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Journal of the Optical Society of America B

Entangled-photon ellipsometry

Ayman F. Abouraddy, Kimani C. Toussaint, Alexander V. Sergienko, Bahaa E. A. Saleh, Malvin Carl Teich

Published Apr 1, 2002• 38 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Performing reliable measurements in optical metrology, such as those needed in ellipsometry, requires a calibrated source and detector, or a well-characterized reference sample. We present a novel interferometric technique to perform reliable ellipsometric measurements. This technique relies on the use of a nonclassical optical source, namely, polarization-entangled twin photons generated by spontaneous parametric downconversion from a nonlinear crystal, in conjunction with a coincidence-detection scheme. Ellipsometric measurements acquired with this scheme are absolute, i.e., they require neither source nor detector calibration, nor do they require a reference.

DOI
10.1364/josab.19.000656

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Performing reliable measurements in optical metrology, such as those needed in ellipsometry, requires a calibrated source and detector, or a well-characterized reference sample. We present a novel interferometric technique to perform reliable ellipsometric measurements. This technique relies on the use of a nonclassical optical source, namely, polarization-entangled twin photons generated by spontaneous parametric downconversion from a nonlinear crystal, in conjunction with a coincidence-detection scheme. Ellipsometric measurements acquired with this scheme are absolute, i.e., they require neither source nor detector calibration, nor do they require a reference.
We present a novel quantum interferometric technique to perform ellipsometric measurements. Classical ellipsometric measurements are limited in their accuracy by virtue of the need for an absolutely calibrated source and detector. Mitigating this limitation requires the use of a well-characterized reference sample. Our technique relies on the use of a non-classical optical source, namely polarization-entangled twin photons generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion from a nonlinear crystal, in conjunction with a coincidence-detection scheme. We have demonstrated that entangled-photon ellipsometry eliminates the necessity of constructing an interferometer altogether and is thereby self-referencing. The underlying physics that leads to this remarkable result is the presence of fourth-order (coincidence) quantum interference of the photon pairs in conjuction with polarization entanglement.
The high accuracy required in traditional ellipsometric measurements necessitates the absolute calibration of both the source and the detector. We demonstrate that these requirements can be circumvented by using a non-classical source of light, namely, a twin-photon polarization-entangled source that produces type-II spontaneous parametric down-conversion, in conjunction with a novel polarization interferometer and coincidence-counting detection scheme. Our scheme exhibits two features that obviate the requirements of a calibrated source and detector. The first is the twin-photon nature of the source; we are guaranteed, on the detection of a photon in one of the arms of the setup, that its twin will be in the other, effectively serving as calibration of the source. The second is that the polarization entanglement of the source serves as an interferometer, thereby alleviating the need for calibrating the detector. The net result is that absolute ellipsometric data from a sample may be obtained. We present preliminary experimental results showing how the technique operates.
Traditional ellipsometric measurements are limited in their accuracy because of the use of an external reference sample for calibration, and because of the noise inherent in the source at low light levels. We demonstrate that these limitations can be circumvented by using a non-classical source of light, namely, twin photons generated by the process of spontaneous parametric downconversion, in conjunction with a novel polarization interferometer and coincidence-counting detection scheme. The twin-photon nature of the source is a unique feature of our scheme. We are guaranteed, on the detection of a photon in one of the arms of the setup, that its twin will be in the other. We present experimental results showing how the technique operates.
Summary form only given. We show that, by employing entangled-photon pairs that are generated by type II spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in a non-collinear configuration, one can obtain absolute ellipsometric data from a reflective sample. The underlying physics that permits such ellipsometric measurements resides in the fact that fourth-order (coincidence) quantum interference of the photon pairs, in conjunction with polarization entanglement, emulates an idealized classical ellipsometric setup that utilizes a source and a detector that are both calibrated absolutely.