Nonclassical correlations of photon number and field components in the vacuum state

Abstract

It is shown that the quantum jumps in the photon number n from zero to one or more photons induced by backaction evasion quantum nondemolition measurements of a quadrature component x of the vacuum light field state are strongly correlated with the quadrature component measurement results. This correlation corresponds to the operator expectation value <xnx> which is equal to one fourth for the vacuum even though the photon number eigenvalue is zero. Quantum nondemolition measurements of a quadrature component can thus provide experimental evidence of the nonclassical operator ordering dependence of the correlations between photon number and field components in the vacuum state.

13 pages, 3 figures, corrections of omissions in equations (6) and (25). To be published in Phys. Rev. A