A complete POVM description of multi-channel quantum electro-optic sampling with monochromatic field modes

Abstract

We propose a multi-channel version of quantum electro-optic sampling involving monochromatic field modes. It allows for multiple simultaneous measurements of arbitrarily many $\hat{X}$ and $\hat{Y}$ field-quadrature for a single quantum-state copy, while independently tuning the interaction strengths at each channel. In contrast to standard electro-optic sampling, the sampled mid-infrared (MIR) mode undergoes a nonlinear interaction with multiple near-infrared (NIR) pump beams. We present a complete positive operator-valued measure (POVM) description for quantum states in the MIR mode. The probability distribution of the electro-optic signal outcomes is shown to be related to an $s$-parametrized phase-space quasiprobability distribution of the indirectly measured MIR state, with the parameter $s$ depending solely on the quantities characterizing the nonlinear interaction. Furthermore, we show that the quasiprobability distributions for the sampled and post-measurement states are related to each other through a renormalization and a change in the parametrization. This result is then used to demonstrate that two consecutive measurements of both $\hat{X}$ and $\hat{Y}$ quadratures can outperform eight-port homodyne detection.