Quantum trajectory analysis of single-photon control from a single-molecule source

Abstract

We investigate theory of single-photon control from a two-level single-molecule source irradiated by laser pulses of various shapes and pulse durations in terms of quantum trajectories which link stochastic dynamics of the radiating source with quantum measurement theory. Using Monte Carlo wave function simulation, we analyze the detailed dissipative dynamics of the single-molecule source and the photon statistics as revealed by repeated Gedanken photon measurement on the single radiating source. We show that much of the photon statistics from the two-level single-molecule single-photon sources, including few-photon emission probability, waiting time distribution, and two-time correlation function of the fluorescent light, can be understood qualitatively from the simple picture of Rabi nutation and pi pulse in terms of pulse areas.