Fundamental mechanisms of energy exchanges in autonomous measurements based on dispersive qubit-light interaction

Measuring an observable which does not commute with the Hamiltonian of a quantum system usually modifies the mean energy of this system. In an autonomous measurement scheme, coupling the system to a quantum meter, the system's energy change must be compensated by the meter's energy change. Here, we theoretically study such an autonomous meter-system dynamics: a qubit interacting dispersively with a light pulse propagating in a one-dimensional waveguide. The phase of the light pulse is shifted, conditioned to the qubit's state along the 𝑧 direction, while the orientation of the qubit Hamiltonian is arbitrary. As the interaction is dispersive, photon number is conserved so that energy balance has to be attained by spectral deformations of the light pulse. Building on analytical and numerical solutions, we reveal the mechanism underlying this spectral deformation and display how it compensates for the qubit's energy change. We explain the formation of a three-peak structure of the output spectrum and we provide the conditions under which this is observable.