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Bridging quantum noise and classical electrodynamics with stochastic methods
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  • Published: 19 May 2026

Bridging quantum noise and classical electrodynamics with stochastic methods

  • Felix Hitzelhammer  ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0006-5335-73631,
  • Johannes Stowasser  ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0007-2240-163X2,
  • Lukas Hanschke2,3,
  • Katarina Boos2,3,
  • Tobias C. Sutter4,
  • Michael Haider  ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5164-432X2,5,
  • Christian Jirauschek  ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0785-55302,6,
  • Kai Müller  ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4668-428X2,3,6,7,
  • Gabriela Slavcheva  ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5474-98081,8 &
  • …
  • Ulrich Hohenester  ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8929-20861 

Nature Communications (2026) Cite this article

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Subjects

  • Computational science
  • Optics and photonics
  • Quantum physics
  • Quantum simulation

Abstract

The development of emerging technologies in quantum optics demands accurate models that faithfully capture genuine quantum effects. Mature semiclassical approaches reach their limits when confronted with quantized electromagnetic fields, while full Hilbert space treatments are often computationally prohibitive. To address these challenges, we develop a framework based on coupled stochastic processes with a common cross-covariance structure that can be easily coupled to various types of Maxwell solvers. Our approach accounts for the non-commutativity in the quantum-to-classical transition in a natural way, and has the ability to capture quantum optical signatures while retaining compatibility with classical electromagnetics. For benchmarking, we compare our simulation results with experimental emission spectra of a strongly driven InGaAs quantum dot, finding excellent agreement. Our results highlight the potential of tailored stochastic processes for simulating non-classical light in complex photonic environments.

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Acknowledgements

F.H. and U.H. thank Norbert Mauser for helpful discussions. F.H. thanks Andrew Lingenfelter for valuable discussions. This research was funded in whole, or in part, by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [grant number I 5682]. F.H. and G.S. disclose support for the research of this work from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [grant number I 5682]. F.H., G.S. and U.H. disclose support for the research of this work from the European Space Agency (ESA) [grant number I-2023-02655]. U.H. discloses support for the research of this work from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [grant number 10.55776/P37150]. J.S., C.J., M.H., K.M., L.H. and K.B. disclose support for the research of this work from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) [grant number 471080402]. K.M., L.H., and K.B. further disclose support for the research of this work from Germany’s Excellence Strategy EXC-2111 [grant number 390814868] and the project PQET [grant number INST 95/1654-1]. The authors acknowledge the financial support by the University of Graz.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Physics, NAWI Graz, University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    Felix Hitzelhammer, Gabriela Slavcheva & Ulrich Hohenester

  2. TUM School of Computation, Information and Technology, Technical University of Munich, Garching, Germany

    Johannes Stowasser, Lukas Hanschke, Katarina Boos, Michael Haider, Christian Jirauschek & Kai Müller

  3. Walter Schottky Institut, Technical University of Munich, Garching, Germany

    Lukas Hanschke, Katarina Boos & Kai Müller

  4. Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Tobias C. Sutter

  5. Professorship of Electromagnetic Theory and Photonics, University of the Bundeswehr Munich, Neubiberg, Germany

    Michael Haider

  6. TUM Center for Quantum Engineering (ZQE), Garching, Germany

    Christian Jirauschek & Kai Müller

  7. Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST), Munich, Germany

    Kai Müller

  8. Quantopticon, Chicago, IL, USA

    Gabriela Slavcheva

Authors
  1. Felix Hitzelhammer
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  2. Johannes Stowasser
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  3. Lukas Hanschke
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  4. Katarina Boos
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  5. Tobias C. Sutter
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  6. Michael Haider
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  7. Christian Jirauschek
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  8. Kai Müller
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  9. Gabriela Slavcheva
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  10. Ulrich Hohenester
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Felix Hitzelhammer.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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Cite this article

Hitzelhammer, F., Stowasser, J., Hanschke, L. et al. Bridging quantum noise and classical electrodynamics with stochastic methods. Nat Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-73066-4

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  • Received: 26 September 2025

  • Accepted: 01 May 2026

  • Published: 19 May 2026

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-73066-4

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