Quantum trajectory model for photon detectors and optoelectronic devices

Abstract

We consider a single-mode optical cavity field with simultaneous dissipative and amplifying couplings to a reservoir via a two-state system. In previous works, the reservoir has either solely absorbed energy (detector setup) or added energy (amplifying setup) to the cavity. In this work, we allow both interactions simultaneously and derive a reduced dynamic model for the optical field. Our model includes four physical parameters: the field-two-state system coupling γ, the excitation and de-excitation couplings of the two-state system to the reservoir λA and λD, respectively, and the mirror losses of the cavity C. We show that, depending on the parameters, our setup can operate as a detector, a light-emitting diode or a laser. We also consider single-photon subtraction and addition schemes based on beam splitters and calculate the output fields and the probabilities of the subtraction and addition events. Furthermore, we discuss which are the parameter regimes in which our model is equivalent to beam splitter-based schemes.