359 research outputs found
Odd-Order Aberration-Cancellation in Correlated-Photon Imaging
We discuss a correlated two-photon imaging apparatus that is capable of
producing images that are free of the effects of odd-order aberration
introduced by the optical system. We show that both quantum-entangled and
classically correlated light sources are capable of producing the desired
spatial-aberration cancelation
Twin-photon techniques for photo-detector calibration
The aim of this review paper is to enlighten some recent progresses in
quantum optical metrology in the part of quantum efficiency measurements of
photo-detectors performed with bi-photon states. The intrinsic correlated
nature of entangled photons from Spontaneous Parametric Down Conversion
phenomenon has opened wide horizons to a new approach for the absolute
measurement of photo-detector quantum efficiency, outgoing the requirement for
conventional standards of optical radiation; in particular the simultaneous
feature of the creation of conjugated photons led to a well known technique of
coincidence measurement, deeply understood and implemented for standard uses.
On the other hand, based on manipulation of entanglement developed for Quantum
Information protocols implementations, a new method has been proposed for
quantum efficiency measurement, exploiting polarisation entanglement in
addition to energy-momentum and time ones, that is based on conditioned
polarisation state manipulation. In this review, after a general discussion on
absolute photo-detector calibration, we compare these different methods, in
order to give an accurate operational sketch of the absolute quantum efficiency
measurement state of the art
Conditioned Unitary Transformation on biphotons
A conditioned unitary transformation ( polarization rotation) is
performed at single-photon level. The transformation is realized by rotating
polarization for one of the photons of a polarization-entangled biphoton state
(signal photon) by means of a Pockel's cell triggered by the detection of the
other (idler) photon after polarization selection. As a result, polarization
degree for the signal beam changes from zero to the value given by the idler
detector quantum efficiency. This result is relevant to practical realization
of various quantum information schemes and can be used for developing a new
method of absolute quantum efficiency calibration
Two-Photon Spiral Imaging with Correlated Orbital Angular Momentum States
The concept of correlated two-photon spiral imaging is introduced. We begin
by analyzing the joint orbital angular momentum (OAM) spectrum of correlated
photon pairs. The mutual information carried by the photon pairs is evaluated,
and it is shown that when an object is placed in one of the beam paths the
value of the mutual information is strongly dependent on object shape and is
closely related to the degree of rotational symmetry present. After analyzing
the effect of the object on the OAM correlations, the method of correlated
spiral imaging is described. We first present a version using parametric
downconversion, in which entangled pairs of photons with opposite OAM values
are produced, placing an object in the path of one beam. We then present a
classical (correlated, but non-entangled) version. The relative problems and
benefits of the classical versus entangled configurations are discussed. The
prospect is raised of carrying out compressive imaging via twophoton OAM
detection to reconstruct sparse objects with few measurements
Ghost imaging using homodyne detection
We present a theoretical study of ghost imaging based on correlated beams
arising from parametric down-conversion, and which uses balanced homodyne
detection to measure both the signal and idler fields. We analytically show
that the signal-idler correlations contain the full amplitude and phase
information about an object located in the signal path, both in the near-field
and the far-field case. To this end we discuss how to optimize the optical
setups in the two imaging paths, including the crucial point regarding how to
engineer the phase of the idler local oscillator as to observe the desired
orthogonal quadrature components of the image. We point out an inherent link
between the far-field bandwidth and the near-field resolution of the reproduced
image, determined by the bandwidth of the source of the correlated beams.
However, we show how to circumvent this limitation by using a spatial averaging
technique which dramatically improves the imaging bandwidth of the far-field
correlations as well as speeds up the convergence rate. The results are backed
up by numerical simulations taking into account the finite size and duration of
the pump pulse.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Efficient fiber coupling of down-conversion photon pairs
We develop and apply an effective analytic theory of a non-collinear,
broadband type-I parametric down-conversion to study a coupling efficiency of
the generated photon pairs into single mode optical fibers. We derive
conditions necessary for highly efficient coupling for single and double type-I
crystal producing polarization entangled states of light. We compare the
obtained approximate analytic expressions with the exact numerical solutions
and discuss the results for a case of BBO crystals.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure
Entangled-Photon Imaging of a Pure Phase Object
We demonstrate experimentally and theoretically that a coherent image of a
pure phase object may be obtained by use of a spatially incoherent illumination
beam. This is accomplished by employing a two-beam source of entangled photons
generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion. Though each of the beams
is, in and of itself, spatially incoherent, the pair of beams exhibits
higher-order inter-beam coherence. One of the beams probes the phase object
while the other is scanned. The image is recorded by measuring the photon
coincidence rate using a photon-counting detector in each beam. Using a
reflection configuration, we successfully imaged a phase object implemented by
a MEMS micro-mirror array. The experimental results are in accord with
theoretical predictions.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, submittedto Phys. Rev. Let
Ultranarrow resonance peaks in the transmission and reflection spectra of a photonic crystal cavity with Raman gain
The Raman gain of a probe light in a three-state -scheme placed
into a defect of a one-dimensional photonic crystal is studied theoretically.
We show that there exists a pump intensity range, where the transmission and
reflection spectra of the probe field exhibit \textit{simultaneously} occurring
narrow peaks (resonances) whose position is determined by the Raman resonance.
Transmission and reflection coefficients can be larger than unity at pump
intensities of order tens of W/cm. When the pump intensity is
outside this region, the peak in the transmission spectrum turns into a narrow
dip. The nature of narrow resonances is attributed to a drastic dispersion of
the nonlinear refractive index in the vicinity of the Raman transition, which
leads to a significant reduction of the group velocity of the probe wave.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure
Measuring two-photon orbital angular momentum entanglement
We put forward an approach to estimate the amount of bipartite spatial
entanglement of down-converted photon states correlated in orbital angular
momentum and the magnitude of the transverse (radial) wave vectors. Both
degrees of freedom are properly considered in our framework, which only
requires azimuthal local linear optical transformations and mode selection
analysis with two fiber detectors. The coincidence distributions predicted by
our approach give an excellent fit to the distributions measured in a recent
experiment aimed to show the very high-dimensional transverse entanglement of
twin photons from a down-conversion source. Our estimate for the Schmidt number
is substantially lower but still confirms the presence of high-dimensional
entanglement.Comment: Extended paper of a published version in PRA, with some extra
appendice
Analysis and interpretation of high transverse entanglement in optical parametric down conversion
Quantum entanglement associated with transverse wave vectors of down
conversion photons is investigated based on the Schmidt decomposition method.
We show that transverse entanglement involves two variables: orbital angular
momentum and transverse frequency. We show that in the monochromatic limit high
values of entanglement are closely controlled by a single parameter resulting
from the competition between (transverse) momentum conservation and
longitudinal phase matching. We examine the features of the Schmidt eigenmodes,
and indicate how entanglement can be enhanced by suitable mode selection
methods.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
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