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AVS Quantum Science

Measuring the Schmidt number of parametric down conversion by exploiting photon distribution

Lior Cohen, Elisha S. Matekole, Y. Pilnyak, D. Istrati, Jonathan P. Dowling, H. S. Eisenberg

Published May 4, 2023• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The Schmidt number quantifies the number of modes and is mainly used as a measure for the quality of entanglement. We theoretically compute the photon distribution of type-I spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) with an arbitrary Schmidt number. The photon distribution is used for a novel method to measure the Schmidt number. This method requires only two on–off single-photon detectors with no photon number or temporal resolution. The method works in the strong pumping regime where high photon numbers are non-negligible. We experimentally demonstrate the method for type-II SPDC. The easy and fast measurement of the Schmidt number has a broad range of applications from the calibration of strong pump SPDC and entanglement sources to multi-photon quantum interference and Gaussian boson sampling.

DOI
10.1116/5.0147694

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Physical Review A•Nov 11, 2020•29 citations
The Schmidt number quantifies the number of modes and is mainly used as a measure for the quality of entanglement. We theoretically compute the photon distribution of type-I spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) with an arbitrary Schmidt number. The photon distribution is used for a novel method to measure the Schmidt number. This method requires only two on–off single-photon detectors with no photon number or temporal resolution. The method works in the strong pumping regime where high photon numbers are non-negligible. We experimentally demonstrate the method for type-II SPDC. The easy and fast measurement of the Schmidt number has a broad range of applications from the calibration of strong pump SPDC and entanglement sources to multi-photon quantum interference and Gaussian boson sampling.
High-dimensional entangled states have now been identified as excellent candidates towards the enhancement of the bandwidth of quantum systems. A variety of methods exist that aim to certify and set the bounds to entanglement. However, rapid and accurate approaches for precise quantification of the dimensions remain a challenge. Here, we report a facile, rapid and robust approach that quantifies a wide range of the spatial dimensions of high-dimensional entangled states using an interferometric technique using only two images. Our process works for a class of pure two-photon states, regardless of its separability and provides a fast and easy way to accurately measure the spatial Schmidt number which is a quantitative measure of dimensionality of entanglement. We apply our method to two-photon states generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) and show that our results are in excellent agreement with numerical estimates. Since such estimates only exist for collinear phase matching in SPDC crystals, we also derive a noncollinear phase-matching condition applicable for type-2 crystals. In these nonlinear crystals, the commonly applied assumption of degenerate daughter photons no longer holds, leading to deviations from earlier theoretical predictions. Our interferometric technique provides excellent results for both type-0 and type-2 collinear phase-matching conditions, endorsing its wide applicability in quantum photonics. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
An important step for photonic quantum technologies is the demonstration of a quantum advantage through boson sampling. In order to prevent classical simulability of boson sampling, the photons need to be almost perfectly identical and almost without losses. These two requirements are connected through spectral filtering: improving one leads to a decrease of the other. A proven method of generating single photons is spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC). We explore the fundamental limits of several important SPDC sources and show that an optimal tradeoff between indistinguishability and losses can always be found. We conclude that a 50-photon scattershot boson-sampling experiment using SPDC sources is possible from a computational complexity point of view. To this end, we numerically optimize SPDC sources under the regime of weak pumping and with a single spatial mode.
High-dimensional spatially entangled two-photon state generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion process (SPDC) has become a promising resource for several quantum information science applications. For harnessing high-dimensional entanglement advantages, detection capability in the Schmidt basis is a necessity. Spatial entanglement has been explored in several modal bases, such as pixel, azimuthal, and radial modes. Among them, pixel and azimuthal entanglement have been widely utilized due to efficient access to their Schmidt modes, while radial-mode entanglement remains underexploited. This is because for radial coordinates, there is neither a Schmidt-decomposed form for the SPDC photons nor is there a technique for measuring high-dimensional radial Schmidt modes, which is a major roadblock in harnessing radial mode advantages. In this work, we first theoretically show that the azimuthal averaging of SPDC two-photon state yields a radial Schmidt-decomposed form under typical experimental situations. We then demonstrate an innovative approach for extracting the radial Schmidt modes and their spectrum by characterizing the density matrix in the radial basis of one of the SPDC photons. Finally, we report the first-ever measurement of radial Schmidt spectrum of upto 50 radial Schmidt modes with about 98\% fidelity.
Abstract High-dimensional spatially entangled two-photon states generated by the spontaneous parametric down-conversion process (SPDC) have become a promising resource for several quantum information science applications. In order to harness high-dimensional entanglement advantages, detection capability in the Schmidt basis is a necessity. Spatial entanglement has been explored in several modal bases, such as pixel, azimuthal, and radial modes. Among them, pixel and azimuthal entanglement have been widely utilized due to efficient access to their Schmidt modes, while radial-mode entanglement remains underexploited. This is due to radial coordinates not having a Schmidt-decomposed form for the SPDC photons or a technique for measuring high-dimensional radial Schmidt modes, which is a major roadblock in harnessing radial mode advantages. In this work, we first theoretically show that azimuthal averaging of SPDC two-photon states yields a radial Schmidt-decomposed form under typical experimental situations. We then demonstrate an innovative approach for extracting the radial Schmidt modes and their spectrum by characterizing the density matrix in the radial basis of one of the SPDC photons. Finally, we report the first-ever measurement of the radial Schmidt spectrum of up to 50 radial Schmidt modes with about 98% fidelity.
Spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) is the most widely-used source of high-dimensional entangled two-photon states, and the entanglement in the spatial degree of freedom is considered best suited for harnessing high-dimensional advantages. Although the Schmidt basis provides a natural choice for state characterisation of entangled two-photon states in any degree of freedom, there is currently no technique that can measure the Schmidt basis of an entangled two-photon field. The existing techniques can only reconstruct the Schmidt spectrum when the Schmidt basis is known a priori. In contrast, we present a technique that measures the complete set of spatial Schmidt modes without any prior knowledge. Using this technique, we report measurement of states with over 3000 Schmidt modes -- highest reported yet -- with up to 98%\%% fidelity. We expect our work to significantly advance the harnessing of high-dimensional advantages in SPDC-based systems.
Spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) has been a reliable process for the generation of entangled photon pairs. In this process, a nonlinear quadratic crystal is pumped by a laser field in order to convert (high-energy) photons into correlated photon pairs whose efficient control plays an essential role in various applications of quantum information processing. In particular, the amount of entanglement has been successfully controlled by adjusting the spatial structure of the incident pump field. Here, we theoretically analyze how the entanglement of the down-converted two-photon state can be further enhanced by using Ince-Gaussian beams with well-defined ellipticity $\ensuremath{\epsilon}$, i.e., solutions of the paraxial wave equation in elliptical coordinates. These spatially structured beams are quite universal as they include both the Laguerre-Gaussian beams for $\ensuremath{\epsilon}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$ as well as the Hermite-Gaussian beams for $\ensuremath{\epsilon}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$. We demonstrate that the entanglement of the generated photon pairs in SPDC can be maximized by a proper choice of $\ensuremath{\epsilon}$ and that such an enhanced entanglement can be observed experimentally in terms of the Schmidt number.