Transformation of a single photon field into bunches of pulses

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method to convert single photon fields into controllable pulse bunches using a vibrated absorber, enabling the creation of gamma-photonic time-bin qudits with adjustable dimensions.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel technique for transforming single photon fields into pulse bunches via a vibrated absorber, demonstrated experimentally with gamma photons.

Findings

Successful generation of pulse bunches with controllable number of pulses.

First experimental realization of gamma-photonic time-bin qudits.

Demonstrated control over pulse timing and number in the bunches.

Abstract

We propose a method to transform a single photon field into bunches of pulses with controllable timing and number of pulses in a bunch. This method is based on transmission of a photon through an optically thick single-line absorber vibrated with a frequency appreciably exceeding the width of the absorption line. The spectrum of the quasi-monochromatic incoming photon is 'seen' by the vibrated absorber as a comb of equidistant spectral components separated by the vibration frequency. Tuning the absorber in resonance with m-th spectral component transforms the output radiation into bunches of pulses with m pulses in each bunch. We experimentally demonstrated the proposed technique with single 14.4 keV photons and produced for the first time gamma-photonic time-bin qudits with dimension d=2m.