NOON states from cavity-enhanced down-conversion: High quality and super-resolution

Indistinguishable photons play a key role in quantum optical information technologies. We characterize the output of an ultra-bright photon-pair source using multi-particle tomography [R. B. A. Adamson et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 043601 (2007)] and separately identify coherent errors, decoherence, and distinguishability. We demonstrate generation of high-quality indistinguishable pairs and polarization NOON states with 99% fidelity to an ideal NOON state. Using a NOON state we perform a super-resolving angular measurement with 90% visibility.Comment: 4 Pages, 5 figure

Symmetrical clock synchronization with time-correlated photon pairs

We demonstrate a point-to-point clock synchronization protocol based on bidirectionally exchanging photons produced in spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC). The technique exploits tight timing correlations between photon pairs to achieve a precision of 51ps in 100s with count rates of order 200s$^{-1}$. The protocol is distance independent, secure against symmetric delay attacks and provides a natural complement to techniques based on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). The protocol works with mobile parties and can be augmented to provide authentication of the timing signal via a Bell inequality check.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Probing quantum-classical boundary with compression software

We experimentally demonstrate that it is impossible to simulate quantum bipartite correlations with a deterministic universal Turing machine. Our approach is based on the Normalized Information Distance (NID) that allows the comparison of two pieces of data without detailed knowledge about their origin. Using NID, we derive an inequality for output of two local deterministic universal Turing machines with correlated inputs. This inequality is violated by correlations generated by a maximally entangled polarization state of two photons. The violation is shown using a freely available lossless compression program. The presented technique may allow to complement the common statistical interpretation of quantum physics by an algorithmic one.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Experimental Test of Two-way Quantum Key Distribution in Presence of Controlled Noise

We describe the experimental test of a quantum key distribution performed with a two-way protocol without using entanglement. An individual incoherent eavesdropping is simulated and induces a variable amount of noise on the communication channel. This allows a direct verification of the agreement between theory and practice.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Experimental many-pairs nonlocality

Collective measurements on large quantum systems together with a majority voting strategy can lead to a violation of the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt Bell inequality. In the presence of many entangled pairs, this violation decreases quickly with the number of pairs and vanishes for some critical pair number that is a function of the noise present in the system. Here we show that a different binning strategy can lead to a more substantial Bell violation when the noise is sufficiently small. Given the relation between the critical pair number and the source noise, we then present an experiment where the critical pair number is used to quantify the quality of a high visibility photon pair source. Our results demonstrate nonlocal correlations using collective measurements operating on clusters of more than 40 photon pairs

Narrowband tunable filter based on velocity-selective optical pumping in an atomic vapor

We demonstrate a tunable, narrow-band filter based on optical-pumping-induced circular dichroism in rubidium vapor. The filter achieves a peak transmission of 14.6%, a linewidth of 80 MHz, and an out-of-band extinction >35 dB. The transmission peak can be tuned within the range of the Doppler linewidth of the D1 line of atomic rubidium at 795 nm. While other atomic filters work at frequencies far from absorption, the presented technique provides light resonant with atomic media, useful for atom-photon interaction experiments. The technique could readily be extended to other alkali atoms.Comment: 3 Pages, 4 figure