Study on statistical analysis of optical phase control by surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal devices

Abstract We have evaluated a number of photon modulations using a Mach–Zehnder interferometer combined with a surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal (SSFLC) device for optical phase control. By varying the applied voltage to the SSFLC, a clear change in the detected number of photons was observed. Statistical analysis of the photon counts revealed that the weak optical field followed the Poisson distributions with two distinct mean numbers of photons, corresponding to the two voltage-induced states of the SSFLC. This result suggests the probabilistic nature of independently emitted laser photons and demonstrates that such discrete photon statistics can be achieved via binary voltage control of the SSFLC.