Four-photon correlations of the output radiation of a parametric amplifier with a vacuum at the input are considered for an arbitrary parametric gain coefficient. Such states are interpreted in the literature as four-photon states. It is shown that the fourth-order correlation function for such states in the limit of a small number of photons has an asymptotics typical of two-photon states. Nevertheless, even in the “classical” limit of high intensities, the level of four-photon correlations, i.e., the value of the normalized fourth-order correlation function, is substantially greater than that for coherent and even thermal fields.
A theoretical construct is presented for fourth-order interference between the signal and the idler beams of a parametric downconverter. Previous quantum treatments of fourth-order interference have employed correlated single-photon wave packets. The introduced approach, however, relies on Gaussian-state field correlations, which were previously used to characterize quadrature-noise squeezing produced by an optical parametric amplifier and nonclassical twin-beam generation in an optical parametric oscillator. Three principal benefits accrue from the correlation-function formalism. First, the quantum theory of fourth-order interference is unified with that for the other nonclassical effects of χ(2) interactions, i.e., squeezing and twin-beam production. Second, the semiclassical photodetection limit on Gaussian-state fourth-order interference is established; a purely quantum effect can be claimed at fringe visibilities substantially below the 50% level. Finally, both photon-coincidence counting (within the low-photon-flux regime) and intensity interferometry (in the high-photon-flux limit) are easily analyzed within a common framework.
This thesis intends to familiarize the reader with the concepts of photon statistics and correlations in quantum optics. Developing light sources that emit quantum states is central for the realization of quantum technologies. One important step in characterizing these sources is the measurement of field fluctuations and correlations, by coincidence measurements. The expectation value of a coincidence measurement, a simultaneous measurement of two intensities (or, more general, four fields), is represented by the fourth-order correlation function. The value of the correlation function, at zero delay between the detection of two photons, reveals important properties of the state to which they belonged, for example the fluctuations of the photon number. Since predictability is important for many applications, light sources emitting single photons are also characterized by the indistinguishability of consecutively emitted photons, or of two photons from separate emitters. In paper I we investigate blinking behaviour in quantum emitters, and its effect on the interference pattern and photon statistics with photons from two separate emitters. Blinking refers to an emitters transition into a non-emitting state, and subsequent transition back to an emitting state. We show that blinking can not be treated as linear loss, when measuring the fourth-order correlation function for two emitters in a Hong-Ou-Mandel setup. In general, a measurement of the fourth-order correlation function is robust to loss, which makes it a very practical tool. However, the relation between recorded coincidence counts and the correlation function is only direct in the limit of zero detection efficiency, and depends on the detection system. In paper II, we show that by adding a variable attenuation in the beam path, we can trace back to the ''true'' value of the correlation function at zero quantum efficiency. This method improves accuracy in correlation measurements by decreasing a systematic error at the expense of an increased statistical error, which is easier to handle, extending the use of coincidence methods to classical and non-classical multi-photon states.
The parametric approximation is used in a statistical analysis of the frequency conversion of an optical field by a noncentrosymmetric crystal which couples an input wave of frequency 0 < ω < ωL/2 to output waves of frequency ω+nωL(n = 0, ±1, ±2, ...; ωL is the pump frequency). An expression is obtained for the characteristic function of the output field which is described in terms of a matrix of the coupling coefficients in the case of Gaussian (displaced) statistics of the input field with independent modes. The mutual statistics of the output waves with n ≥ 0 and n' < 0 is not Gaussian but corresponds, in the lowest approximation with respect to the pump wave and in the absence of the input field, to a spontaneous (direct or cascade) decay of pump photons into photon pairs. The intensity of the radiation represented by the n ≥ 0 modes is equal to the intensity of the radiation emerging from a classical converter which receives one photon in each mode with n' < 0. The special case of three interacting modes with n = −1, 0, 1 (upconverter or light modulator) is considered in detail. The noise intensities and correlations between the numbers of photons in two and three modes are found for this case, and the spatial-temporal correlation function of the fields of the Stokes (n' = −1) and anti-Stokes (n = 1) frequencies is determined.
Two methods for studying nonclassical correlations at the output of a two-mode parametric amplifier—first, the measurement of normalized Glauber correlation functions and, second, the measurement of the variance of the photon-number difference in conjugate modes—are compared. It is shown theoretically and experimentally that the corresponding quantities, the normalized correlation function, and the noise reduction factor have significantly different dependences on the main system parameters such as the parametric gain, optical losses, photo-detector quantum efficiency, and the detected angular and frequency bands.
We show that the different values 1, 2 and 3 of the normalized second-order correlation function corresponding to a coherent state, a thermal state and a highly squeezed vacuum originate from the different dimensionality of these states in phase space. In particular, we derive an exact expression for in terms of the ratio of the moments of the classical energy evaluated with the Wigner function of the quantum state of interest and corrections proportional to the reciprocal of powers of the average number of photons. In this way we establish a direct link between and the shape of the state in phase space. Moreover, we illuminate this connection by demonstrating that in the semi-classical limit the familiar photon statistics of a thermal state arise from an area in phase space weighted by a two-dimensional Gaussian, whereas those of a highly squeezed state are governed by a line-integral of a one-dimensional Gaussian.