The influence of the icosahedral percolation transition in supercooled liquid iron on the diffusion mobility of atoms

An experiment on preparation of entangled photon pairs (biphotons) in an arbitrary polarization state is described. The biphotons are qutrits (three-state quantum systems). They can be used in ternary quantum cryptography protocols. A theoretically derived orthogonality criterion for the prepared biphotons is validated experimentally. The criterion can be used to identify orthogonal biphoton states.     

Measurement of the photonic de broglie wavelength of entangled photon pairs generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion

Using a basic Mach-Zehnder interferometer, we demonstrate experimentally the measurement of the photonic de Broglie wavelength of entangled photon pairs (biphotons) generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion. The observed interference manifests the concept of the photonic de Broglie wavelength. We also discuss the phase uncertainty obtained from the experiment.     

Quantum interference and diffraction of parametric down-converted biphotons

We present two-photon diffraction and interference experiments utilizing parametric down-converted photon pairs (biphotons) and a transmission grating. The biphoton exhibits a diffraction-interference pattern equivalent to an effective single particle with half wavelength of the constituent photons.     

Generation of Competitive and Coexisting Two Pairs of Biphotons in Single Hot Atomic Vapor Cell

The non-classical states of light serve as a potential candidate for emerging quantum information process. A processing trend to enhance its scalability is to integrate multiple nonlinear processes with the dressed-state picture into a single device, and therefore, are useful for quantum computations. Here, a novel method is proposed to experimentally achieve the generation of coexisting two pairs of narrow-band biphotons by two four-wave mixing processes in a single hot rubidium vapor cell. Based on the photon-atom nonlinear interfaces, the generated biphotons exhibits genuine entanglement in time–energy. Meanwhile, the nonlinear susceptibility with the dressed-state picture decides the temporal correlation of the biphotons wave packet as a damped periodic Rabi oscillation, suggesting the property of the high-dimensional time–energy entangled state. Such a high-dimensional entangled state also is an efficient way to enhance information carrying capacity. By alternating two nonlinear susceptibilities in a single device, respectively, there exists a competition of the generation rate between such two pairs of biphotons. Moreover, both generated two pairs of biphotons that violate the Cauchy–Schwarz inequality and show their non-classical behavior.     

Biphoton light generation in polarization-frequency bell states

Four polarization-frequency Bell states are obtained experimentally for photon pairs (biphotons) emitted during spontaneous parametric scattering from continuous pumping in the collinear frequency-nondegenerate regime. The polarization properties of such states are investigated. It is shown that biphoton light in the singlet Bell state is not polarized in the second or fourth order in the field.     

Beamlike high-brightness source of polarization-entangled photon pairs

We report on an ultrabright beamlike source of polarization-entangled photon pairs that is suitable for the task of multiphoton quantum information processing. The photon pairs are generated from a beamlike type-II parametric downconversion process in two adjacently located but 180 degrees rotated beta-barium borate crystals. Approximately 30,000 s(-1) entangled photon pairs are recorded experimentally with only 100 mW pump power. The fidelity of the generated entangled state as compared with a Bell state is measured to be 0.974 with the method of quantum state tomography. With this source, we also obtain a violation of Bell's inequality by 61 standard deviations in just a few seconds.     

Entanglement in cascaded-crystal parametric down-conversion

We use spontaneous parametric down-conversion in a cascade of crystals, driven by a single monochromatic cw pump laser, to study the interference of entangled photon pairs. By changing the distance between the crystals, the observed quantum interference pattern varies continuously from that associated with a longer single crystal to that associated with independent emissions from two distinct crystals. Postselection via spectral filtering suppresses this phenomenon. These findings are expected to advance the field of quantum-state engineering.     

基于周期极化晶体MgO:PPLN的纠缠光子对制备过程的研究

基于二阶非线性效应的自发参量转换技术制备纠缠光子对过程中,以掺5 mol%MgO:PPLN周期极化晶体为研究对象,将光参量变换过程中的动量守恒和能量守恒条件与该晶体的色散方程,以及晶体极化周期随温度变化的热膨胀方程相联系,得到了355 nm、405 nm、532 nm、780 nm和1 064 nm这5个实验室常用波长点在制备纠缠光子对时的周期调谐特性和温度调谐特性。研究过程中发现,出现了晶体极化周期过小和产生两对纠缠光子对问题,总结并归纳了各波长点在一定极化周期和温度下与非线性晶体作用所产生的纠缠光波段范围。当选用其他非线性周期极化晶体进行实验时,改变QPM动量守恒条件中的极化周期项,同时根据具体使用的晶体改变色散方程。该研究方案可直接推广到使用不同非线性晶体产生通信光波段或红外光波段的纠缠光子对研究中,在制备量子光源等领域具有重要研究价值。     

Generation of narrow-band correlated photon pairs by spontaneous down conversion in a cavity

The problem of generating a narrow-band biphoton field during spontaneous parametric down conversion of light in a quadratic nonlinear medium in a cavity is discussed. It is shown that, in the case of double resonance (for signal and idle fields), the form of the single-photon wave packet is biexponential and has a half-width determined by the photon life time in the cavity. An experiment is carried out on the generation of narrow-band biphotons in a crystal of lithium iodine with I-type matching in a frequency degenerate collinear regime. The second-order correlation function of the cavity-enhanced biphotons is measured using the electric nanosecond time delay line.     

基于Ⅱ类周期极化铌酸锂波导的通信波段小型化频率纠缠源产生及其量子特性测量

自发参量下转换过程制备的纠缠光源在量子光学及其相关领域有着广泛的应用.本文利用780 nm的分布式布拉格反射镜激光二极管抽运一块长10 mm的Ⅱ类准相位匹配的周期极化铌酸锂波导,产生了偏振正交的频率反关联纠缠光子对.通过实验结果与理论的完美结合得到,当进入波导的抽运光功率为44.9 mW时,下转换双光子对的产生速率为1.87×10~7s~(-1).利用单色仪对下转换光子的频谱进行分析,得到信号和闲置光子的中心波长分别为1561.43 nm和1561.45 nm,频谱宽度为3.62 nm和3.60 nm,双光子符合包络宽度约为3.18 nm,可以得到双光子的频率纠缠度为1.131.00,表征了双光子的频率纠缠特性.利用Hong-Ou-Mandel干涉仪测量双光子的二阶量子干涉特性,测得的干涉可见度为96.1%,干涉图谱的凹陷宽度为1.47 ps.     

Superfluid state of coherent light in nonlinear waveguides

We establish the photonic superfluid theory in waveguides made of self-defocussing polar crystals. In quantum theory it is shown that photons can sense an attractive effective interaction by exchange of virtual optical phonons. Such an interaction leads to the photonic superfluid state, in which a propagating photon pair consists of a combination of two photons with opposite transverse wave vector and spins. The most important property of the photonic superfluid state is that the system of photon pairs evolves without scattering attenuations. The traveling-wave superfluid state has the squeezing property and the soliton effect.     

Large-alphabet quantum key distribution using energy-time entangled bipartite States

We present a protocol for large-alphabet quantum key distribution (QKD) using energy-time entangled biphotons. Binned, high-resolution timing measurements are used to generate a large-alphabet key with over 10 bits of information per photon pair, albeit with large noise. QKD with 5% bit error rate is demonstrated with 4 bits of information per photon pair, where the security of the quantum channel is determined by the visibility of Franson interference fringes. The protocol is easily generalizable to even larger alphabets, and utilizes energy-time entanglement which is robust to transmission over large distances in fiber.     

Heralding Pure Single Photons Generated with Spontaneous Parametric Down Conversion

We investigate the possibility of generated heralding single photons via spontaneous parametric down conversion using periodically poled lithium niobate crystals with different phase-matching. We use the Schmidt decomposition to calculate the degree of entanglement of photon pairs We simulated the spectral purity, bandwidth, and the joint spectral intensity pictures of degenerate and non-degenerate photon pairs. At last, we obtain an ideal condition of the counter-propagating photons, which can be applied in the quantum communication.     

Theory for quantum state of photon pairs generated from spontaneous parametric down-conversion nonlinear process

A theory is presented for the quantum state of photon pairs generated from spontaneous parametric down-conversion nonlinear process. In this theory, the influence of the final sizes of nonlinear optical crystals on optical eigenmodes is explicitly taken into consideration. It was found that these photon pairs are not in entangled quantum states. Polarization correlations between the signal beam and the idler beam are explained. It is also shown that the two photons generated from SPDC are not spatially separated, therefore the polarization correlation between the signal and idler beams is not an evidence for quantum non-locality. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Narrowband photon pair generation and waveform reshaping

In this article, we review on narrowband photon pairs producedin nonlinear crystals, and especially in atomic ensembles. In atomicensembles, “write-read” process in pulse mode andspontaneous four-wave mixing process (SFWM) in continuous mode aretwo popular photon pair generation schemes. We specifically discussthe experimental works with continuous SFWM scheme in cold atomicensembles. Photon pairs produced in these systems are characteristicof controllable long coherence time, and therefore are accessiblewith direct temporal modulation. We elaborate on the recent techniqueson modulation and waveform reshaping of narrow-band paired photons.     

Highly efficient polarization-entangled photon source using periodically poled lithium niobate waveguides

In our experiment, two channels of a 3 cm long periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide are used to generate the nondegenerate spontaneous parametric down conversion (NSPDC) photon pairs. We experimentally obtained the highly efficient polarization-entangled photon pairs by coherently combining two NSPDC processes, and keeping the phase stable over 30 min. We can also prepare two entangled photon pairs with different central wavelengths with the help of wavelength division multiplex.     

Propagation of light through localized coupled-cavity modes in one-dimensional photonic band-gap structures

We report on the observation of a new type of propagation mechanism through evanescent coupled optical cavity modes in one-dimensional photonic crystals. The crystal is fabricated from alternating silicon-oxide/silicon-nitride pairs with silicon-oxide cavity layers. We achieved nearly full transmission throughout the guiding band of the periodic coupled cavities within the photonic band gap. The tight-binding (TB) parameter κ is determined from experimental results, and the dispersion relation, group velocity and photon lifetime corresponding to the coupled-cavity structures are analyzed within the TB approximation. The measurements are in good agreement with transfer-matrix-method simulations and predictions of the TB photon picture. Received: 21 August 2000 / Revised version: 22 August 2000 / Published online: 9 November 2000     

Ultrabroadband biphotons generated via chirped quasi-phase-matched optical parametric down-conversion

We generate ultrabroadband biphotons via the process of spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in quasi-phase-matched nonlinear gratings that have a linearly chirped wave vector. By using these ultrabroadband biphotons (300-nm bandwidth), we measure the narrowest Hong-Ou-Mandel dip to date, having a full width at half maximum of 7.1 fs. This enables the generation of a high flux of nonoverlapping biphotons with ultrabroad bandwidth, thereby promoting the use of SPDC light in many nonclassical applications.     

Differential-phase quantum key distribution experiment using a series of quantum entangled photon pairs

We report what we believe to be the first differential-phase quantum key distribution experiment using a series of quantum entangled photon pairs. We employed two outstanding techniques. As an entangled photon source, we used a 1.5 microm band entangled photon pair source based on spontaneous four-wave mixing in a cooled dispersion-shifted fiber. As receivers, photon pairs were actively phase modulated with LiNbO3 phase modulators followed by very stable planar light-wave circuit Mach-Zehnder interferometers, which provided two nonorthogonal measurements. As a consequence, we successfully generated sifted keys with a quantum bit error rate of 8.3% and a key generation rate of 0.3 bit/s and revealed the feasibility of this QKD scheme.     

Interferometric optical path measurement of a glass wedge with single photons and biphotons

We have measured the phase structure of a glass wedge with single photons and biphotons in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer using parametric downconverted light from a Hong-Ou-Mandel particle interferometer as the source. By scanning the wedge through the focus of a microscope objective we find a doubling of the period of the interference pattern in the coincidence counts for biphotons compared to the single-photon experiment. We compare our measurement setup with classical ones and discuss some of the problems of superresolution in quantum lithography.