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arXiv:quant-ph/0305019 · Physical Review Letters

Quantum Measurement of the Degree of Polarization of a Light Beam

Matthieu Legré, Mark Wegmüller, Nicolas Gisin

Published Oct 16, 2003• 20 citations
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Abstract

We demonstrate a coherent quantum measurement for the determination of the degree of polarization (DOP). This method allows us to measure the DOP in the presence of fast polarization state fluctuations, difficult to achieve with the typically used polarimetric technique. A good precision of the DOP measurements is obtained using eight type II nonlinear crystals assembled for spatial walk-off compensation.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.91.167902

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The classical definition of degree of polarization (DOP) is expressed in the quantum domain by replacing intensities through quantum mechanical average values of relevant number operators and is viewed as the first generalization of intensity. This definition assigns inaccurately the unpolarized status to some typical optical fields, e.g., amplitude-coherent phase-randomized and hidden-polarized light, which are not truly unpolarized light. The apparent paradoxical trait is circumvented by proposing a new definition of DOP in quantum optics through the second generalization of intensity. The correspondence of a new DOP to the usual DOP in quantum optics is established. It is seen that the two definitions disagree significantly for intense optical fields but coincide for weak light (thermal light) or for optical fields in which occupancy of photons in the orthogonal mode is very feeble. Our proposed definition of DOP, similar to other proposals in literature, reveals an interesting feature that states of polarization of optical quantum fields depend upon the average photons (intensity) present therein.