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

Limitation on two-photon temporal correlation

Dmitry Strekalov, Andrey B. Matsko, Lute Maleki

Published Oct 19, 2004• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We show theoretically that two-photon correlation time for a biphoton, a pair of entangled photons generated in the process of parametric down conversion, is limited by the inverse frequency width of the single-photon spectrum, which is limited by the dispersion of the nonlinear material used for the pair generation. The dispersion is determined by the transparency window of the material, which provides the ultimate limitation for the two-photon correlation time. We discuss several experimental approaches enabling realization of such a limiting case.

DOI
10.1117/12.562102

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We show theoretically that two-photon correlation time for a biphoton, a pair of entangled photons generated in the process of parametric down conversion, is limited by the inverse frequency width of the single-photon spectrum, which is limited by the dispersion of the nonlinear material used for the pair generation. The dispersion is determined by the transparency window of the material, which provides the ultimate limitation for the two-photon correlation time. We discuss several experimental approaches enabling realization of such a limiting case.
Theoretical analysis shows that the correlation time of a photon pair is closely related to the spectrum of two-photon light. This entails limitations on the shortest achievable two-photon correlation time. These limitations are important for quantum optical metrology and information processing applications, especially those involving quasi-monochromatic light. In this paper we present a more rigorous proof of the fact that the shortest possible two-photon correlation time is limited by approximately the inverse width of the optical spectrum. We further show that this limit can be closely approached with Type-I spontaneous parametric down-conversion at a specific pump wavelength. This study also results in the prediction of very unusual parametric down-conversion spectra, suggesting a method for engineering of frequency-entangled two-photon states.
The biphoton correlation time, a measure for the conditional uncertainty in the temporal arrival of two photons from a photon pair source, is a key performance identifier for many quantum spectroscopy applications, with shorter correlation times typically yielding better performance. Furthermore, it provides fundamental insight into the effects of dispersion on the biphoton state. Here, we show that a characteristic dependence of the width of the temporal interferogram can be exploited to obtain insights into the amount of second-order dispersion inside the interferometer and to retrieve actual and Fourier-limited ultrashort biphoton correlation times of around 100 fs . In the presented scheme, we simultaneously measure spectral and temporal interferograms at the output of an SU ( 1 , 1 ) interferometer based on an integrated broadband parametric down-conversion source in a Ti:LiNbO 3 waveguide. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
The entangled photon pairs (biphotons) produced from parametric down-conversion (PDC) in a χ(2)crystal are the key element for several quantum information and communication schemes. Recent theoretical investigations [1–2] have revealed the peculiar structure of the biphotonic correlation characterizing the entanglement of twin beams in the space-time domain. The biphotonic correlation in type I PDC is characterized in the near field by a X-shaped geometry, which turns out to be non-factorable in space and time, offering thus the relevant possibility of manipulating the temporal bandwidth of biphoton entanglement by acting on their spatial degrees of freedom. The name “X-entanglement” was coined to describe this geometry [1]. An other key feature which emerged is the extreme spatial and temporal localization of the biphotonic correlation, on the micrometer and femtosecond range, respectively.
Generation of two-photon light with given spectral and temporal properties is of great interest for quantum communication and quantum metrology applications. In particular, preparation of biphotons with ultra-narrow correlation time is a very important task. In a recent series of papers, our group analyzed the generation of twophoton wavepackets, produced by Spontaneous Parametric Down Conversion, in crystals with linearly chirped quasi-phase matching grating. Wavepackets present very broad spectra but a broad spectrum does not necessarily imply small correlation times, although the inverse is true. Indeed, the spectrum broadening induced by the grating is inhomogeneous; for this reason, the two-photon spectral amplitude present a phase (a frequency chirp) that depend nonlinearly on the frequency. Hence, the two-photon wavepackets are not Fourier transform-limited. As suggested in, the ideal way to make the wavepacket perfectly transform limited is to insert in the path of the biphotons a proper optical medium that compensates the non-linear part of the phase factor present in the spectral amplitude. In our work, we investigate the non-local temporal compression of the photons induced by the insertion of a standard optical fibre in the path of one of the two photons. We present and discuss a systematic study of this phenomenon and some optimal situation where the full numerical calculation shows an effect that can be clearly observed with a realistic set-up. The study has open the way to the practical realization of this idea.
The problem of generating a narrow-band biphoton field during spontaneous parametric down conversion of light in a quadratic nonlinear medium in a cavity is discussed. It is shown that, in the case of double resonance (for signal and idle fields), the form of the single-photon wave packet is biexponential and has a half-width determined by the photon life time in the cavity. An experiment is carried out on the generation of narrow-band biphotons in a crystal of lithium iodine with I-type matching in a frequency degenerate collinear regime. The second-order correlation function of the cavity-enhanced biphotons is measured using the electric nanosecond time delay line.
While quantum properties of light promise much-needed enhancements to metrology, further development of quantum light sources and associated tools are needed to readily harness two-photon interactions via energy-time correlations. This thesis will discuss the experimental development of energy-time correlated photon pairs generated within the nonlinear material of bulk periodically-poled lithium niobate toward photon pair up-conversion. Joint spatial-spectral characterizations of this spontaneous parametric down-conversion source are modelled and measured using a unique single-shot spatial-spectral method. In addition, another telecommunication-wavelength entangled photon pair source is simulated and experimentally characterized through dispersive time-of-flight measurements. \n \n \nAs required by the goal of biphoton frequency conversion, a prism compressor for enacting biphoton dispersion cancellation was built and later characterized using wavelength-scanning interferometry. With the amalgamation of these components and techniques, an experimental study of biphoton frequency conversion is constructed and characterized to elucidate this femtosecond-timescale quantum frequency conversion process.