Realistic photon-number resolution in Gaussian boson sampling

Abstract

Gaussian boson sampling (GBS) is a model of nonuniversal quantum computation that claims to demonstrate quantum supremacy with current technologies. This model entails sampling photocounting events from a multimode Gaussian state at the outputs of a linear interferometer. In this scheme, collision events -- those with more than one photon for each mode -- are infrequent. However, they are still used for validation purposes. Therefore, the limitation of realistic detectors to perfectly resolve adjacent photon numbers becomes pivotal. We derive a the photocounting probability distribution in GBS schemes which is applicable for use with general detectors and photocounting techniques. This probability distribution is expressed in terms of functionals of the field-quadrature covariance matrix, e.g., Hafnian and Torontonian in the well-known special cases of photon-number resolving and on-off detectors, respectively. Based on our results, we consider a GBS validation technique involving detectors with realistic photon-number resolution.