The Hanbury Brown and Twiss Interferometer applied to problems of measures of degree of polarization, and interference image ghost and classical and quantum aspects
In this thesis we investigate, experimentally and theoretically, many classical and quantum coherence effects of the light. Initially we investigate the interference patterns formation by nonlocal double slit using classical light sources and comparing the results with those using a twin photos light source generated by Spontaneous Parametric Down Conversion (SPDC). We demonstrate that the classical correlation in wave vectors, in beam splitter outs, is a sufficient condition to the interference pattern to exist. In this work we also investigate experimentally the influence of polarized nonlocal double slit and local double slit. Here is present a alternative Fano based interpretation to explain the reason why the polarization of correlated beam has not influence on pattern fringes. We presented also an investigation about the light source parameters influence on the ghost interference interference. We demonstrate experimentally the relationship between, the coherence and source size, and fringes visibility. We extended the concept of complementarity related to coherence and correlation using the changes of the reference beam coherence and observing it’s influence on the interference patterns of the local double slit. In near-field limit, we investigate the existence of conditionality in the wave vector limited by the aperture of objects placed on the classically correlated beams paths. We demonstrate that is possible to find conditionality between the light emitted through the slits apertures. All these experiments performed using the Brown Twiss intensity interferometer (HBT) served to investigate the difference between the transversal effects with quantum and classical incoherent light. Finally, we demonstrate the first experimental measurement demonstrating the polarization changes on the partially coherent light propagation induced by the coherence source changes. This phenomenom was investigated for the free space propagation and for a nonlinear medium modeled by a Kerr medium.
In this thesis we investigate, experimentally and theoretically, many classical and quantum coherence effects of the light. Initially we investigate the interference patterns formation by nonlocal double slit using classical light sources and comparing the results with those using a twin photos light source generated by Spontaneous Parametric Down Conversion (SPDC). We demonstrate that the classical correlation in wave vectors, in beam splitter outs, is a sufficient condition to the interference pattern to exist. In this work we also investigate experimentally the influence of polarized nonlocal double slit and local double slit. Here is present a alternative Fano based interpretation to explain the reason why the polarization of correlated beam has not influence on pattern fringes. We presented also an investigation about the light source parameters influence on the ghost interference interference. We demonstrate experimentally the relationship between, the coherence and source size, and fringes visibility. We extended the concept of complementarity related to coherence and correlation using the changes of the reference beam coherence and observing it’s influence on the interference patterns of the local double slit. In near-field limit, we investigate the existence of conditionality in the wave vector limited by the aperture of objects placed on the classically correlated beams paths. We demonstrate that is possible to find conditionality between the light emitted through the slits apertures. All these experiments performed using the Brown Twiss intensity interferometer (HBT) served to investigate the difference between the transversal effects with quantum and classical incoherent light. Finally, we demonstrate the first experimental measurement demonstrating the polarization changes on the partially coherent light propagation induced by the coherence source changes. This phenomenom was investigated for the free space propagation and for a nonlinear medium modeled by a Kerr medium.
We report on the experimental observation of interference pattern of a distributed double-slit, consisting of a single-slit and a wire spatially separated, illuminated by two beams from a pseudothermal light source, in Hanbury Brown and Twiss–like configuration. The interference pattern is obtained performing a classical correlation with the intensities of the light beams scattered by each part of the double-slit. A theoretical analysis confirms our experimental results, showing that classical correlations can also mimic non-local properties analogue to those using twin photons for quantum images.
In this thesis we discuss an extension of the historical Hanbury Brown and Twiss experiment and investigate spatial intensity correlations of higher-orders in the radiation field of statistically independent light sources. The light sources can be non-classical like single-photon emitters or classical, obeying thermal or coherent statistics. Although the light sources are assumed to emit the photons in an incoherent manner, we find spatial photon correlations in the far field which can be explained by the quantum mechanical concept of multi-photon interferences. We demonstrate that spatial correlation measurements between indistinguishable photons based on linear optical detection techniques can be used to overcome the resolution limit of classical optics (Abbe/Rayleigh limit) and also to manipulate the spatial radiation characteristic of the light sources. Both remarkable properties of higher-order intensity correlations have been experimentally verified using statistically independent pseudothermal light sources. Due to the fact that the reported correlation measurements require neither special quantum tailoring of light nor N-photon absorbing media, they are of particular interest for the field of quantum imaging and quantum information processing. The thesis is divided into three main parts: In the first part (Chapter 2 and 3) we introduce a quantum path formalism which allows to describe multi-photon interferences arising in both classical and nonclassical light fields. This quantum path approach explains the origin of the underlying interference mechanism of the higher-order spatial intensity correlation functions in a transparent and simple manner. Moreover, it enables us to compare the multi-photon interferences obtained by nonclassical single-photon emitters with those generated by classical light sources. In the course of this discussion it appears that Dirac's famous statement “Each photon interferes only with itself. Interference between two different photons never occurs.” should better read “A multi-photon state of independent photons only interferes with itself. Interference between different multi-photon states never occurs.” This general statement summarizes the physics behind all multi-photon interference phenomena investigated in this thesis. In the second part of the thesis (Chapter 4) we investigate particular multi-photon interference measurements of independent light sources in the context of quantum imaging. We demonstrate that the Nth-order spatial intensity correlation functions display at specific ‘magic’ detector positions the ability to filter sub-wavelength information out of the light fields arising from N incoherently radiating light sources. These multi-photon interference patterns achieve a higher resolution for N>2 than the classical Abbe/Rayleigh limit for imaging the light source. In case of N single-photon emitters we theoretically show that the super-resolving interference patterns obtained for the ‘magic’ detector positions are identical to the ones generated by NOON states with N-1 photons. Quite unexpected, the same is true for N thermal light sources, except for a reduced visibility. Experimental results with up to eight independent thermal light sources confirm this approach to improve the spatial resolution in imaging. In the last part of this thesis (Chapter 5) we finally demonstrate that multi-photon detections can lead to a strong angular focussing of incoherent photons emitted again by either uncorrelated single-photon sources or statistically independent classical light sources. For this effect the sources can be far away from each other and do not interact. The mth-order intensity correlation measurement causes source correlations which produce a heralded peaked emission pattern for the initially uncorrelated light sources. In particular, we show that if m-1 photons have been detected in a particular direction, the conditional probability to detect the mth photon in the same direction can be as high as 100 %. Owing to the great flexibility of detector positions for the correlation measurement, a wide variety of additional detection schemes exists which produces similar directional photon emission patterns. This theoretically predicted measurement-induced focussing was experimentally confirmed with up to eight pseudothermal light sources for three particular detection schemes.
Partially coherent quantum-entangled beams combine quantum correlation with partial coherence, allowing them to maintain quantum characteristics while being more resistant to distortions caused by random media during propagation. In this study, we investigate the effect of coherence variation of such beams on non-local double-slit quantum interference. The spatial coherence variation is achieved by controlling the transverse coherence length of the Gaussian Schell model pump in the spontaneous parametric down conversion process. For a fixed beam size, the momentum correlation width of partially coherent biphotons increases with the decrease in the transverse coherence length. This results in a biphoton beam exhibiting multiple spatial modes, making it more suitable for studying the non-local features of quantum states in imaging, interference, and diffraction experiments. Our findings infer both high-quality and near-unity visibility of nonlocal interference using the partially coherent twin beams, even with the substantial decrease in the coherence of the pump. We believe these results can enhance robustness against the deleterious effects of the medium during propagation and can have potential applications in optical image cryptography, biomedical imaging, quantum lithography, and quantum holography.
The transverse spatial properties of the twin light beams of the down-conversion have been recently investigated in experiments using double-slit and coincidence measurements. Fringes are obtained, with a controlled degree of visibility, placing the slits in the signal beam and scanning the signal detector [direct interference---Phys. Rev. A 49, 4176 (1994)] and also, for the degenerated type II down-conversion, with slits in the signal beam and scanning the idler detector [ghost interference---Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 3600 (1995)]. The idea of a ghost source is used to discuss the direct interference experiment. Using a nondegenerated type I down-conversion, experimental results are obtained showing that the visibility of the ghost interference patterns can be controlled by the ghost source size, analogously as it can be done for a real light source. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
Third-order Hanbrury Brown—Twiss and double-slit interference experiments with a pseudo-thermal light are performed by recording intensities in single, double and triple optical paths, respectively. The experimental results verifies the theoretical prediction that the indispensable condition for achieving a interference pattern or ghost image in N th-order intensity correlation measurements is the synchronous detection of the same light field by each reference detector, no matter the intensities recorded in one, or two, or N optical paths. It is shown that, when the reference detectors are scanned in the opposite directions, the visibility and resolution of the third-order spatial correlation function of thermal light is much better than that scanned in the same direction, but it is no use for obtaining the N th-order interference pattern or ghost image in the thermal N th-order interference or ghost imaging.
Interference experiments characterized by the degree of first-order coherence (Young’s fringes, Fresnel, and Fraunhofer diffraction, etc.) have been performed with massive particles, in particular electrons and neutrons, as well as with light. Optical intensity interference or correlation experiments characterized by the degree of second-order coherence have not yet been performed with particles. The theory for such experiments shows striking differences in the behavior of electrons compared with that of light deriving from the differences in quantum statistics and charge. Photons are neutral bosons. They can be prepared in states that exhibit bunching, no bunching, or antibunching; they are unaffected by the presence of electromagnetic potentials. Electrons are charged fermions. Theory indicates that they exhibit antibunching regardless of the coherence of the source, and that their degree of second-order coherence can be influenced by electromagnetic fields through which they do not pass. A remarkable example is the Hanbury Brown-Twiss experiment with electrons that have interacted locally with the vector potential of an inaccessible magnetic field. The electron intensity correlation at two detectors is shown to be sensitive to the confined magnetic flux; experimental conditions differ considerably from those of the well-known Aharonov-Bohm effect.