Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Chinese Optics Letters

Ghost interference in double-slit experiment with type-II parametric down-conversion resource

Mingyang Zheng, Lian Chen, Xin-Dong Cai, Ge Jin

Published Jan 1, 2013• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A double-slit ghost interference experiment performed on an entangled resource using type-II non-collinear degenerate spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) is demonstrated.The influence of the distance between the double-slit and the bucket detector preceded by a pinhole is studied.The experimental results show that the interference fringes become increasingly distinct with higher visibility when the pinhole-double-slit distance increases.A first-order classical theory based on the Klyshko's two-photon advanced-wave picture, and a second-order quantum-image theory are provided for explanations.The fitting results indicate that the divergence of the converted fluorescence significantly affects the ghost fringes.

DOI
10.3788/col201311.071901

Related papers

Direct and ghost interference in double-slit experiments with coincidence measurements

P. H. Souto Ribeiro, G. A. Barbosa

The transverse spatial properties of the twin light beams of the down-conversion have been recently investigated in experiments using double-slit and coincidence measurements. Fringes are obtained, with a controlled degree of visibility, placing the slits in the signal beam and scanning the signal detector [direct interference---Phys. Rev. A 49, 4176 (1994)] and also, for the degenerated type II down-conversion, with slits in the signal beam and scanning the idler detector [ghost interference---Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 3600 (1995)]. The idea of a ghost source is used to discuss the direct interference experiment. Using a nondegenerated type I down-conversion, experimental results are obtained showing that the visibility of the ghost interference patterns can be controlled by the ghost source size, analogously as it can be done for a real light source. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.

Physical Review A•Oct 1, 1996•38 citations

Two-Photon Ghost Image and Interference-Diffraction

Yanhua H. Shih, Alexander V. Sergienko, T. B. Pittman +2 more

One of the most surprising consequences of quantum mechanics is entanglement of two or more distance particles. The two-particle entangled state was mathematically formulated by Schrodinger. Based on this unusual quantum behavior, EPR defined their 'physical reality' and then asked the question: 'Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?' One may not appreciate EPR's criterion of physical reality and insist that 'no elementary quantum phenomenon is a phenomenon until it is a recorded phenomenon'. Optical spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) is the most effective mechanism to generate an EPR type entangled two-photon state. In SPDC, an optical beam, called the pump, is incident on a birefringent crystal. The pump is intense enough so that nonlinear effects lead to the conversion of pump photons into pairs of photons, historically called signal and idler. Technically, the SPDC is said to be type-1 or type-2, depending on whether the signal and idler beams have parallel or orthogonal polarization. The SPDC conversion efficiency is typically on the order of 10(exp -9) to 10(exp -11), depending on the SPDC nonlinear material. The signal and idler intensities are extremely low, only single photon detection devices can register them. The quantum entanglement nature of SPDC has been demonstrated in EPR-Bohm experiments and Bell's inequality measurements. The following two experiments were recently performed in our laboratory, which are more closely related to the original 1935 EPR gedankenezperiment. The first experiment is a two-photon optical imaging type experiment, which has been named 'ghost image' by the physics community. The signal and idler beams of SPDC are sent in different directions, so that the detection of the signal and idler photons can be performed by two distant photon counting detectors. An aperture object (mask) is placed in front of the signal photon detector and illuminated by the signal beam through a convex lens. Surprisingly, an image of this aperture is observed in the idler beam, by scanning the idler photon detector in the transverse plane of the idler beam, if we are sure that the idler photon detector 'catches' the 'twin brother' of the signal, which can be easily performed by a coincidence measurement. This effect is even more striking when we found that the object-lens-image relationship satisfies the Gaussian thin lens equation. The second experiment demonstrates two-photon 'ghost' interference-diffraction. The experimental set up is similar to the image experiment, except that rather than a lens and an aperture it is a Young's double-slit (or a single-slit) inserted into the path of the signal beam. We could not find any interference (or diffraction) pattern behind the slit. Surprisingly, an interference (or diffraction) pattern is observed when scanning the detector in the idler beam, if we are sure that the idler photon detector 'catches' the 'twin brother' of the signal.

•Jan 1, 1996•0 citations

Theory and experiment of two-photon $lquot$direct$rquot$ interference for type-II spontaneous parametric down-conversion with an ultrafast pulse laser pump

Shengli Lu, B Liu, Baoquan Sun +2 more

Fourth-order spatial interference of entangled photon pairs generated in the process of spontaneous parametric down-conversion pumped by a femtosecond pulse laser has been performed for the first time. In theory, it takes into account the transverse correlation between the two photons and is used to calculate the dependence of the visibility of the interference pattern obtained in Young’s double-slit experiment. In this experiment, a short focal length lens and two narrow band interference filters were adopted to eliminate the effects of the broadband pump laser and improve the visibility of the interference pattern under the condition of nearly collinear light and degenerate phase matching.

Journal of Optics B Quantum and Semiclassical Optics•Jul 10, 2002•0 citations

Wave/particle nature of light - towards a double-doubleslit experiment

Tsewang Gyatso, E Baudin, Emmanuel Schenck +2 more

Full text: We present two experiments on single- and two-particle interference. In the single-photon interference experiment, photons from a spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) source are send through a double slit. An interference pattern is built up frame by frame from shots obtained with an EMCCD camera behind the slit. Each frame contains on average less than one photon, thus demonstrating true single-photon sensitivity of the camera. The build-up of the interference pattern nicely demonstrates the concept of wave-particle duality. In a next step, we describe the Heisenberg's lens experiment and present the conditions required to analyse and investigate the spatial correlations of momentum entangled photons produced by SPDC. The occurrence of double-slit interference now depends on the experimental arrangement for the second photon of the pair, for example: interference can only occur if the second photon is also passing a double slit. We present an analysis of such a double-double-slit experiment. (author)

•Jul 1, 2005•0 citations

A two-photon double-slit experiment

R. W. Menzel, Axel Heuer, Dirk Puhlmann +4 more

We employ a photon pair created by spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) where the pump laser is in the TEM01 mode to perform a Young's double-slit experiment. The signal photon illuminates the two slits and displays interference fringes in the far-field while the idler photon measured in the near-field in coincidence with the signal photon provides us with ‘which-slit’ information. We explain the results of these experiments with the help of an analytical expression for the second-order correlation function derived from an elementary model of SPDC. Our experiment emphasizes the crucial role of the mode function in the quantum theory of radiation.

Journal of Modern Optics•Nov 29, 2012•28 citations

Ghost interference with an optical parametric amplifier

Sulakshana Thanvanthri, Morton H. Rubin

The ``ghost'' interference experiment is analyzed when the source of entangled photons is a multimode optical parametric amplifier (OPA) whose weak limit is the two-photon spontaneous parametric down-conversion beam. The visibility of the double-slit pattern is calculated, taking the finite coincidence time window of the photon counting detectors into account. It is found that the coincidence window and the bandwidth of light reaching the detectors play a crucial role in the loss of visibility on coincidence detection, not only in the ghost interference experiment but in all experiments involving coincidence detection. The differences between the loss of visibility with two-mode and multimode OPA sources are also discussed.

arXiv:quant-ph/0407169•Physical Review A•Dec 20, 2004•15 citations
A double-slit ghost interference experiment performed on an entangled resource using type-II non-collinear degenerate spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) is demonstrated.The influence of the distance between the double-slit and the bucket detector preceded by a pinhole is studied.The experimental results show that the interference fringes become increasingly distinct with higher visibility when the pinhole-double-slit distance increases.A first-order classical theory based on the Klyshko's two-photon advanced-wave picture, and a second-order quantum-image theory are provided for explanations.The fitting results indicate that the divergence of the converted fluorescence significantly affects the ghost fringes.
The transverse spatial properties of the twin light beams of the down-conversion have been recently investigated in experiments using double-slit and coincidence measurements. Fringes are obtained, with a controlled degree of visibility, placing the slits in the signal beam and scanning the signal detector [direct interference---Phys. Rev. A 49, 4176 (1994)] and also, for the degenerated type II down-conversion, with slits in the signal beam and scanning the idler detector [ghost interference---Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 3600 (1995)]. The idea of a ghost source is used to discuss the direct interference experiment. Using a nondegenerated type I down-conversion, experimental results are obtained showing that the visibility of the ghost interference patterns can be controlled by the ghost source size, analogously as it can be done for a real light source. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
One of the most surprising consequences of quantum mechanics is entanglement of two or more distance particles. The two-particle entangled state was mathematically formulated by Schrodinger. Based on this unusual quantum behavior, EPR defined their 'physical reality' and then asked the question: 'Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?' One may not appreciate EPR's criterion of physical reality and insist that 'no elementary quantum phenomenon is a phenomenon until it is a recorded phenomenon'. Optical spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) is the most effective mechanism to generate an EPR type entangled two-photon state. In SPDC, an optical beam, called the pump, is incident on a birefringent crystal. The pump is intense enough so that nonlinear effects lead to the conversion of pump photons into pairs of photons, historically called signal and idler. Technically, the SPDC is said to be type-1 or type-2, depending on whether the signal and idler beams have parallel or orthogonal polarization. The SPDC conversion efficiency is typically on the order of 10(exp -9) to 10(exp -11), depending on the SPDC nonlinear material. The signal and idler intensities are extremely low, only single photon detection devices can register them. The quantum entanglement nature of SPDC has been demonstrated in EPR-Bohm experiments and Bell's inequality measurements. The following two experiments were recently performed in our laboratory, which are more closely related to the original 1935 EPR gedankenezperiment. The first experiment is a two-photon optical imaging type experiment, which has been named 'ghost image' by the physics community. The signal and idler beams of SPDC are sent in different directions, so that the detection of the signal and idler photons can be performed by two distant photon counting detectors. An aperture object (mask) is placed in front of the signal photon detector and illuminated by the signal beam through a convex lens. Surprisingly, an image of this aperture is observed in the idler beam, by scanning the idler photon detector in the transverse plane of the idler beam, if we are sure that the idler photon detector 'catches' the 'twin brother' of the signal, which can be easily performed by a coincidence measurement. This effect is even more striking when we found that the object-lens-image relationship satisfies the Gaussian thin lens equation. The second experiment demonstrates two-photon 'ghost' interference-diffraction. The experimental set up is similar to the image experiment, except that rather than a lens and an aperture it is a Young's double-slit (or a single-slit) inserted into the path of the signal beam. We could not find any interference (or diffraction) pattern behind the slit. Surprisingly, an interference (or diffraction) pattern is observed when scanning the detector in the idler beam, if we are sure that the idler photon detector 'catches' the 'twin brother' of the signal.
Theory and experiment of two-photon lquotlquotlquotdirectrquotrquotrquot interference for type-II spontaneous parametric down-conversion with an ultrafast pulse laser pump
Fourth-order spatial interference of entangled photon pairs generated in the process of spontaneous parametric down-conversion pumped by a femtosecond pulse laser has been performed for the first time. In theory, it takes into account the transverse correlation between the two photons and is used to calculate the dependence of the visibility of the interference pattern obtained in Young’s double-slit experiment. In this experiment, a short focal length lens and two narrow band interference filters were adopted to eliminate the effects of the broadband pump laser and improve the visibility of the interference pattern under the condition of nearly collinear light and degenerate phase matching.
Full text: We present two experiments on single- and two-particle interference. In the single-photon interference experiment, photons from a spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) source are send through a double slit. An interference pattern is built up frame by frame from shots obtained with an EMCCD camera behind the slit. Each frame contains on average less than one photon, thus demonstrating true single-photon sensitivity of the camera. The build-up of the interference pattern nicely demonstrates the concept of wave-particle duality. In a next step, we describe the Heisenberg's lens experiment and present the conditions required to analyse and investigate the spatial correlations of momentum entangled photons produced by SPDC. The occurrence of double-slit interference now depends on the experimental arrangement for the second photon of the pair, for example: interference can only occur if the second photon is also passing a double slit. We present an analysis of such a double-double-slit experiment. (author)
We employ a photon pair created by spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) where the pump laser is in the TEM01 mode to perform a Young's double-slit experiment. The signal photon illuminates the two slits and displays interference fringes in the far-field while the idler photon measured in the near-field in coincidence with the signal photon provides us with ‘which-slit’ information. We explain the results of these experiments with the help of an analytical expression for the second-order correlation function derived from an elementary model of SPDC. Our experiment emphasizes the crucial role of the mode function in the quantum theory of radiation.
The ``ghost'' interference experiment is analyzed when the source of entangled photons is a multimode optical parametric amplifier (OPA) whose weak limit is the two-photon spontaneous parametric down-conversion beam. The visibility of the double-slit pattern is calculated, taking the finite coincidence time window of the photon counting detectors into account. It is found that the coincidence window and the bandwidth of light reaching the detectors play a crucial role in the loss of visibility on coincidence detection, not only in the ghost interference experiment but in all experiments involving coincidence detection. The differences between the loss of visibility with two-mode and multimode OPA sources are also discussed.