Photon-exchange effects on photon-pair transmission (5 pages)

J. D. Franson

Andrzej Dragan

Kevin J. Resch, G. G. Lapaire, Jeff S. Lundeen +2 more

It has been proposed that photon-exchange effects associated with virtual atomic absorption could have widespread application in quantum information processing. Here we investigate simpler exchange effects associated with real absorption as modeled by an equivalent linear optical filter. Using nonclassical pairs of photons with variable time separation, we observe a maximum suppression of pair transmission by at least 5% with respect to the result for independent photons.

M. M. T. Loy

Todd S. Larchuk

G. G. Lapaire, Kevin J. Resch, Jeff S. Lundeen +2 more

The problem of photon-pair transmission through an absorbing medium is discussed using two different approaches, a perturbative Fermi’s Golden Rule calculation and a calculation using photon wavefunction description. The two approaches produce identical results regarding the two-photon absorption characteristics, despite their conceptual differences.