arXiv:0707.0720 · Physical Review A
Nonclassical photon pair generation in atomic vapors
S. N. Sandhya
Abstract
A scheme for the generation of nonclassical pairs of photons in atomic vapors is proposed. The scheme exploits the fact that the cross correlation of the emission of photons from the extreme transitions of a four-level cascade system shows antibunching, unlike the case of the three-level cascade emission, which shows bunching. The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, which is the ratio of the cross-correlation to the autocorrelation function, in this case is estimated to be ${10}^{3}--{10}^{6}$ for controllable time delay, and is one to four orders of magnitude larger compared to previous experiments. The choice of Doppler-free geometry, in addition to the fact that at three-photon resonance the excitation and deexcitation processes occur in a very narrow frequency band, ensures cleaner signals.