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arXiv:1111.5512 · Physical Review A

Central-moment description of polarization for quantum states of light

Gunnar G. Bjork, Jonas Söderholm, Yong Soo Kim, Young-Sik Ra, Hyang‐Tag Lim, C. Kothe, Y.-H. Kim, Luis Lorenzo Sánchez-Soto, A. B. Klimov

Published May 25, 2012• 18 citations
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Abstract

We present a moment expansion for the systematic characterization of the polarization properties of quantum states of light. Specifically, we link the method to the measurements of the Stokes operator in different directions on the Poincar\'e sphere and provide a scheme for polarization tomography without resorting to full-state tomography. We apply these ideas to the experimental first- and second-order polarization characterization of some two-photon quantum states. In addition, we show that there are classes of states whose polarization characteristics are dominated not by their first-order moments (i.e., the Stokes vector) but by higher-order polarization moments.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.85.053835

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We present a moment expansion for the systematic characterization of the polarization properties of quantum states of light. Specifically, we link the method to the measurements of the Stokes operator in different directions on the Poincar'e sphere and provide a scheme for polarization tomography without resorting to full-state tomography. We apply these ideas to the experimental first- and second-order polarization characterization of some two-photon quantum states. In addition, we show that there are classes of states whose polarization characteristics are dominated not by their first-order moments (i.e., the Stokes vector) but by higher-order polarization moments.
We comprehensively review the quantum theory of the polarization properties of light. In classical optics, these traits are characterized by the Stokes parameters, which can be geometrically interpreted using the Poincaré sphere. Remarkably, these Stokes parameters can also be applied to the quantum world, but then important differences emerge: now, because fluctuations in the number of photons are unavoidable, one is forced to work in the three-dimensional Poincaré space that can be regarded as a set of nested spheres. Additionally, higher-order moments of the Stokes variables might play a substantial role for quantum states, which is not the case for most classical Gaussian states. This brings about important differences between these two worlds that we review in detail. In particular, the classical degree of polarization produces unsatisfactory results in the quantum domain. We compare alternative quantum degrees and put forth that they order various states differently. Finally, intrinsically nonclassical states are explored, and their potential applications in quantum technologies are discussed.
We propose an operational degree of polarization in terms of the variance of the Stokes vector minimized over all the directions of the Poincaré sphere. We examine the properties of this second-order definition and carry out its experimental determination. Quantum states with the same standard (first-order) degree of polarization are correctly discriminated by this new measure. We argue that a comprehensive quantum characterization of polarization properties requires a whole hierarchy of higher-order degrees.
Quantum-state tomography is proposed as a means to achieve a complete measurement of the quantum polarization state of a light wave. A set of measurements using dual-polarization balanced homodyne detection is shown to be tomographi-cally complete with respect to the statistics of the SU(2) Stokes operators on the Poincaré sphere. Complete reconstruction of the polarization sector of the density matrix of a partially polarized optical field can be achieved while randomizing the overall phase of the dual-polarization local oscillator.
The characterization of quantum polarization of light requires knowledge of all the moments of the Stokes variables, which are appropriately encoded in the multipole expansion of the density matrix. We look into the cumulative distribution of those multipoles and work out the corresponding extremal pure states. We find that SU(2) coherent states are maximal to any order whereas the converse case of minimal states (which can be seen as the most quantum ones) is investigated for a diverse range of the number of photons. Taking advantage of the Majorana representation, we recast the problem as that of distributing a number of points uniformly over the surface of the Poincar\'e sphere.
We demonstrate experimental excitation-manifold-resolved polarization characterization of quantum states of light ranging from the few-photon to the many-photon level. In contrast to the traditional characterization of polarization that is based on the Stokes parameters, we experimentally determine the Stokes vector of each excitation manifold separately. Only for states with a given photon number do the methods coincide. For states with an indeterminate photon number, for example Gaussian states, the employed method gives a richer and more accurate description. We apply the method both in theory and in experiment to some common states to demonstrate its advantages.