Pulsed single-photon spectroscopy of an emitter with vibrational coupling

Abstract: We analytically derive the quantum state of a single-photon pulse scattered from a single quantum two-level emitter interacting with a vibrational bath. This solution for the quadripartite system enables an information-theoretic characterization of vibrational effects in quantum light spectroscopy. We show that vibration-induced dephasing reduces the quantum Fisher information (QFI) for estimating the emitter's linewidth, largely reflecting the Franck-Condon suppression of light-matter coupling. Comparing time- and frequency-resolved photodetection, we find the latter to be more informative in estimating the emitter's linewidth for stronger vibrational coupling.