We present a novel interferometric technique for performing ellipsometric measurements. This technique relies on the use of a non-classical optical source, namely, polarization-entangled twin photons generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion from a nonlinear crystal, in conjunction with a coincidence-detection scheme. Ellipsometric measurements acquired with this scheme are absolute; i.e., they do not require source and detector calibration.
Performing reliable measurements in optical metrology, such as those needed in ellipsometry, requires a calibrated source and detector, or a well-characterized reference sample. We present a novel interferometric technique to perform reliable ellipsometric measurements. This technique relies on the use of a non-classical optical source, namely polarization-entangled twin photons generated by spontaneous parametric downconversion from a nonlinear crystal, in conjunction with a coincidence-detection scheme. Ellipsometric measurements acquired with this scheme are absolute, i.e., they require nei…
Surface spontaneous parametric down-conversion is predicted as a consequence of continuity requirements for electric- and magnetic-field amplitudes at a discontinuity of chi2 nonlinearity. A generalization of the usual two-photon spectral amplitude is suggested to describe this effect. Examples of nonlinear layered structures and periodically-poled nonlinear crystals show that surface contributions to spontaneous down-conversion can be important.
Coincidence-structures in the transverse plane of Type-II spontaneous parametric down-conversion carrying orbital angular momentum are obtained. Azimuthal symmetry breaking around the pump beam direction reveals itself on these quantum images. Analytical expressions for the amplitude probability of the down conversion process are shown including the nonlinear polarizability components.
We present an experiment of preparing Werner state via spontaneous parametric down-conversion and controlled decoherence of photons in this paper. In this experiment two independent BBO (beta-barium borate) crystals are used to produce down-conversion light beams, which are mixed to prepare Werner state.
Recent work using spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) has made possible investigations of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox in its original (position-momentum) form. We propose an experiment that uses SPDC photon pairs to measure through which slit a photon passes while simultaneously observing double-slit interference.
We propose a novel scheme to generate polarization entanglement from spatially-correlated photon pairs. We experimentally realized a scheme by means of a spatial correlation effect in a spontaneous parametric down-conversion and a modified Michelson interferometer. The scheme we propose in this paper can be interpreted as a conversion process from spatial correlation to polarization entanglement.
We implement experimentally a method to generate photon-number$-$path and polarization entangled photon pairs using ``beamlike'' type-II spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC), in which the signal-idler photon pairs are emitted as two separate circular beams with small emission angles rather than as two diverging cones.
We present a first experimental test of the existence of Spontaneus Parametric Up Conversion, predicted by a specific local realistic model based on Wigner function formalism. The measurement has been made using a ccd camera on the emission of a LiIO3 crystal pumped by a 351 nm and/or a 789 (1064) nm lasers. We obtain an upper limit of 160 times on the ratio between intensity of Spontaneus Parametric Up Conversion and Spontaneous Parametric Down conversion.
We study the two-photon detection amplitude of the down-converted beams in spontaneous parametric down-conversion when the physical variable of orbital angular momentum is involved, taking into account both conservation and non-conservation of angular momentum. Agreeing with experimental observations, our theoretical calculation shows that spatial structure of the two-photon detection amplitude of the down-converted beams carries important information about conservation or non-conservation of orbital angular momentum in spontaneous parametric down-conversion.
Using a basic Mach-Zehnder interferometer, we demonstrate experimentally the measurement of the photonic de Broglie wavelength of an entangled photon pair (a biphoton) generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion. The observed interference manifests the concept of the photonic de Broglie wavelength. The result also provides a proof-of-principle of the quantum lithography that utilizes the reduced interferometric wavelength.
In order to fulfil the continuity requirements for electric- and magnetic-field amplitudes at discontinuities of chi2 nonlinearity additional photon pairs have to be emitted in the area of discontinuity. Generalized two-photon spectral amplitudes can be used to describe properties of photon pairs generated in this process that we call surface spontaneous parametric down-conversion. The spectral structure of such photon pairs is similar to that derived for photon pairs generated in the volume. Surface and volume contributions to spontaneous down-conversion can be comparable as an example of non…
We theoretically discuss one-photon and two-photon double-slit interferences for spontaneous and stimulated parametric down-conversions. We show that the two-photon sub-wavelength interference can exist in a general spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) for both type I and type II crystals. We propose an alternative way to observe sub-wavelength interference by a joint-intensity measurement which occurs for only type I crystal in a higher gain of SPDC. When a signal beam injects into the crystal, it may create two interference patterns by two stimulated down-converted beams, showing no…
We present a novel yet simple approach to produced multiple entangled photon pairs through spontaneous parametric downconversion. We have developed Gaussian masks to subdivide the pump beam before passing it through a nonlinear medium. In this way, we are able to observe simultaneous separate down-converted emission cones with spatial overlap. The technique we employ can be used to greatly increase the dimensionality of entangled photonic systems generated from spontaneous parametric down conversion, affording greater scalability to optical quantum computing than previously explored.
Quantum networks require interfacing stationary and flying qubits. These flying qubits are usually nonclassical states of light. Here we consider two of the leading source technologies for nonclassical light, spontaneous parametric down-conversion and single semiconductor quantum dots. Down-conversion delivers high-grade entangled photon pairs, whereas quantum dots excel at producing single photons. We report on an experiment that joins these two technologies and investigates the conditions under which optimal interference between these dissimilar light sources may be achieved.
We investigate the third order spontaneous parametric down-conversion process in a nonlinear media with inversion centers. Specifically, we analyze in details the three-photon differential count rate in unit frequency and angular regions, total count rate and measurement time for rutile and calcite crystals which have comparatively large cubic susceptibilities. Special attention is given to consideration of limited frequency and angular detection ranges in order to calculate experimentally available detection rate values.
We report a proof-of-principle experiment demonstrating that appropriately chosen set of Hermite-Gaussian modes constitutes a Schmidt decomposition for transverse momentum states of biphotons generated in the process of spontaneous parametric down conversion. We experimentally realize projective measurements in Schmidt basis and observe correlations between appropriate pairs of modes. We perform tomographical state reconstruction in the Schmidt basis, by direct measurement of single-photon density matrix eigenvalues.
Correlations in twin beams composed of many photon pairs are studied using an intensified CCD camera. Joint signal-idler photon-number distribution and quantum phase-space quasi-distributions determined from experimental data have nonclassical features.
We present an experimental characterization of the statistics of multiple photon pairs produced by spontaneous parametric down-conversion realized in a nonlinear medium pumped by high-energy ultrashort pulses from a regenerative amplifier. The photon number resolved measurement has been implemented with the help of a fiber loop detector. We introduce an effective theoretical description of the observed statistics based on parameters that can be assigned direct physical nterpretation. These parameters, determined for our source from the collected experimental data, characterize the usefulness o…
In the non-linear optical process of type-II spontaneous parametric down-conversion, we present on an experiment showing that the two-photon detection amplitude of the down-converted beams does not generally reproduce the transverse profile of the pump beam that carries non-zero orbital angular momentum. We explain this observation by that orbital angular momentum is not conserved in the type-II non-linear process due to the broken rotational symmetry of the Hamiltonian.
Starting from the standard Hamiltonian describing the optical non-linear process of spontaneous parametric down-conversion, we theoretically show that the generated entangled photon-pairs carry non-negligible orbital angular momentum in the degrees of freedom of relative movement in the type-II cases due to spatial symmetry breaking. We also show that the orbital angular momentum carried by photon-pairs in these degrees of freedom escapes detection in the traditional measurement scheme, which demands development of new techniques for further experimental investigations.
The multiphoton states generated by high-gain spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in presence of large losses are investigated theoretically and experimentally. The explicit form for the two-photon output state has been found to exhibit a Werner structure very resilient to losses for any value of the gain parameter, g. The theoretical results are found in agreement with the experimental data. The last ones are obtained by quantum tomography of the state generated by a high-gain SPDC.
Coherence properties of the down-converted beams generated in spontaneous parametric down-conversion are investigated in detail using an iCCD camera. Experimental results are compared with those from a theoretical model developed for pulsed pumping with a Gaussian transverse profile. The results allow to tailor the shape of correlation area of the signal and idler photons using pump-field and crystal parameters. As an example, splitting of a correlation area caused by a two-peak pump-field spectrum is experimentally studied.
A rigorous description of volume and surface spontaneous parametric down-conversion in 1D nonlinear layered structures is developed considering exact continuity relations for the fields' amplitudes at the boundaries. The nonlinear process is described by the quantum momentum operator that provides the Heisenberg equations which solution is continuous at the boundaries. The transfer-matrix formalism is applied. The volume and surface contributions are clearly identified. Numerical analysis of a structure composed of 20 alternating GaN/AlN layers is given as an example.
We show that the transfer of the plane wave spectrum of the pump beam to the fourth-order transverse spatial correlation function of the two-photon field generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion leads to the conservation and entanglement of orbital angular momentum of light. By means of a simple experimental setup based on fourth-order (or two-photon) interferometry, we show that our theoretical model provides a good description for down-converted fields carrying orbital angular momentum.
Spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) sources are an important technology for quantum sensing and imaging. We demonstrate a general simulation method, based on modeling from first principles, reproducing the spectrally and spatially resolved absolute counts of a SPDC experiment. By simulating additional processes and effects we accomplish good agreement with the experimental results. This method is broadly applicable and allows for the separation of contributing processes, virtual characterization of SPDC sources, and enables the simulation of many quantum based applications.
We present a theory for the quantum state of photon pairs generated from spontaneous parametric down conversion nonlinear process in which the influence of the final sizes of nonlinear optical crystals on eigen optical modes is explicitly taken into consideration. We find that these photon pairs are not in entangled quantum states. Polarization correlations between the signal beam and the idler beam are explained. We also show that the two photons generated from SPDC are not spatially separated, therefore the polarization correlation between the signal and idler beams is not an evidence for qu…
We analyze the long-time quantum dynamics of degenerate parametric down-conversion from an initial sub-harmonic vacuum (spontaenous down-conversion). Standard linearization of the Heisenberg equations of motions fails in this case, since it is based on an expansion around an unstable classical solution and neglects pump depletion. Introducing a mean-field approximation we find a periodic exchange of energy between the pump and subharmonic mode goverened by an anharmonic pendulum equation. From this equation the optimum interaction time or crystal length for maximum conversion can be determined…
We report an experimental self-calibrating tomography scheme for entanglement characterization in high-dimensional quantum systems using Schmidt decomposition techniques. The self-tomography technique based on maximal likelihood estimation was developed for characterizing non-ideal measurements in Schmidt basis allowing us to infer both Schmidt eigenvalues and detecting efficiencies.
We provide a general decomposition of the two-photon state produced by spontaneous parametric down-conversion in Hermite-Gaussian modes, in the case that the pump beam is described by a Hermite-Gaussian beam of any order. We show that the spatial correlations depend explicitly on the order of the pump beam, as well as other experimental parameters. We use the decomposition to demonstrate a few interesting cases. Our results are applicable to the engineering of two-photon spatial entanglement, in particular for non-Gaussian states.
We provide an estimate on the absolute values of the emission rate of photon pairs produced by spontaneous parametric down conversion in a bulk crystal when all interacting fields are in single transverse Gaussian modes. Both collinear and non-collinear configurations are covered, and we arrive at a fully analytical expression for the collinear case. Our results agree reasonably well with values found in typical experiments, which allows this model to be used for understanding the dependency on the relevant experimental parameters.
Using two crystals for spontaneous parametric down-conversion in a parallel setup, we observe two-photon interference with high visibility. The high visibility is consistent with complementarity and the absence of which-path information. The observations are explained as effects of entanglement or equivalently in terms of interfering probability amplitudes, and also by the calculation of a second-order field correlation function in the Heisenberg picture. The latter approach brings out explicitly the role of the vacuum fields in the down-conversion at the crystals and in the photon coincidence…
The correlation properties of the pump field in spontaneous parametric down-conversion are crucial in determining the degree of entanglement of generated signal and idler photons. We find theoretically that continuous-variable entanglement of the transverse positions and momenta of these photons can be achieved only if the coherence of the pump beam is sufficiently high. The positions of signal and idler photons are found to be correlated, even for an incoherent pump. However, the momenta of the signal and idler photons are not anti-correlated, even though transverse momentum is conserved.
We show that a spontaneous release of virtual photon pairs can occur in a quantum optical system in the ultrastrong coupling regime. In this regime, which is attracting interest both in semiconductor and superconducting systems, the light-matter coupling rate ΩR becomes comparable to the bare resonance frequency of photons ω0. In contrast to the dynamical Casimir effect and other pair creation mechanisms, this phenomenon does not require external forces or time dependent parameters in the Hamiltonian.
We study the spatial correlations of quantum fluctuations that can be observed in multi-mode spontaneous parametric down-conversion in the regime of high gain. A stochastic model has been solved numerically to obtain quantitative results beyond the stationary plane-wave pump approximation. The pulsed shape of the pump beam and other features of the system, such as spatial walk-off and diffraction are taken into account. Their effect on the spatial quantum correlations predicted by the plane-wave pump theory is investigated, both for near field and far field measurements, in a type I and in a t…
We show that the wave packet of a biphoton generated via spontaneous parametric down conversion is strongly anisotropic. Its anisotropic features manifest themselves very clearly in comparison of measurements performed in two different schemes: when the detector scanning plane is perpendicular or parallel to the plane containing the crystal optical axis and the laser axis. The first of these two schemes is traditional whereas the second one gives rise to such unexpected new results as anomalously strong narrowing of the biphoton wave packet measured in the coincidence scheme and very high degr…
We verified operational approach based on direct measurement of entanglement degree for bipartite systems. In particular spectral distributions of single counts and coincidence for pure biphoton states generated by train of short pump pulses have been measured and entanglement quantifier calculated. The approach gives upper bound of entanglement stored in total biphoton states, which can reach extremely high value up to $10^{4}-10^{5}$.
We experimentally demonstrate that paired photons generated in different sections of a down-conversion cone, when some of the interacting waves show Poynting vector walk-off, carry different spatial correlations, and therefore a different degree of spatial entanglement. This is shown to be in agreement with theoretical results. We also discuss how this azimuthal distinguishing information of the down-conversion cone is relevant for the implementation of quantum sources aimed at the generation of entanglement in other degrees of freedom, such as polarization.
We compute the output of multimode cavity-enhanced spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) for sub-threshold, but otherwise arbitrary, gain. We find analytic Bogoliubov transformations that allow us to calculate arbitrary field correlation functions, including the second-order intensity correlation function $G^{(2)}(T)$. The results show evidence of increased coherence due to stimulated SPDC. We extend an earlier model [Lu and Ou, Phys. Rev. A, 62, 033804 (2000)] to arbitrary gain and finesse, and show the extension gives accurate results in most scenarios. The results will allow simple,…
Fast and complete characterization of pulsed spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) sources is important for applications in quantum information processing and communications. We propose a simple method to perform this task, which only requires measuring the counts on the two output channels and the coincidences between them, as well as modeling the filter used to reduce the source bandwidth. The proposed method is experimentally tested and used for a complete evaluation of SPDC sources (pair emission probability, total losses, and fidelity) of different bandwidths. This method can find…
Analytical expressions are derived for the distribution rates of spatial coincidences in the counting of photons produced by spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC). Gaussian profiles are assumed for the wave function of the idler and signal light created in type-I SPDC. The distribution rates describe ellipses on the detection planes that are oriented at different angles according to the photon coincidences in either horizontal-horizontal, vertical-vertical, horizontal-vertical or vertical-horizontal position variables. The predictions are in agreement with the experimental data obtaine…
We study the third order spontaneous parametric down conversion (TOSPDC) process, as a means to generate entangled photon triplets. Specifically, we consider thin optical fibers as the nonlinear medium to be used as the basis for TOSPDC in configurations where phase matching is attained through the use of more than one fiber transverse modes. Our analysis in this paper, which follows from our earlier paper Optics Letters 36, 190 (2011), aims to supply experimentalists with the details required in order to design a TOSPDC photon-triplet source. Specifically, our analysis focuses on the photon t…
One-photon and two-photon wavepackets of entangled two-photon states in spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) fields are calculated and measured experimentally. For type-II SPDC, measured one-photon and two-photon wavepackets agree well with theory. For type-I SPDC, the measured one-photon wavepacket agree with the theory. However, the two-photon wavepacket is much bigger than the expected value and the visibility of interference is low. We identify the sources of this discrepancy as the spatial filtering of the two-photon bandwidth and non-pair detection events caused by the detector …
We demonstrate one- and two-photon diffraction and interference experiments utilizing parametric down-converted photon pairs (biphotons) and a transmission grating. With two-photon detection, the biphoton exhibits a diffraction-interference pattern equivalent to that of an effective single particle that is associated with half the wavelength of the constituent photons. With one-photon detection, however no diffraction-interference pattern is observed. We show that these phenomena originate from the spatial quantum correlation between the down-converted photons.
A new method for generating entangled photons with controllable frequency correlation via spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) is presented. The method entails initiating counter-propagating SPDC in a single-mode nonlinear waveguide by pumping with a pulsed beam perpendicular to the waveguide. The method offers several advantages over other schemes, including the ability to generate frequency-correlated photon pairs regardless of the dispersion characteristics of the system. Numerical evidence demonstrates the improvement provided by this source in the special case of frequency-correl…
Spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) is a widely used source for photonic entanglement. Years of focused research have led to a solid understanding of the process, but a cohesive analytical description of the paraxial biphoton state has yet to be achieved. We derive a general expression for the spatio-temporal biphoton state that applies universally across common experimental settings and correctly describes the non-separability of spatial and spectral modes. We formulate a criterion on how to decrease the coupling of the spatial from the spectral degree of freedom by taking into acco…
Heralded single photon sources are the most commonly used sources for optical quantum technology applications. There is strong demand for accurate prediction of their spectral features and temporal correlations with ever increasing precision. This is particularly important in connection with the intrinsically stochastic photon-pair generation process in heralded sources. Here we present a complete theoretical description of the temporal correlation of a signal-idler, signal-signal and signal-signal-idler coincidences of photons generated by continuous wave pumped cavity-enhanced spontaneous pa…
The construction of a single photon source using gated parametric fluorescence is reported with the measurement results of the photon number distribution. A beamlike twin-photon method is used in order to achieve high collection efficiency. The estimated probability P(1) to find a single photon in a collimated output pulse is 26.5 % at a repetition rate of 10 kHz when the effective quantum efficiency of 27.4 % in the detection setup is compensated.
We present theoretical and experimental study of preparing maximally entangled two-photon polarization states, or Bell states, using femtosecond pulse pumped spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC). First, we show how the inherent distinguishability in femtosecond pulse pumped type-II SPDC can be removed by using an interferometric technique without spectral and amplitude post-selection. We then analyze the recently introduced Bell state preparation scheme using type-I SPDC. Theoretically, both methods offer the same results, however, type-I SPDC provides experimentally superior methods …
We study the quantum correlations induced by spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) of a frequency comb. We derive a theoretical method to find the output state corresponding to a pump with an arbitrary spectral profile. After applying it to the relevant example of a spectrally chirped pump, we run an optimization algorithm to numerically find the pump profiles maximizing some target functions. These include the number of independently squeezed modes and the variances of nullifiers defining cluster states used in many continuous-variable quantum information protocols. To assess the adva…
In a recent detailed research program we proposed to study the complex physics of topological phases by an all optical implementation of a discrete-time quantum walk. The main novel ingredient proposed for this study is the use of non-linear parametric amplifiers in the network which could in turn be used to emulate intra-atomic interactions and thus analyze many-body effects in topological phases even when using light as the quantum walker. In this paper, and as a first step towards the implementation of our scheme, we analize the interplay between quantum walk lattice topology and spatial co…
We present a detailed account of the two-photon states generated by SPDC in both type I and type II phase matching, including the effects of anisotropy of the nonlinear medium and the frequency spread of the down-converted fields. Accurate as well as simplified expressions are derived for type I and type II phase matching in the context of Fourier Optics. The main results are compared with experimental data available in the literature, showing good agreement in all cases.
In most configurations aimed at generating entangled photons based on spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC), the generated pairs of photons are required to be entangled in only one degree of freedom. Any distinguishing information coming from the other degrees of freedom that characterize the photon should be suppressed to avoid correlations with the degree of freedom of interest. However, this suppression is not always possible. Here, we show how the frequency information available affects the purity of the two-photon state in space, revealing a correlation between the frequency and t…
We propose a linear optics scheme with SPDC process to test the fault tolerance property of quantum error correction code. To transmit an unknown qubit robustly through the noisy channel, one may first encode it into a certain quantum error correction code and then transmit it. The remote party decodes it and stores it. Sending a qubit in such a way can significantly reduces the error rate compared with directly sending the qubit itself. Here we show how to realize such a scheme by linear optics.
Generation of polarization-entangled photon pairs with a precise timing through down-conversion of femtosecond pulses is often faced with a degraded polarization entanglement quality. In a previous experiment we have shown that this degradation is induced by spectral distinguishability between the two decay paths, in accordance with theoretical predictions. Here, we present an experimental study of the spectral compensation scheme proposed and first implemented by Kim et al. in 2002. By measuring the joint spectral properties of the polarization correlations of the photon pairs, we show that t…
Here we analyze the practical implication of the existing quantum data hiding protocol with Bell states produced with optical downconverter. We show that the uncertainty for the producing of the Bell states with spontaneous parameter down-conversion should be taken into account, because it will cause serious trouble to the hider encoding procedure. A set of extended Bell states and a generalized Bell states analyzer are proposed to describe and analyze the possible states of two photons distributing in two paths. Then we present a method to integrate the above uncertainty of Bell states prepar…
Autocorrelation is a common method to estimate the duration of ultra-short laser pulses. In the ultra-violet (UV) regime it is increasingly challenging to employ the standard process of second harmonic generation, most prominently due to absorption in nonlinear crystals at very short wavelengths. Here we show how to utilize spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) to generate an autocorrelation signal for UV pulses in the infrared. Our method utilizes the $n^{\text{th}}$ order emission of the SPDC process, which occurs for low pumping powers proportional to the $n^{\text{th}}$ power of th…
We theoretically and experimentally investigate the optimal conditions for the Bell experiment using spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) sources. In theory, we show that relatively large average photon number (typically $\sim$0.5) is desirable to observe the maximum violation of the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) inequality. In experiment, we perform the Bell experiment without postselection using polarization entangled photon pairs at 1550 nm telecommunication wavelength generated from SPDC sources. While the violation of the CHSH inequality is not directly observed due to the ov…
An important step for photonic quantum technologies is the demonstration of a quantum advantage through boson sampling. In order to prevent classical simulability of boson sampling, the photons need to be almost perfectly identical and almost without losses. These two requirements are connected through spectral filtering, improving one leads to a decrease of the other. A proven method of generating single photons is spontaneous parametric downconversion (SPDC). We show that an optimal trade-off between indistinguishability and losses can always be found for SPDC. We conclude that a 50-photon s…
