The correlated Stoke antiStokes (SaS) scattering plays a crucial role in quantum information processing, such as heralded light sources, Fock state dynamics, and write read protocol for quantum memory. However, several reported materials exhibit low degree of SaS correlation and require high-power pulse laser excitation, limiting further applications. Herein, we explore the giant correlated multiorder SaS scattering under low power continuous laser excitation through red-sideband resonance of exciton in semiconductor ZnTe nanobelts. At low temperatures, we observe an unexpectedly strong anti-Stokes signal for multiorder longitudinal optical phonons, with SaS correlations two or four orders of magnitude larger than reported results. Furthermore, we observed the mitigation of laser heating effect for longitudinal optical phonon in SaS scattering. This finding paves a new pathway to study multiorder quantum correlated photon pairs produced through exciton-resonant Raman scattering.
The correlated Stoke antiStokes (SaS) scattering plays a crucial role in quantum information processing, such as heralded light sources, Fock state dynamics, and write read protocol for quantum memory. However, several reported materials exhibit low degree of SaS correlation and require high-power pulse laser excitation, limiting further applications. Herein, we explore the giant correlated multiorder SaS scattering under low power continuous laser excitation through red-sideband resonance of exciton in semiconductor ZnTe nanobelts. At low temperatures, we observe an unexpectedly strong anti-Stokes signal for multiorder longitudinal optical phonons, with SaS correlations two or four orders of magnitude larger than reported results. Furthermore, we observed the mitigation of laser heating effect for longitudinal optical phonon in SaS scattering. This finding paves a new pathway to study multiorder quantum correlated photon pairs produced through exciton-resonant Raman scattering.
The correlated Raman scattering, referred to here as the SaS process, occurs with the annihilation, within a material, of two photons of an excitation laser and the creation of a quantum correlated Stokes (S) and anti-Soktes (aS) photon pair where the phonon created in the S process is annihilated in the aS scattering. We found that, in addition to real SaS process where the energy exchange coincides with the energy of a vibrational state of the material, there is also the virtual SaS process, whose the exchange of energy and momentum between the photons of the laser, generating the S-aS photon pair, is mediated by a virtual vibrational excitation, setting up a photon-photon interaction similar to the electron-electron attraction responsible for the creation of Cooper pairs of the BCS theory of superconductivity. We observed the SaS process in transparent media in general, by measuring non-classical values of the normalized second-order cross-correlation function of the Stokes and anti-Stokes fields, 2(0). In diamond, we characterize the intensity of the virtual SaS scattering ( ) as a function of the virtual phonon energy, proving that the SaS process occurs only when the photon-photon interaction is attractive, as in the BCS theory for the Cooper pairs. We show that photons S and aS from the SaS process are scattered predominantly in the same polarization as the excitation laser of the sample and, with this, we implemented the pump-probe technique to study the lifetime of the real phonon (obtained in the diamond order 2.8 ps ) and the lifetime of the virtual excitation, which proved to be inferior to the temporal resolution of the measurement’s, characterizing one of the main differences between the two processes. We also observed that, due to the relations of energy and momentum conservation, have the same spatial intensity profile of the non-interacting laser that crosses the sample, different from the behavior observed for uncorrelated Raman scattering which spreads photons in all directions. We observed that the efficiency of the SaS scattering is proportional to the Raman scattering cross-section when we compare the process in different hydrocarbons and we generalize the observations made in the diamond to the sample of liquid decane. In water, the values of 2(0), predicted by the theoretical description of the process, corroborate the experimental data, validating the BCS theory for virtual SaS scattering, setting the pair of Stokes and anti-Stokes photons as counterparts of the Cooper pairs.
In this work we study the correlated Stokes and anti-Stokes Raman scattering, called here SaS. The SaS is an event where the same phonon participates in the of Stokes and anti-Stokes scattering processes. This process is not considered in current treatments of Raman scattering and can bring changes in the use of Raman spectroscopy for localtemperature measurements. Furthermore, these photons emerge as an important source of correlated photons pairs, widely used in quantum information, for example in implementing a quantum memory. We checked, by measurements of coincidence counting, that the Stokes and anti-Stokes photons generated in the Raman scattering from water, morespecifically the bands at }1644 1 concerning the angle variation mode between the H atoms, are quantum correlated. We get a value of 2(0) 517, much higher than what has been measured in others materials, as reported in the literature. We found that theintensity of the anti-Stokes signal has a quadratic dependence on the laser power, being another indication of the SaS occurrence. The value of 2(0) decays to high power values, in agreement with theoretical predictions. We have also obtained evidences that the SaScorrelation exhibits a dependence on the S and aS photon polarizations and can thus be exploited in future entanglement experiments.
The photon wave function formalism provides an alternative description of some quantum optical phenomena in a more intuitive way. We use this formalism to describe the Stokesanti-Stokes (SaS) correlated scattering process present in Raman scattering. In this process, two photons from a laser beam are inelastically scattered by a phonon created by the first photon (Stokes processes) and annihilated by the second photon (anti-Stokes process), producing a pair of Stokes–anti-Sokes (SaS) photons. . We arrive at an expression for the two-photon wavefunction, in the time and frequency domains, of the scattered SaS photon pair, which is in agreement with a number of experimental results. It was shown, from the phase matching analysis, that the scattering pattern is compatible with the experiments. It was seen that, in the application for Pump-and-probe experiments, it was possible to generate the correct curves for the decay of the population of phonons in the sample. Finally, it was verified that, through the analysis of the joint spectrum of the pairs, information was obtained about the entanglement in frequency of the scattered photons. Thus, it is concluded that, from the results, the photon wave function formalism provides an intuitive and robust way to calculate the SaS scattering properties.
The photon-wave-function formalism provides an alternative description of some quantum optical phenomena in a more intuitive way. We use this formalism to describe the process of correlated Stokes--anti-Stokes Raman scattering. In this process, two photons from a laser beam are inelastically scattered by a phonon created by the first photon (Stokes processes) and annihilated by the second photon (anti-Stokes process), producing a Stokes--anti-Sokes (SaS) photon pair. We arrive at an expression for the two-photon wave function of the scattered SaS photon pair, which is in agreement with a number of experimental results.
In this work, we study the correlated Stokes-anti-Stokes (SaS) Raman scattering in a diamond sample and the influence that the excitation pulse width has in the intensity of generation of the correlated pairs in the process. For this investigation, we used two excitation systems with different temporal pulse width, one with femtosecond temporal width and one with picosecond temporal width. We did two distinct experiments with this excitation systems with difference in the way of filtering the signal: In the first experiment, the signal filtering is made with band-pass filters, this configuration has a greater efficiency that allow us compare better the correlated pair formation efficiency between the different excitation systems. In the second experiment, we used a monochromator to filtering the signal, this configuration allow us to change the wavelength of the detection so we can measure the formation spectrum of the correlated pairs. The results obtained from these experiments show us that the correlated pairs generation efficiency is larger with the use of the system with femtosecond temporal width, what is expected for a non-linear process. In the resonant Raman frequency region, we observed a intensity 1.5 times larger with the use of femtosecond system, and in the out-of-ressonance Raman region, we observed a intensity 5 times larger in the region with lowest Raman shift and 9 times larger in the region with largest Raman shift. We also measure the formation pairs spectrum around the first order Raman peak of the diamond, confirming the existence of a asymmetry in the formation of this pairs with respect to the positive versus negative detuning from phonon resonance. This asymmetry still remains without a satisfactory theoretical explanation.
With the development of quantum optics, photon correlations acquired a prominent role as a tool to test our understanding of physics, and played a key role in verifying the validity of quantum mechanics. The spatial and temporal correlations in a light field also reveal information about its origin, and allow us to probe the nature of the physical systems interacting with it. Additionally, with the advent of quantum technologies, they have acquired technological relevance, as they are expected to play an important role in quantum communication and quantum information processing. This thesis develops techniques that combine spontaneous Raman scattering with Time Correlated Single Photon Counting, and uses them to study the quantum mechanical nature of high frequency vibrations in crystals and molecules. We demonstrate photon bunching in the Stokes and anti-Stokes fields scattered from two ultrafast laser pulses, and use their cross-correlation to measure the 3.9 ps decay time of the optical phonon in diamond. We then employ this method to measure molecular vibrations in CS2, where we are able to excite the respective vibrational modes of the two isotopic species present in the sample in a coherent superposition, and observe quantum beating between the two signals. Stokes scattering, when combined with a projective measurement, leads to a well defined quantum state. We demonstrate this by measuring the second order correlation function of the anti-Stokes field conditional on detecting one or more photons in the Stokes field, which allows us to observe a phonon modeâ s transition form a thermal state into the first excited Fock state, and measure its decay over the characteristic phonon lifetime. Finally, we use this technique to prepare a highly entangled photon-phonon state, which violates a Bell-type inequality. We measure S = 2.360 ± 0.025, violating the CHSH inequality, compatible with the non-locality of the state. The techniques we developed open the door to the study of a broad range of physical systems, where spectroscopic information is obtained with the preparation of specific quantum states. They also hold potential for future technological use, and promote vibrational Raman scattering to a resource in nonlinear quantum optics -- where it used to be considered as a source of noise instead.