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arXiv:1806.09384 · Physical Review A

Bloch-Messiah decomposition and Magnus expansion for parametric down-conversion with monochromatic pump

Tobias Lipfert, D. B. Horoshko, Giuseppe Patera, Mikhail I. Kolobov

Published Jul 9, 2018• 27 citations
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Abstract

We discuss the Bloch-Messiah decomposition for the broadband squeezed light generated by type-I parametric down-conversion with a monochromatic pump. Using an exact solution for this process, we evaluate the squeezing parameters and the corresponding squeezing eigenmodes. Next we consider the Magnus expansion of the quantum-mechanical evolution operator for this process and obtain its first three approximation orders. Using these approximated solutions, we evaluate the corresponding approximations for the Bloch-Messiah decomposition. Our results allow us to conclude that the first-order approximation of the Magnus expansion is sufficient for description of the broadband squeezed light for squeezing values below 12.5 dB. For higher degrees of squeezing we show fast convergence of the Magnus series, providing a good approximation for the exact solution already in the third order. We propose a quantitative criterion for this ultrahigh-gain regime of parametric down-conversion when the higher-order terms of the Magnus expansion, known in the literature as the operator-ordering effects, become necessary.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.98.013815

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We discuss the Bloch-Messiah decomposition for the broadband squeezed light generated by type-I parametric down-conversion with a monochromatic pump. Using an exact solution for this process, we evaluate the squeezing parameters and the corresponding squeezing eigenmodes. Next we consider the Magnus expansion of the quantum-mechanical evolution operator for this process and obtain its first three approximation orders. Using these approximated solutions, we evaluate the corresponding approximations for the Bloch-Messiah decomposition. Our results allow us to conclude that the first-order approximation of the Magnus expansion is sufficient for description of the broadband squeezed light for squeezing values below 12.5 dB. For higher degrees of squeezing we show fast convergence of the Magnus series, providing a good approximation for the exact solution already in the third order. We propose a quantitative criterion for this ultrahigh-gain regime of parametric down-conversion when the higher-order terms of the Magnus expansion, known in the literature as the operator-ordering effects, become necessary.
We consider the effect of different orders of Magnus expansion for the field transformation in type-I parametric down-conversion with a monochromatic pump. The exact solution, existing in this case, allows us to analyze the convergence of the Magnus expansion for the spectrum of squeezing and the angle of squeezing. We demonstrate how the convergence of the Magnus series depends on the parametric gain for various values of the phase mismatch. For each phase-mismatch angle we find the gain, which is the exact upper bound for the convergence of the Magnus series.
We study the Bloch-Messiah reduction of parametric down-conversion of light in the pulsed regime with a nondegenerate phase matching providing generation of twin beams. We find that in this case every squeezing eigenvalue has multiplicity at least two. We discuss the problem of ambiguity in the definition of the squeezing eigenmodes in this case and develop two approaches to unique determination of the latter. First, we show that the modal functions of the squeezing eigenmodes can be tailored from the Schmidt modes of the signal and idler beams. Alternatively, they can be found as a solution of an eigenvalue problem for an associated Hermitian squeezing matrix. We illustrate the developed theory by an example of frequency nondegenerate collinear twin beams generated in beta barium borate crystal. In this example we demonstrate how the squeezing eigenmodes can be approximated analytically on the basis of the Mehler's formula, extended to complex kernels. We show how the multiplicity of the eigenvalues and the structure of the eigenmodes are changed when the phase matching approaches the degeneracy in frequency.
Control over the spectral properties of the bright squeezed vacuum (BSV), a highly multimode nonclassical macroscopic state of light that can be generated through high-gain parametric down conversion, is crucial for many applications. In particular, in several recent experiments BSV is generated in a strongly pumped SU(1,1) interferometer to achieve phase supersensitivity, perform broadband homodyne detection, or tailor the frequency spectrum of squeezed light. In this work, we present an analytical approach to the theoretical description of BSV in the frequency domain based on the Bloch-Messiah reduction and the Schmidt-mode formalism. As a special case we consider a strongly pumped SU(1,1) interferometer. We show that different moments of the radiation at its output depend on the phase, dispersion, and the parametric gain in a nontrivial way, thereby providing additional insights on the capabilities of nonlinear interferometers. In particular, a dramatic change in the spectrum occurs as the parametric gain increases.
We study time-ordering corrections to the description of spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC), four-wave mixing (SFWM), and frequency conversion using the Magnus expansion. Analytic approximations to the evolution operator that are unitary are obtained. They are Gaussian preserving, and allow us to understand order-by-order the effects of time ordering. We show that the corrections due to time ordering vanish exactly if the phase-matching function is sufficiently broad. The calculation of the effects of time ordering on the joint spectral amplitude of the photons generated in SPDC and SFWM are reduced to quadrature.
The theoretical description of broadband, multimode quantum pulses undergoing a second-order χ(2)χ^{(2)}χ(2)-nonlinear interaction can be quite intricate, due to the large dimensionality of the underlying phase space. However, in many cases only a few broadband (temporal) modes are relevant before and after the nonlinear interaction. Here we present an efficient framework to calculate the relation between the quantum states at the input and output of a nonlinear element in their respective relevant modes. Since the number of relevant input and output modes may differ, resulting in an open quantum system, we introduce the generalized Bloch-Messiah decomposition (GBMD), reducing the description to an equal number of input and output modes. The GBMD enables us to calculate the multimode Wigner function of the output state by convolving the rescaled Wigner function of the reduced input quantum pulse with a multivariate Gaussian phase-space function. We expand on this result by considering two examples input states: A Fock state in a single broadband mode and a two-mode squeezed vacuum, both in the THz-frequency regime, up-converted to a single output broadband mode of optical frequencies. We investigate the effect, the convolution and thermalization due to entanglement breakage have on the output Wigner function by calculating the von Neumann entropy of the output Wigner function. The methods presented here can be used to optimize the amplification or frequency conversion of broadband quantum states, opening an avenue to the generation and characterization of optical quantum states on ultrafast time scales.
Optical down-conversion is widely used for generating photon pairs, squeezed and entangled states of light, making it an indispensable tool in quantum optics and quantum information. In the regime where the pump is much stronger than the generated field, the standard parametric approximation treats the pump amplitude as a fixed parameter of the model. This approximation has a limited domain of validity since it assumes a nondepleted and nonentangled pump. By finding an approximate solution to the Schrödinger equation of the down-conversion process, we obtain an improved analytical model beyond the parametric one, which accounts for pump depletion and pump-signal entanglement. Our model is advantageous, first, because it allows one to compute averages of field operators far beyond the domain of validity of the parametric approximation, and second, because it allows one to establish error-specific limits of the latter domain. For a given pump amplitude, we find a maximum squeezing parameter, up to which the approximation remains valid within a specified acceptable error. Our results confirm that recent experiments on Gaussian boson sampling, with a squeezing parameter of r ≈ 1.8 and a coherent pump amplitude of α ≈ 2 × 10 6 , can still be accurately described by the standard parametric approximation. However, we observe a sharp decline in validity as the squeezing parameter increases. For pump amplitudes of α ≈ 2 × 10 6 , the parametric approximation breaks down when the squeezing parameter exceeds r ≈ 4.5 , whereas the new approximation remains valid up to r ≈ 6 with an acceptable error of 1%.