Quantum Measurement Induced Radiative Processes in Continuously Monitored Optical Environments

Abstract

We investigate the emission characteristics of a measurement-driven quantum emitter in a continuously monitored optical environment. The quantum emitter is stimulated by observing the Pauli spin along its transition dipole that maximally noncommutes with the Hamiltonian of the emitter. It also exchanges energy resonantly with the optical environment, observable as quantum jumps corresponding to the absorption or emission of a photon and the null events where the quantum emitter did not make a jump. We characterize the finite-time statistics of quantum jumps and estimate their covariance and precision using the large deviation principle. While the statistics of absorption and emission events are generically sub-Poissonian with an improved precision by at most a factor of two compared to Poissonian jumps, our analysis also reveals a spin-measurement-induced transition from super-Poissonian to sub-Poissonian in their sum. We conclude by describing generalized quantum measurement strategies using mode-entangled optical beams to access the predicted counting statistics in experiments, with implications extending to optimal quantum clocks.