Two-Photon Start-Stop Correlator

Игорь Сергеевич Осадько

A dynamic theory of two-photon correlators measured in experiments with single molecular impurity centers has been developed. The theory takes into account the interaction between optically active electrons of an impurity center and phonons, excitations in tunneling systems of polymers and glasses, and transverse electromagnetic field. Both the correlator measured in the start-stop regime and the “full” correlator have been analyzed, and equations for these correlators have been derived. An equation relating these two correlators has been also obtained. The effect of the triplet level of an impurity molecule on the correlators leading to bunching of spontaneously emitted photons has been studied. The two-photon correlators have been calculated numerically, and their dependence on the incident light frequency and time between the pairs of detected photons in various realistic situations has been derived.

Игорь Сергеевич Осадько

G. Brida, Maria V. Chekhova, Marco Genovese +2 more

We present the first observation of two-photon polarization interference structure in the second-order Glauber correlation function of two-photon light generated via type-II spontaneous parametric down-conversion. In order to obtain this result, two-photon light is transmitted through an optical fiber and the coincidence distribution is analyzed by means of the start-stop method. Beyond the experimental demonstration of an interesting effect in quantum optics, these results also have considerable relevance for quantum communications.

Noriaki Horiuchi

Hans Kleinpoppen

Wonshik Choi, Moonjoo Lee, Ye-Ryoung Lee +6 more

A novel high-throughput second-order correlation measurement system is developed that records and makes use of all the arrival times of photons detected at both start and stop detectors. This system is suitable, particularly for a light source having a high photon flux and a long coherence time, since it is more efficient than conventional methods by an amount equal to the product of the count rate and the correlation time of the light source. We have used this system in carefully investigating the dead time effects of detectors and photon counters on the second-order correlation function in the two-detector configuration. For a nonstationary light source, a distortion of the original signal was observed at high photon flux. A systematic way of calibrating the second-order correlation function has been devised by introducing the concept of an effective dead time of the entire measurement system.