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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Why did we elaborate an entangled photons experiment in our engineering school?

Lionel Jacubowiez, Thierry Avignon

Published Oct 24, 2005• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

We will describe a simple setup experiment that allows students to create polarization-entangled photons pairs. These photon pairs are in an entangled state first described in the famous 1935 article in Phys.Rev by Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen, often called E.P.R. state. Photons pairs at 810 nm are produced in two nonlinear crystals by spontaneous parametric downconversion of photons at 405 nm emitted by a violet laser diode. The polarization state of the photons pairs is easily tunable with a half-wave plate and a Babinet compensator on the laser diode beam. After having adjusted the polarization-entangled state of the photon pairs, our students can perform a test of Bell’s inequalities. They will find the amazing value for the Bell parameter between 2.3 and 2.6, depending on the quality of the adjustments of the state of polarization. The experiments described can be done in 4 or 5 hours. What is the importance of creating an entangled photons experiment for our engineering students? First of all, entanglement concept is clearly one of the most strikingly nonclassical features of quantum theory and it is playing an increasing role in present-day physics. But in this paper, we will emphasise the experimental point of view. We will try to explain why we believe that for our students this lab experiment is a unique opportunity to deal with established concepts and experimental techniques on polarization, non linear effects, phase matching, photon counting avalanche photodiodes, counting statistics, coincidences detectors. Let us recall that the first convincing experimental violations of Bell’s inequalities were performed by Alain Aspect and Philippe Grangier with pairs of entangled photons at the Institut d’Optique between 1976 and 1982. Twenty five years later, due to recent advances in laser diode technology, new techniques for generation of photon pairs and avalanche photodiodes, this experiment is now part of the experimental lab courses for our students.

DOI
10.1117/12.2207539

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We will describe a simple setup experiment that allows students to create polarization-entangled photons pairs. These photon pairs are in an entangled state first described in the famous 1935 article in Phys.Rev by Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen, often called E.P.R. state. Photons pairs at 810 nm are produced in two nonlinear crystals by spontaneous parametric downconversion of photons at 405 nm emitted by a violet laser diode. The polarization state of the photons pairs is easily tunable with a half-wave plate and a Babinet compensator on the laser diode beam. After having adjusted the polarization-entangled state of the photon pairs, our students can perform a test of Bell’s inequalities. They will find the amazing value for the Bell parameter between 2.3 and 2.6, depending on the quality of the adjustments of the state of polarization. The experiments described can be done in 4 or 5 hours. What is the importance of creating an entangled photons experiment for our engineering students? First of all, entanglement concept is clearly one of the most strikingly nonclassical features of quantum theory and it is playing an increasing role in present-day physics. But in this paper, we will emphasise the experimental point of view. We will try to explain why we believe that for our students this lab experiment is a unique opportunity to deal with established concepts and experimental techniques on polarization, non linear effects, phase matching, photon counting avalanche photodiodes, counting statistics, coincidences detectors. Let us recall that the first convincing experimental violations of Bell’s inequalities were performed by Alain Aspect and Philippe Grangier with pairs of entangled photons at the Institut d’Optique between 1976 and 1982. Twenty five years later, due to recent advances in laser diode technology, new techniques for generation of photon pairs and avalanche photodiodes, this experiment is now part of the experimental lab courses for our students.
The recent and rapid progress in the field of quantum technologies stimulates developments of specific courses and experimental training for future engineers and scientists. We describe below the experimental setup developed at Institut d’Optique Graduate School for engineering and Master students. During a labwork session afternoon, students can study a source of polarization entangled state pairs of photons and perform an experimental violation of Bell’s inequalities. This emblematic experiment is one of the experiments dedicated to quantum photonics. It was built in 2005 in the LEnsE (the Laboratoire d’Enseignement Experimental) of the Institut d’Optique Graduate School and has been perfectly working for almost eighteen years already.
We use polarization-entangled photon pairs to demonstrate quantum nonlocality in an experiment suitable for advanced undergraduates. The photons are produced by spontaneous parametric downconversion using a violet diode laser and two nonlinear crystals. The polarization state of the photons is tunable. Using an entangled state analogous to that described in the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen ``paradox,'' we demonstrate strong polarization correlations of the entanged photons. Bell's idea of a hidden variable theory is presented by way of an example and compared to the quantum prediction. A test of the Clauser, Horne, Shimony and Holt version of the Bell inequality finds S=2.307pm0.035S = 2.307 \\pm 0.035S=2.307pm0.035, in clear contradiciton of hidden variable theories. The experiments described can be performed in an afternoon.
We use polarization-entangled photon pairs to demonstrate quantum nonlocality in an experiment suitable for advanced undergraduates. The photons are produced by spontaneous parametric downconversion using a violet diode laser and two nonlinear crystals. The polarization state of the photons is tunable. Using an entangled state analogous to that described in the Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen paradox, we demonstrate strong polarization correlations of the entangled photons. Bell’s idea of a hidden variable theory is presented by way of an example and compared to the quantum prediction. A test of the Clauser, Horne, Shimony, and Holt version of the Bell inequality finds S=2.307±0.035, in clear contradiction of hidden variable theories. The experiments described can be performed in an afternoon.
The purpose of this project is to set up a system for creating entangled photon pairs for use in various quantum mechanical experiments, including the testing of Bell’s inequalities which demonstrates the fundamentally indeterministic nature of quantum mechanics. The photons are created by pumping a beta barium borate crystal with 405 nm laser light then, due to a process called type 1 spontaneous parametric down conversion, a single pump photon can be converted into two 810 nm photons in an entangled state. In the same lab, a similar set up has already been achieved using a 474 nm pump laser, but by using a shorter wave length, a higher detection rate can be achieved. Two collimators are set up to collect the down converted photons and send them to two photon counting modules. The collimators need to be positioned precisely to detect any down converted photons because they emerge from the crystal in a narrow beam that is at an angle with respect to the pump beam and only a miniscule fraction of pump photons are down converted. The angle at which the down converted photons emerge is a function of how the crystal is prepared and the polarization orientation of the pump beam. It was calculated using a program by National Institute of Standards and Technology.
We report a Bell state preparation experiment using polarization-entangled photon pairs which are produced by spontaneous parametric down conversion of a 405 nm pulse laser beam inside two orthogonally oriented 0.1 mm beta-barium borate nonlinear crystals with Type-I phased matching. The degree and phase of all four Bell states are easily tunable. With two-photon interference visibilities in excess of 85%, we observe that the Bell parameter S for any of the four Bell states exceeds the classical limit in the Clauser–Horne–Shimony–Holt form of Bell inequality by five standard deviations.
Nowadays entangled photons are often produced by spontaneous parametric down conversion in nonlinear birefringent crystals. Entangled photon pairs can show a very convincing break of the Bell inequality, usually tested through the CHSH (Clauser, Horne, Shimony, Holt) procedure. However, a "compensating crystal", placed after the non-linear crystal, is necessary for the traditional setup. The purpose of this crystal has been explained using the concept of indistinguishability. In this paper we argue that indistinguishability is an unsatisfactory explanation. We would prefer an explanation based on physical mechanisms and not on an abstract and not easily testable concept like indistinguishability. Experimental details seems to reveal that there may be some interesting physics going on that we have not appreciated so far. Such details may be of great help in order to find a more satisfactory explanation of the process leading to entanglement.