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Journal of the Optical Society of Korea

Coherence Studies of Photons Emitted from a Single Terrylene Molecule Using Michelson and Young’s Interferometers

Seung‐Jin Yoon, Cong T. Trinh, Kwang-Geol Lee

Published Dec 25, 2015• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Coherence length (time) is a key parameter in many classical and quantum optical applications. Two interferometers – Michelson and Young’s double-slit – are used to characterize the temporal coherence of single photons emitted from single terrylene molecules. For quantitative analysis, a dispersion-related distortion in the interference pattern of a Michelson interferometer is carefully corrected by a simple dispersion compensation. Additionally, it has been demonstrated that Young’s interferometer can be used in temporal coherence studies at the single photon level with high accuracy. The pros and cons of the two systems are discussed. The measured coherence lengths in the two systems are consistent with one another under the self-interference interpretations.

DOI
10.3807/josk.2015.19.6.555

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Coherence length (time) is a key parameter in many classical and quantum optical applications. Two interferometers – Michelson and Young’s double-slit – are used to characterize the temporal coherence of single photons emitted from single terrylene molecules. For quantitative analysis, a dispersion-related distortion in the interference pattern of a Michelson interferometer is carefully corrected by a simple dispersion compensation. Additionally, it has been demonstrated that Young’s interferometer can be used in temporal coherence studies at the single photon level with high accuracy. The pros and cons of the two systems are discussed. The measured coherence lengths in the two systems are consistent with one another under the self-interference interpretations.
The interference of entangled photon pairs permits the study of the fundamental properties of quantum mechanics. The process is also finding practical applications in optical imaging. The Michelson interferometer provides an elegant means for characterizing the degree of two-photon entanglement, but the technique has not yet been described and analyzed in detail. Here we provide a full description of the interference of collinear down-converted photons in a Michelson interferometer. We explain the basic elements that characterize the interference pattern and complement the theory with experimental measurements. The two-photon Michelson interferometer can be used in quantum optical coherence tomography for dispersion-free imaging and localization.
We investigate how the temporal coherence interference properties of light in a Michelson-Morley interferometer (MMI), using only a single-photon detector, can be understood in a quantum-optics framework in a straightforward and pedagogical manner. For this purpose we make use of elementary quantum field theory and Glaubers theory for photon detection in order to calculate the expected interference pattern in the MMI. If a thermal reference source is used in the MMI local oscillator port in combination with a thermal source in the signal port, the interference pattern revealed by such an intensity measurement shows a distinctive dependence on the differences in the temperature of the two sources. The MMI can therefore be used in order to perform temperature measurements. A related method was actually used to carry out high precision measurements of the cosmic micro-wave background radiation on board of the COBE satellite. The theoretical framework allows us to consider any initial quantum state. The interference of single photons as a tool to determine the angular peak-frequency of a one-photon pulse interfering with a single-photon reference pulse is, e.g., considered. A similar consideration for coherent laser pulses leads to a different response in the detector. The MMI experimental setup is therefore in a sense an example of an optical device where one can exhibit the difference between classical and quantum-mechanical light using only intensity measurements.
The temporal coherence interference properties of light as revealed by single detector intensity measurements in a Michelson-Morley interferometer (MMI) is often described in terms of classical optics. We show, in a pedagogical manner, how such features of light also can be understood in terms of a more general quantum-optics framework. If a thermal reference source is used in the MMI local oscillator port in combination with a thermal source in the signal port, the interference pattern revealed by single detector intensity measurements shows a distinctive dependence on the differences in the temperature of the two sources. A related method has actually been used to perform high-precision measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation. The general quantum-optics framework allows us to consider any initialquantum state. As an example, we consider the interference of single photons as a tool to determine the peak angular-frequency of a single-photon pulse interfering with a single-photon reference pulse. A similar consideration for laser pulses, in terms of coherent states, leads to a different response in the detector. The MMI experimental setup is therefore an example of an optical device where one, in terms of intensity measurements, can exhibit the difference between classical and quantum-mechanical light.
A Michelson's interference experiment has been performed using a single-photon counting under the condition that at most one photon is present in the interferometer. A CW mode-locked Ar + laser has been employed as a light source. It has been found that the dependence of the visibility on the difference in the two arm lengths measured on a single-photon level is the same as that for the multi-photon interference experiment. This dependence and the distribution of the photon detection time measured simultaneously by a time-correlated single-photon counting method have been found to be explained well by assuming that all the photons in the mode-locked laser pulse examined have the same temporal and spectral characteristics. A quantum mechanical analysis of this kind of experiment is also presented.
The superposition principle states that the sum of solutions of the wave equation is also a solution. Linearity forbids scattering of one photon by another and waves with orthogonal polarization will not interfer and if no interference is observed the light is said to be incoherent. There is no record carried by any of the waves to indicate outside of the overlap region that the waves ever commingled. Interference involve dielectric layers can produce antireflection coatings. Michelson interferometer, temporal coherence and its use in spectroscopy. The interferometer coupled with a light source with well defined coherence properties are currently used in optical coherence imaging. With multiple reflections a Fabry Perot interferometer can be created to provide optical feedback in a laser. Young’s two slits interferometer can be used to measure the size of distant stars.
For centuries Young’s double-slit interference continues to be a hot discussion subject about whether light is waves or particles. This work unravels the self-interference parados, and sheds light on such a concept that assumes a photon can split, self-interfere, and recombine. This work elucidates how coherent photons from a laser source could produce a double-slit interference pattern without the hypothesis of unphysical splitting and recombination of a single photon. Unlike the conventional single wave-function description for the whole ensemble of particles, we develop a pilot-wave trajectory approach to track every photon’s wave-packet propagation and calculate the evolution of the interference intensity in time. We demonstrate how wave packets and phase coherence affect the interference pattern. To resolve the century-old self-interference paradox, we show that such an hypothesis is unnecessary, and the illusion is due to the long coherence length of laser photons and overlaps of delocalized light wave packets.