon subtraction, the latter of which we demonstrate experimentally.

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  • Received 20 May 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.123606

© 2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Atomic, Molecular & Optical

Authors & Affiliations

Mathieu Manceau1,2, Kirill Yu. Spasibko1,3,*, Gerd Leuchs1,3, Radim Filip4, and Maria V. Chekhova1,3,5

  • 1Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Staudtstraße 2, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
  • 2Université Paris 13, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers, 93430 Villetaneuse, France
  • 3University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Staudtstraße 7/B2, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
  • 4Department of Optics, Palacky University, 77146 Olomouc, Czech Republic
  • 5Department of Physics, M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory, 119991 Moscow, Russia

  • *kirill.spasibko@mpl.mpg.de

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Issue

Vol. 123, Iss. 12 — 20 September 2019

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