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Characterizing the Single-Photon State: Quantum Physics Experiments with Single-Photon Sensitivity

Sheldon Field

Published Aug 4, 2022• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Coincidence-counting and spontaneous parametric downconversion are central to introductory quantum mechanical experimentation but have remained largely out of reach of undergraduate physics instructors. This thesis summarizes the theory behind light polarization, spontaneous parametric downconversion, birefringent refractive indices, and an affordable self-contained photon coincidence counting unit (CCU). A method for implementing a CCU to demonstrate downconversion is presented, and empirical results are provided.

DOI
10.15760/honors.1304

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Coincidence-counting and spontaneous parametric downconversion are central to introductory quantum mechanical experimentation but have remained largely out of reach of undergraduate physics instructors. This thesis summarizes the theory behind light polarization, spontaneous parametric downconversion, birefringent refractive indices, and an affordable self-contained photon coincidence counting unit (CCU). A method for implementing a CCU to demonstrate downconversion is presented, and empirical results are provided.
Spontaneous parametric downconversion At the heart of all quantum optics experiments is called as Spontaneous parametric downconversion. This is a downconversion process when the output frequency is smaller than the input frequency. The whole process is Spontaneous. Experimentally we have to downconvert the photons and convert them into pairs of a photon. We use the Beta-barium borate(BBO) crystals to downconvert the coming violet-blue laser. We find the maximum number of counts on detectors and their coincidence. When the BBO crystals is well aligned, we find no difference in detecting vertically or horizontally polarized photons because they are orthogonal to each other. Proof of existence of photons We want to investigate the properties and verification of quantization of light. Experimently we want to establish the existence of single photon which shows the grainy-ness of individual photon quantum mechanically and shows wave like behaviour classically. We get the coincidences counts on detectors with addition of detector B’ by using PBS in the path of signal beam. Experimentally we prove the Quantum as well as classical nature of light by the measurement of second-order degree coherence in light g2(0). For classically the g2(0)≥1 and quantum mechanically g2(0)=0.When we add the delay time interval of 1ns after reflected and transmitted photons from PBS signal beam. The delay generator did not create a significant difference in the coincidence counts detection in the value of g2(τ ). Single photon interference and quantum eraser we want to observe the interference by making the single photons pass through the interferometer, and we will see the interference of the single photons. If the light passes through the interferometer, the visibility of the interference pattern to which extent these fringes are observed is dependent on the extent to which the ’which-way’ or ’which-path’ information is available to the experimenter. If the observer knows the information about the ’which-way’ of the light path, then we cannot observe the inference pattern. Because we only can make an interference pattern if we erase the which-way information of the light path. If you erase the information about the’ which-way,’ we can observe a very high interference pattern. We can erase the information about the light path’s ’which-way’ or ’which-path’ by using a polarizer and orienting at 45o. In this way, we can observe a very high pattern. If we introduce the angle of the polarizer at 0o or 90o, we see very low interference.
Summary form only given. In any optical system, quantum and classical theory yield identical predictions for the mean intensity. The quantum mechanical predictions diverge from the classical theory only for higher order correlations. For this reason, typical quantum-interference experiments are performed by measuring coincidence rates between two or more detectors. The usual approximation, following Glauber, is that a single-photon counter fires at a rate proportional to the intensity, or number of incident photons per unit time. This approximation is so good and so entrenched that one routinely assumes that all singles-detection rates are insensitive to quantum effects. However, if one of these detectors fires, it cannot fire again for a characteristic time, called the dead-time. This characteristic of the detectors makes them highly nonlinear over times shorter than the dead-time, and thus sensitive to the higher order intensity correlations. In other words the detector has a different response for two photons arriving at different times, than for two photons arriving at the same time. We use the process of spontaneous parametric-downconversion (SPDC) to create correlated photon-pairs and send them through a polarization-based Hong-Ou-Mander interferometer. This quantum interferometer allows us to change the photon statistics without changing the intensity of the beams.
We describe a series of experiments used in a sophomore-level quantum physics course that are designed to provide students with a hands-on introduction to quantum mechanics. By measuring correlations, we demonstrate that a helium-neon laser produces results consistent with a classical model of light. We then demonstrate that a light source derived from a spontaneous parametric down-conversion process produces results that can only be described using a quantum theory of light, thus providing a (nearly) single-photon source. These single photons are then sent into a Mach–Zehnder interferometer, and interference fringes are observed whenever the path of the photons cannot be determined. These experiments are investigated theoretically using straightforward quantum-mechanical calculations.