Software for complete mode structure analysis of a light field

Published

June 26, 2017

Author(s)

Ivan Burenkov, Sergey Polyakov

Abstract

We present a software package aimed at simulating photon-number probability distributions of a range of naturally occurring classical and non-classical states of light. This software can generate arbitrary probability distributions based on the known mode structure of a light field. It also can solve the reverse problem, i.e. reconstructing the mode structure of a light field based on a given probability distribution. The mode structure fully describes a light field and contains the information about the source of light without a direct access to the source. The multimode fields simulated by this software include those comprised of a number of thermal modes and an optional Poisson mode. In addition, conjugated multimode sources (such as those created via parametric downconversion (PDC) or four-wave mixing (FWM)) can be simulated. Using this software, and with a minimal set of assumptions, we demonstrate a nearly- perfect reconstruction of multimode fields comprised of several correlated modes corresponding to squeezed vacuum states and several uncorrelated thermal and Poisson modes corresponding to background light.

Citation

Journal of Research (NIST JRES) -

Volume

122

NIST Pub Series

Journal of Research (NIST JRES)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.6028/jres.122.030

Local Download

Keywords

Photon statistics, mode reconstruction, conjugated light

Citation

Burenkov, I. and Polyakov, S. (2017), Software for complete mode structure analysis of a light field, Journal of Research (NIST JRES), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/jres.122.030, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=923290 (Accessed May 17, 2026)

Additional citation formats