Quantum Resource Theory of Lasers

Abstract: Lasers serve as the fundamental workhorses of photonic quantum technologies, with perfectly coherent light fields being essential for many protocols that generate nonclassical light, implement coherent control schemes, and initialize qubits. However, no laser is absolutely ideal and the implications of deviations from perfect coherence in quantum technological tasks remain unclear. In this study, we theoretically and experimentally explore the quantum coherence properties of lasers from a resource theory perspective, establishing a significant connection between photonics, quantum optics, and quantum information science. We demonstrate that the maximum achievable quantum coherence for laser light is constrained by spontaneous emission and the purity of the dephased laser field state. As a critical example application in quantum information protocols, we show that the quantum coherence of a laser field with a given mean photon number directly governs the maximum purity attainable when initializing a qubit in a superposition state through resonant driving. Our findings are highly relevant for bridging applied physics and engineering with integrated photonic quantum technologies and resource theories, paving the way for reliable benchmarking of various coherent light sources for applications in photonics and quantum protocols.