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Quantum optics

The quantum picture of a detector

The full quantum description of an optical detector not only reveals how it operates at the most fundamental level but also promises new opportunities in quantum information processing.

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Figure 1: Using a photodiode to measure a light beam provides information on the beam's intensity or its photon-number distribution p(n).

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Correspondence to Alessandro Zavatta.

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Zavatta, A., Bellini, M. The quantum picture of a detector. Nature Photon 6, 350–351 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2012.120

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