Recent advances in techniques for generating quantum light have stimulated research on novel spectroscopic measurements using quantum entangled photons. One such spectroscopy technique utilizes non-classical correlations among entangled photons to enable measurements with enhanced sensitivity and selectivity. Here, we investigate spectroscopic measurement utilizing entangled three photons. In this measurement, time-resolved entangled photon spectroscopy with monochromatic pumping [J. Chem. Phys. 153, 051102 (2020).] is integrated with the frequency-dispersed two-photon counting technique, which suppresses undesired accidental photon counts in the detector and thus allows one to separate the weak desired signal. This time-resolved frequency-dispersed two-photon counting signal, which is a function of two frequencies, is shown to provide the same information as that of coherent two-dimensional optical spectra. The spectral distribution of the phase-matching function works as a frequency filter to selectively resolve a specific region of the two-dimensional spectra, whereas the excited-state dynamics under investigation are temporally resolved in the time region longer than the entanglement time. The signal is not subject to Fourier limitations on the joint temporal and spectral resolution, and therefore, it is expected to be useful for investigating complex molecular systems in which multiple electronic states are present within a narrow energy range.
Quantum light is a key resource for promoting quantum technology. One such class of technology aims to improve the precision of optical measurements using engineered quantum states of light. In this study, we investigate transmission measurement of frequency-entangled broadband photon pairs generated via parametric down-conversion with a monochromatic laser. It is observed that state-to-state dynamics in the system under study are temporally resolved by adjusting the path difference between the entangled twin beams when the entanglement time is sufficiently short. The non-classical photon corr…
Quantum information science is driving progress in a vast number of scientific and technological areas that cover molecular spectroscopy and matter-light interactions in general. In these fields, the ability to generate quantum mechanically-entangled photons is opening avenues to explore the interaction of molecules with quantum light. This work considers an alternative way of correlating photons by including energy superpositions. We study how the multichromatic quantum superposition, or color superposition of photon-pair states, influences the optical properties of organic chromophores. This…
We propose a novel femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy (FSRS) technique that combines entangled photons with interference detection to select matter pathways and enhance the resolution. Following photo excitation by an actinic pump, the measurement uses a pair of broadband entangled photons, one (signal) interacts with the molecule together with a third narrowband pulse induces the Raman process. The other (idler) photon provides a reference for the coincidence measurement. This interferometric photon-coincidence counting detection allows to separately measure Raman gain and loss signals…
The authors demonstrate a form of two-photon-counting interferometry by measuring the coincidence counts between single-photon-counting detectors at an output port of a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) following injection of broad-band time-frequency-entangled photon pairs (EPP) generated from collinear spontaneous parametric down conversion into a single input port. Spectroscopy and refractometry are performed on a sample inserted in one internal path of the MZI by scanning the other path in length, which acquires phase and amplitude information about the samples linear response. Phase modul…
Entangled photons exhibit non-classical light-matter interactions that create new opportunities in materials and molecular science. For example, in entangled two-photon absorption, the intensity-dependence scales linearly as if only one photon was present. The entangled two-photon absorption cross section approaches but does not match the one-photon absorption cross section. The entangled two photon cross section also does not follow classical two photon molecular design motifs. Questions such as these seed the rich but nascent field of entangled light-matter interactions. In this perspective,…
Multidimensional optical signals are commonly recorded by varying the delays between time ordered pulses. These control the evolution of the density matrix and are described by ladder diagrams. We propose a new non-time-ordered protocol based on following the time evolution of the wavefunction and described by loop diagrams. The time variables in this protocol allow to observe different types of resonances and reveal information about intraband dephasing not readily available by time ordered techniques. The time variables involved in this protocol become coupled when using entangled light, whi…
Entangled photon spectroscopy is a nascent field that has important implications for measurement and imaging across chemical, biology, and materials fields. Entangled photon spectroscopy potentially offers improved spatial and temporal-frequency resolutions, increased cross sections for multiphoton and nonlinear measurements, and new abilities in inducing or measuring quantum correlations. A critical step in enabling entangled photon spectroscopies is the creation of high-flux entangled sources that can use conventional detectors, as well as provide redundancy for the losses in realistic sampl…
Conventional nonlinear spectroscopy uses classical light to detect matter properties through the variation of its response with frequencies or time delays. Quantum light opens up new avenues for spectroscopy by utilizing parameters of the quantum state of light as novel control knobs and through the variation of photon statistics by coupling to matter. We present an intuitive diagrammatic approach for calculating ultrafast spectroscopy signals induced by quantum light, focusing on applications involving entangled photons with nonclassical bandwidth properties - known as "time-energy entangleme…
Quantum light spectroscopy, providing novel molecular information non-accessible by classical light, necessitates new computational tools when applied for complex molecular systems. We introduce two computational protocols for the molecular nuclear wave packet dynamics interacting with an entangled photon pair to produce the entangled two-photon absorption signal. The first involves summing over transition pathways in a temporal grid defined by two light-matter interaction times accompanied by the field correlation functions of quantum light. The signal is obtained by averaging over the two-ti…
Recent investigations suggest that the use of non-classical states of light, such as entangled photon pairs, may open new and exciting avenues in experimental two-photon absorption spectroscopy. Despite several experimental studies of entangled two-photon absorption (eTPA), there is still a heated debate on whether eTPA has truly been observed. This interesting debate has arisen, mainly because it has been recently argued that single-photon-loss mechanisms, such as scattering or hot-band absorption may mimic the expected entangled-photon linear absorption behavior. In this work, we focus on tr…
Entangled photon pairs have been promised to deliver a substantial quantum advantage for two-photon absorption spectroscopy. However, recent work has challenged the previously reported magnitude of quantum enhancement in two-photon absorption. Here, we present an experimental comparison of sum-frequency generation and molecular absorption, each driven by isolated photon pairs. We establish an upper bound on the enhancement for entangled-two-photon absorption in Rhodamine-6G, which lies well below previously reported values.
The classical or quantum nature of optical spectroscopy signals is a topic that has attracted great attention recently. Spectroscopic techniques have been classified as quantum or classical depending on the light-source used in their implementations. In this way, experiments performed with quantum light---such as entangled photon pairs---have been labeled as quantum spectroscopies, whereas those performed with coherent laser pulses are generally referred to as classical ones. In this work, we highlight the fact that typical laser-spectroscopy signals should sometimes be deemed quantum too, as …
High peak power ultrafast lasers are widely used in nonlinear spectroscopy but often limit its spectral resolution because of the broad frequency bandwidth of ultrashort laser pulses. Improving the resolution by achieving spectrally narrow excitation of, or emission from, the resonant medium by means of multi-photon interferences has been the focus of many recent developments in ultrafast spectroscopy. We demonstrate an alternative approach, in which high resolution is exercised by detecting narrow spectral correlations between broadband excitation and emission optical fields. All-optical corr…