Photon-Wavepackets as Flying Quantum Bits

A novel description of the interaction of quantum optical systems with a single one-photon wave packet in terms of a generalized master equation is introduced. A corresponding quantum Monte-Carlo wavefunction simulation algorithm can be obtained from the driven system approach [H. J. Carmichael, Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 2273 (1993); C. W. Gardiner, ibid. 2269 (1993)].