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arXiv:1210.1680 · New Journal of Physics

Quantum polarization characterization and tomography

Jonas Söderholm, Gunnar G. Bjork, A B Klimov, Luis Lorenzo Sánchez-Soto, Gerd Leuchs

Published Nov 21, 2012• 19 citations
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Abstract

We present a complete polarization characterization of any quantum state of two orthogonal polarization modes and give a systematic measurement procedure to collect the necessary data. Full characterization requires measurements of the photon number in both modes and linear optics. In the case where only the photon-number difference can be determined, a limited but useful characterization is obtained. The characteristic Stokes moment profiles are given for several common quantum states.

DOI
10.1088/1367-2630/14/11/115014

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We present a complete polarization characterization of any quantum state of two orthogonal polarization modes and give a systematic measurement procedure to collect the necessary data. Full characterization requires measurements of the photon number in both modes and linear optics. In the case where only the photon-number difference can be determined, a limited but useful characterization is obtained. The characteristic Stokes moment profiles are given for several common quantum states.
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We address the problem of completely characterizing multiparticle states including loss of information to unobserved degrees of freedom. In systems where nonclassical interference plays a role, such as linear-optics quantum gates, such information can degrade interference in two ways, by decoherence and by distinguishing the particles. Distinguishing information, often the limiting factor for quantum optical devices, is not correctly described by previous state-reconstruction techniques, which account only for decoherence. We extend these techniques and find that a single modified density matrix can completely describe partially coherent, partially distinguishable states. We use this observation to experimentally characterize two-photon polarization states in single-mode optical fiber.