Nonclassical correlations between photon number and quadrature components of the light field

Abstract

Finite resolution quantum nondemolition (QND) measurements allow a determination of light field properties while preserving some of the original quantum coherence of the input state. It is thus possible to measure correlations between the photon number and a quadrature component of the same light field mode. Nonclassical features emerge as photon number quantization is resolved. In particular, a strong anti-correlation of quantization and coherence is observable in QND measurements of photon number, and a correlation between measurement induced quantum jumps and quadrature component measurement results is obtained in QND measurements of quadrature fluctuations in the photon vacuum. Such nonclassical correlations represent fundamental quantum properties of the light field and may provide new insights into the nature of quantization itself.