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Physical Review A

Nonlocal labeling of paths in a single-photon interferometer

Matthew Pysher, Enrique J. Galvez, K. Misra, K. R. Wilson, B. C. Melius, Mehul Malik

Published Nov 22, 2005• 18 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We prepared polarization-entangled photon pairs and sent one of the photons through a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The apparatus was arranged so that when going through each arm of the interferometer the pairs were in a different Bell state. The distinguishability of the interferometer paths was determined by projecting the entangled state of the two photons with a polarizer placed in the path of the photon that does not go through the interferometer. As a consequence, actions on the remote photon determined nonlocally the visibility of the interference pattern. We present a full theoretical analysis and experimental results that confirm the theoretical predictions.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.72.052327

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We prepared polarization-entangled photon pairs and sent one of the photons through a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The apparatus was arranged so that when going through each arm of the interferometer the pairs were in a different Bell state. The distinguishability of the interferometer paths was determined by projecting the entangled state of the two photons with a polarizer placed in the path of the photon that does not go through the interferometer. As a consequence, actions on the remote photon determined nonlocally the visibility of the interference pattern. We present a full theoretical analysis and experimental results that confirm the theoretical predictions.
We present experiments that use quantum-state correlations between polarization-entangled photon pairs to specify the phase and amplitude of an interference pattern remotely. Photons produced by parametric down conversion are sent to an interferometer while the entangled partners are sent to a phase shifter. By manipulating the quantum state of the light we were able specify the phase and amplitude of the interference pattern with the settings of optical elements in the path of the light that does not go through the interferometer. The results are in excellent agreement with the predictions.
We describe an experiment where the phase and amplitude of the interference pattern of light going through an interferometer was varied by doing operations on quantum-correlated light that did not go through the interferometer. This was accomplished by sending a pair of polarization-entangled photons in separate directions, one to an interferometer and the other one to a phase shifter, in principle in a remote location. The interferometer was set up to put the state of the pair in a superposition of maximally entangled states. The phase shifter inserted a phase between the product-state components that made up each entangled state. Polarizers located before the detectors projected the quantum state of the light. As a result, the phase and amplitude of the interference pattern were varied by changing the settings of the phase shifter and polarizer in the path of the photon in the remote location.
When a photon is detected after passing through an interferometer one might wonder which path it took, and a meaningful answer can only be given if one has the means of monitoring the photon's whereabouts. We report the realization of a single-photon experiment for a two-path interferometer with path marking. In this experiment, the path of a photon (``signal'') through a Mach-Zehnder interferometer becomes known by unambiguous discrimination between the two paths. We encode the signal path in the polarization state of a partner photon (``idler'') whose polarization is examined by a three-outcome measurement: one outcome each for the two signal paths plus an inconclusive outcome. Our results agree fully with the theoretical predictions from a common-sense analysis of what can be said about the past of a quantum particle: The signals for which we get the inconclusive result have full interference strength, as their paths through the interferometer cannot be known; and every photon that emerges from the dark output port of the balanced interferometer has a known path.
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.
We present experimental demonstrations of two-photon interference involving temporally separated photons within two types of interferometers: a Mach-Zehnder interferometer and a polarization-based Michelson interferometer. The two-photon states are probabilistically prepared in a symmetrically superposed state within the two interferometer arms by introducing a large time delay between two input photons; this state is composed of two temporally separated photons, which are in two different or the same spatial modes. We then observe two-photon interference fringes involving both the Hong-Ou-Mandel interference effect and the interference of path-entangled two-photon states simultaneously in a single interferometric setup. The observed two-photon interference fringes provide simultaneous observation of the interferometric properties of the single-photon and two-photon wavepackets. The observations can also facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of the origins of the interference phenomena arising from spatially bunched/anti-bunched two-photon states comprised of two temporally separated photons within the interferometer arms.
We present theoretical and experimental second- and fourth-order interference patterns for entangled photons of different colors entering single and dual Mach-Zehnder interferometers in which dispersive elements have been deliberately placed. Although photon wave packets are generally broadened, as well as delayed, by passage through dispersive optical elements, coincidence measurements made with entangled photon pairs can be free of such broadening. This occurs for materials with particular dispersive behavior, as well as when the dispersion is balanced in both arms. This nonlocal behavior arises from the entanglement in the frequencies of the down-converted pair photons. We also show that nonlocal pump-frequency oscillations are present in the coincidence rate patterns for long path-length-difference times, confirming the robustness of this phenomenon in the presence of dispersion. However, the magnitude of these oscillations is reduced when an arbitrary dispersive material is used in an unbalanced configuration. Difference-frequency oscillations are also robust in the presence of dispersion, although they decay for large path-length-difference times.