Spacetime effects on wavepackets of coherent light

authored by: David Edward Bruschi, Symeon Chatzinotas, Frank K. Wilhelm, Andreas Wolfgang Schell
Abstract: We investigate the interplay between gravity and the quantum coherence present in the state of a pulse of light propagating in curved spacetime. We first introduce an operational way to distinguish between the overall shift in the pulse wave packet and its genuine deformation after propagation. We then apply our technique to quantum states of photons that are coherent in the frequency degree of freedom, as well as to states of completely incoherent light. We focus on Gaussian profiles and frequency combs and find that the quantum coherence initially present can enhance the deformation induced by propagation in a curved background. These results further support the claim that genuine quantum features, such as quantum coherence, can be used to probe the gravitational properties of physical systems. We specialize our techniques to Earth-to-satellite communication setups, where the effects of gravity are weak but can be tested with current satellite technologies.
Organisation(s): Institute of Solid State Physics
QuantumFrontiers
External Organisation(s): Forschungszentrum Jülich
University of Luxembourg
National Metrology Institute of Germany (PTB)
Type: Article
Journal: Physical Review D
Volume: 104
ISSN: 2470-0010
Publication date: 11.10.2021
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)
Electronic version(s): https://arxiv.org/abs/2106.12424 (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.104.085015 (Access: Closed)

BibTeX

@article{dfed4d28abea4334a0a5927726e81ebe,
title = "Spacetime effects on wavepackets of coherent light",
abstract = "We investigate the interplay between gravity and the quantum coherence present in the state of a pulse of light propagating in curved spacetime. We first introduce an operational way to distinguish between the overall shift in the pulse wave packet and its genuine deformation after propagation. We then apply our technique to quantum states of photons that are coherent in the frequency degree of freedom, as well as to states of completely incoherent light. We focus on Gaussian profiles and frequency combs and find that the quantum coherence initially present can enhance the deformation induced by propagation in a curved background. These results further support the claim that genuine quantum features, such as quantum coherence, can be used to probe the gravitational properties of physical systems. We specialize our techniques to Earth-to-satellite communication setups, where the effects of gravity are weak but can be tested with current satellite technologies.",
author = "Bruschi, {David Edward} and Symeon Chatzinotas and Wilhelm, {Frank K.} and Schell, {Andreas Wolfgang}",
note = "Funding Information: We thank Steven J. van Enk, Christopher A. Fuchs, Jan Kohlrus, Valente Pranubon, Leila Khouri, Rosario Vunc Vedinciano, Matthias Blau and Jorma Louko for useful comments and discussions. A. W. S. acknowledges funding by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany{\textquoteright}s Excellence Strategy—EXC-2123 QuantumFrontiers—390837967. The satellite of Fig. is licensed for free use by Pixabay, while the Earth is licensed for non commercial use under the CC BY-NC 4.0 agreement by pngimg.com.",
year = "2021",
month = oct,
day = "11",
doi = "10.1103/PhysRevD.104.085015",
language = "English",
volume = "104",
journal = "Physical Review D",
issn = "2470-0010",
publisher = "American Institute of Physics",
number = "8",
}