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arXiv:1505.02156

Considerations on the collapse of the wavefunction

John F. Reintjes, Mark Bashkansky

Published May 8, 2015• 0 citations
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Abstract

We investigate the specific form that the collapsed quantum state of a signal photon can take when its entangled idler is measured in an entangled ghost imaging configuration using a type II collinear phase matched spontaneous parametric downconversion (SPDC) interaction. Calculation of the correlated counting rate distributions in the ghost image plane and diffraction plane show that agreement between collapse and non-collapse models is obtained if the signal is assumed to collapse into a specific mixed state. However, if the signal is assumed to collapse into a pure state, significant differences arise between the predictions of the two collapse models.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1505.02156

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Considerations on collapse of the wavefunction

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We investigate the specific form that the collapsed quantum state of a signal photon can take when its entangled idler is measured in an entangled ghost imaging configuration using a type II collinear phase matched spontaneous parametric downconversion (SPDC) interaction. Calculation of the correlated counting rate distributions in the ghost image plane and diffraction plane show that agreement between collapse and non-collapse models is obtained if the signal is assumed to collapse into a specific mixed state. However, if the signal is assumed to collapse into a pure state, significant differences arise between the predictions of the two collapse models.
We investigate the specific form that the collapsed quantum state of a signal photon can take when its entangled idler is measured in an entangled ghost imaging configuration using a type II collinear phase matched spontaneous parametric downconversion (SPDC) interaction. Calculations of the correlated counting rate distributions in the ghost image plane and diffraction plane show that agreement between collapse and non-collapse models is obtained if the signal is assumed to collapse into a specific mixed state. However, if the signal is assumed to collapse into a pure state, significant differences arise between the predictions of the two collapse models.
One of the most surprising consequences of quantum mechanics is entanglement of two or more distance particles. The two-particle entangled state was mathematically formulated by Schrodinger. Based on this unusual quantum behavior, EPR defined their 'physical reality' and then asked the question: 'Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?' One may not appreciate EPR's criterion of physical reality and insist that 'no elementary quantum phenomenon is a phenomenon until it is a recorded phenomenon'. Optical spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) is the most effective mechanism to generate an EPR type entangled two-photon state. In SPDC, an optical beam, called the pump, is incident on a birefringent crystal. The pump is intense enough so that nonlinear effects lead to the conversion of pump photons into pairs of photons, historically called signal and idler. Technically, the SPDC is said to be type-1 or type-2, depending on whether the signal and idler beams have parallel or orthogonal polarization. The SPDC conversion efficiency is typically on the order of 10(exp -9) to 10(exp -11), depending on the SPDC nonlinear material. The signal and idler intensities are extremely low, only single photon detection devices can register them. The quantum entanglement nature of SPDC has been demonstrated in EPR-Bohm experiments and Bell's inequality measurements. The following two experiments were recently performed in our laboratory, which are more closely related to the original 1935 EPR gedankenezperiment. The first experiment is a two-photon optical imaging type experiment, which has been named 'ghost image' by the physics community. The signal and idler beams of SPDC are sent in different directions, so that the detection of the signal and idler photons can be performed by two distant photon counting detectors. An aperture object (mask) is placed in front of the signal photon detector and illuminated by the signal beam through a convex lens. Surprisingly, an image of this aperture is observed in the idler beam, by scanning the idler photon detector in the transverse plane of the idler beam, if we are sure that the idler photon detector 'catches' the 'twin brother' of the signal, which can be easily performed by a coincidence measurement. This effect is even more striking when we found that the object-lens-image relationship satisfies the Gaussian thin lens equation. The second experiment demonstrates two-photon 'ghost' interference-diffraction. The experimental set up is similar to the image experiment, except that rather than a lens and an aperture it is a Young's double-slit (or a single-slit) inserted into the path of the signal beam. We could not find any interference (or diffraction) pattern behind the slit. Surprisingly, an interference (or diffraction) pattern is observed when scanning the detector in the idler beam, if we are sure that the idler photon detector 'catches' the 'twin brother' of the signal.
Quantum ghost diffraction enables the measurement of the spatial diffraction pattern of an object without measuring the spatial distribution of the photons that actually interacted with the object [1]. It uses photon pairs generated e.g. by spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) in a nonlinear optical crystal, and relies on the correlation of the generated signal and idler photons in their spatial and temporal degrees of freedom. This measurement scheme is sketched in Fig. 1 (a). After the source, the two photons are separated into two different paths. The object, here we consider a grating, is located only in the signal path and thus interacts only with the signal photons. To measure the diffraction pattern, two detectors of small cross sections are used in the signal and idler arms. The signal detector is usually at a fixed position, collecting photons that interacted with the object. The idler detector can have varying positions, allowing to spatially resolve the collected photons that never interacted with the object. Through measuring the two-photon coincidence counting rate p, there exists the potential for recovering the diffraction pattern of the object, which allows to retrieve the grating period.
In traditional ghost imaging, the entangled photon pairs produced from the spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) process are used. There is an intrinsic disadvantage that the utilization efficiency of the photon pairs is very low. Inasmuch as all the correlated photon pairs produced by the degenerate SPDC process can be used to record the image of an object, the ghost imaging scheme we present here has a higher utilization efficiency of the photon pairs. We also investigate the robustness of our experimental scheme. The experimental results show that, no matter whether the photon-pair source is two light cones or two beam-like spots, the clear image of the object can be obtained. The slight rotation of the nonlinear crystal has no influence on the imaging quality. Our experimental results also demonstrate that when the part of the photon-pair source in the signal path or the idler path is blocked by unwanted things, the clear ghost image of the object can still be recorded.
In the ghost imaging system, the object and image are separately illuminated by a pair of correlated beams and the image is obtained through coincidence detection of the two beams. When the correlated beams are obtained by a spontaneous parametric down-conversion phenomenon, the image formation is attributed to either quantum entanglement or wave vector correlation. The physicist D B Ion has published a different point of view: the ghost imaging can be explained by electromagnetic crossing symmetric photon reactions. We report on an experimental setup to verify that a change of the object reflection coefficient modifies the idler single count rate. The obtained results are a confirmation proof and suggest the existence of a stimulated spontaneous parametric down-conversion effect. A possible application is mentioned.