Concept of quantum timing jitter and non-Markovian limits in single photon detection

摘要

We propose the concept of quantum timing jitter in single-photon detection, based on the observation of a finite rise time in the quantum probabilistic signal transduction (absorption). We place a fundamental limit on this quantum jitter, which is governed by the bandwidth of the field-detector interaction spectrum. We also shed light on the fundamental differences between linear and nonlinear detector outputs for single photon Fock state vs. coherent state pulses.