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arXiv:quant-ph/9711030

A local realist theory of parametric down conversion

Trevor W. Marshall

Published Nov 17, 1997• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

In a series of articles we have shown that all parametric-down- conversion processes, both of type-I and type-II, may be described by a positive Wigner density. These results, together with our description of how light detectors subtract the zeropoint radiation, indicated the possibility of a completely local realist theory of all these processes. In the present article we show how the down-converted fields may be described as retarded fields, generated by currents inside the nonlinear crystal, thereby achieving such a theory. Most of its predictions coincide with the standard nonlocal theory. However, the intensities of the down converted signals do not correspond exactly with the photon pairs of the nonlocal theory. For example, in a blue- red down conversion we would find 1.03 red "photons" for every blue one. The theory also predicts a new phenomenon, namely parametric up conversion from the vacuum.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.quant-ph/9711030

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In a series of articles we have shown that all parametric-down- conversion processes, both of type-I and type-II, may be described by a positive Wigner density. These results, together with our description of how light detectors subtract the zeropoint radiation, indicated the possibility of a completely local realist theory of all these processes. In the present article we show how the down-converted fields may be described as retarded fields, generated by currents inside the nonlinear crystal, thereby achieving such a theory. Most of its predictions coincide with the standard nonlocal theory. However, the intensities of the down converted signals do not correspond exactly with the photon pairs of the nonlocal theory. For example, in a blue- red down conversion we would find 1.03 red "photons" for every blue one. The theory also predicts a new phenomenon, namely parametric up conversion from the vacuum.
In previous articles we have developed a theory of down conversion in nonlinear crystals, based on the Wigner representation of the radiation field. Taking advantage of the fact that the Wigner function is always positive in parametric down conversion experiments, we construct a local hidden variables model where the amplitudes of the field modes are taken as random variables whose probability distribution is the Wigner function. In order to achieve our goal we give a model of detection which is fully local but departs from quantum theory. In our model the zeropoint (vacuum) level of radiation lies below a threshold of the detectors and only signals above the threshold are detectable. The predictions of the model agree with those of quantum mechanics if the signal intensities surpase some level and the efficiency is low. This is consistent with the known fact that quantum mechanics is compatible with local realism in that case (a fact called the ``efficiency loophole''). Our model gives a number of constraints which do not follow from the quantum theory of detection and are experimentally testable.
We develop a local realist analysis of parametric down conversion, based on the recognition that the pump field, instead of down converting spontaneously, does so through its nonlinear coupling with a real zeropoint, or "vacuum" electromagnetic field. The theory leads tothe prediction of a new phenomenon - that, in addition to the main down-conversion rainbow, there is a satellite rainbow, whose intensity is about 3 per cent of the main one. Confirmation of this prediction will call seriously into question the current description of the light field in terms of photons. The present article extends the analysis of its predecessors (this archive, numbers 9711029 and 9712001) to take account of the pump's polarization>
We demonstrate that the phenomenon known as Spontaneous Parametric Down Conversion is really an amplification, in a nonlinear crystal pumped by a laser, of certain pairs of modes of the electromagnetic zeropoint field. The demonstration is achieved by showing the existence of a related phenomenon, Spontaneous Parametric Up Conversion. This phenomenon, once observed, will cast doubt on the quantum-optical theory, which treats photons as the elementary objects of the light field. It will also lend greater credibility to the zeropoint-field description of optical entanglement phenomena. That description is based on the unquantized light field and is consistently local, in contrast with the nonlocal description of Quantum Optics.
Abstract In this article we present a local hidden variables model for all experiments involving photon pairs produced in parametric down conversion, based on the Wigner representation of the radiation field. A modification of the standard quantum theory of detection is made in order to give a local realistic explanation of the counting rates in photodetectors. This model involves the existence of a real zeropoint field, such that the vacumm level of radiation lies below the threshold of the detectors.