Fundamental Limits to the Measurement of the Polarization of Classical Light

Antonio Mecozzi*, Cristian Antonelli, Mark Shtaif

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

We study the limits that quantum mechanics imposes on the accuracy of the measurement of the Stokes polarization-vector in the case of classical states. Using the apparatus of the conventional Stokes receiver, we propose an estimation method that allows not only to exceed the signal-to-noise limit that is achieved by a heterodyne measurement or after ideal phase-insensitive amplification, but also to achieve the quantum SNR limit for the measurement of classical light. We refer to this receiver scheme as the enhanced Stokes receiver.

Original languageEnglish
Article number9324924
Pages (from-to)2387-2396
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Lightwave Technology
Volume39
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 Apr 2021

Funding

FundersFunder number
City Planning through Information and Communication Technologies
INCIPICT
Italian Government
Israel Science Foundation1401/16

    Keywords

    • Polarization
    • stokes receivers

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