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Journal of Modern Optics

Experimental Demonstration of Spectral Modification in a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer

D. Narayana Rao, Vinay Kumar

Published Sep 1, 1994• 28 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We illustrate here the experimental verification of the spectral modulation arising from interference of light beams having different degrees of correlation in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer for which the theoretical study was done by Agarwal and James (1993, J. mod. Optics, 40 1431). Through a theoretical fitting for the observed spectral modification, path difference between the beams in the two arms is calculated and compared with the experimental values.

DOI
10.1080/09500349414551711

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We illustrate here the experimental verification of the spectral modulation arising from interference of light beams having different degrees of correlation in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer for which the theoretical study was done by Agarwal and James (1993, J. mod. Optics, 40 1431). Through a theoretical fitting for the observed spectral modification, path difference between the beams in the two arms is calculated and compared with the experimental values.
Pairs of 826.8-nm correlated photons, generated by parametrically down-converting 413.4-nm krypton-ion laser light, are directed into a single Mach-Zehnder interferometer such that each photon of the pair enters a different input port. The rate of coincidence at the two output ports displays oscillations (as the path-length difference is swept) with a spatial period equal to the 413-nm wavelength of the pump photons, and with a visibility of 62% when the path-length difference exceeds the coherence length of the individual photon beams. This unequivocally demonstrates the nonclassical and entangled nature of the two-photon state.
A new fourth-order interference experiment has been carried out and analyzed theoretically in classical and in quantum terms. Two photons produced in the process of parametric down-conversion provide the two inputs to a Mach-Zehnder type of interferometer, while two photodetectors coupled to a coincidence counter measure the output. The coincidence rate, after subtraction of accidentals, exhibits a cosine variation with the optical path difference, in agreement with quantum mechanics, but in disagreement with a classical analysis. By contrast, when two coherent light beams from a He:Ne laser are used as inputs to the interferometer, no fourth-order interference is observed.
A pair of light quanta with different colors (155.9-nm difference in center wavelength) generated from parametric down-conversion was injected collinearly into one input port of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. Coincidence interference behavior was studied over a wide range of optical path differences of the interferometer. A measurement of 75% interference visibility with oscillation of the pump frequency for a large optical path difference of the interferometer (43 cm) is the signature of a quantum two-photon entangled state, which reflects both particle and wave nature of the light quanta in one experiment.