Loss of polarization entanglement in a fiber-optic system with polarization mode dispersion in one optical path

We characterize theoretically and experimentally the degradation of polarization entanglement in a fiber-optic entanglement distribution system where one of the optical fibers is exposed to the effects of polarization mode dispersion (PMD). We show gradual reduction of entanglement with increasing PMD and find that the highest PMD tolerance is achieved when the bandwidth of the pump used to generate the entangled photons in a χ((3)) process is approximately half the bandwidth of the quantum channels.     

Large polarization squeezing in non-degenerate parametric amplification of coherent radiation

Polarization squeezing is shown to occur in non-degenerate parametric amplification of coherent light and the degree of squeezing at interaction time T can be as large as 1 ? e^-2T. This gives 86.4% polarization squeezing for T = 1 and 98.2% for T = 2. One simple case when this occurs is on taking initially plane polarized light having equal amplitudes in the two modes that finally has equal intensities of two circular polarizations. This suggest the experimental settings of parameters to achieve this extent of polarization squeezing in coherent light.     

Nano-structured magnetic photonic crystals for magneto-optic polarization controllers at the communication-band wavelengths

We investigate the properties of optimized 1-D magnetic photonic crystal structures using doped iron garnet layers as magnetic constituents, for use in integrated-optics polarization controllers. We engineer the enhancement of Faraday rotation near 1,550 nm and describe a novel hysteresis-based driving scheme suitable for implementing ultra-fast polarization controllers.     

The influence of laser fluctuations on entanglement generation in a non-degenerate parametric amplifier

We consider the effects of the phase and the amplitude fluctuations of the pump field upon the entanglement generation in a non-degenerate optical parametric amplifier. We show that the entanglement between the signal and idler modes in a NOPA system are suppressed by these fluctuations. Our results also show that entanglement is more sensitive to phase fluctuations than to amplitude fluctuations.     

High-fidelity source of four-photon entanglement

A polarisation-entangled four-photon state can be generated directly by a second order parametric down-conversion process. We use this emission to characterise the properties of a four-qubit state and to analyse its entanglement based on the violation of a four-particle Bell inequality. The observed high count rates and the fidelity of the polarisation correlations are the basis for the realisation of several new multiparty quantum communications schemes, such as secure multiparty key distribution and quantum telecloning. PACS 03.67.Mn; 03.65.Ud; 42.50.Ar; 42.65.Lm     

Experimental demonstration of continuous variable polarization entanglement

We report the experimental transformation of quadrature entanglement between two optical beams into continuous variable polarization entanglement. We extend the inseparability criterion proposed by Duan et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 2722 (2000)]] to polarization states and use it to quantify the entanglement. We propose an elaboration utilizing two quadrature entangled pairs for which all three Stokes operators between a pair of beams are entangled.     

Pairwise entanglement and local polarization of Heisenberg model

The characteristics of pairwise entanglement and local polarization (LP) are discussed by studying the ground state (states) of the Heisenberg XX model. The results show that: the ground state (states) is (are) composed of the micro states with the minimal polarization (0 for even qubit and 1/2 for odd qubit); LP and the probability of the micro state have an intimate relation, i.e. the stronger the LP, the smaller the probability, and the same LP corresponds to the same probability; the pairwise entanglement of the ground state is the biggest in all eigenvectors. It is found that the pairwise entanglement is decreased by the state degeneracy and the system size. The concurrence approaches a fixed value of about 0.3412 (for odd-qubit chain) or 0.3491 (for even-qubit chain) if the qubit number is large enough. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 10547008, 90403034, 90403019, 90406017 and 60525417), the National Key Basic Research Special Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 2005CB724508 and 2006CB921400), the Foundation of Xi’an Institute of Post and Telecommunications (Grant No. 105-0414), and the Natural Science Foundation of Shanxi Province (Grant No. 2004A15)     

Heralded amplification of single-photon entanglement with polarization feature

Heralded noiseless amplification is beneficial in overcoming transmission photon loss in a noisy quantum channel. We propose a single-photon-assisted heralded noiseless amplification protocol of the singlephoton entanglement (SPE), where the single-photon qubit has an arbitrary unknown polarization feature. We focus on both the complete and partial photon loss during the transmission process. After the amplification, the parties can recover the pure less-entangled SPE into a maximally entangled SPE and increase its fidelity. Moreover, the polarization feature of the single-photon qubit will be well preserved and not be leaked. Our protocol can be realized under our current experimental condition. Based on the features above, our protocol may be useful in the quantum secure communication schemes that encode information in the polarization degree of freedom of photons.     

The propagation characteristic of the EPR entanglement for a composite non-degenerate parametric optical amplification system

This paper applies the minimum variance V₁ criterion to monitor the evolution of signal and idler modes of a composite non-degenerate optical parametric amplification (NOPA) system. The analytics and numerical calculation show the influence of the transition time, the vacuum fluctuations, and the thermal noise level on the EPR entanglement of the composite NOPA system. It finds that the entanglement and the squeezing degrade as the minimum variance V₁ increases.     

Sudden death of entanglement induced by polarization mode dispersion

We study the decoherence of polarization-entangled photon pairs subject to the effects of polarization mode dispersion, the chief polarization decoherence mechanism in optical fibers. We show that fiber propagation reveals an intriguing interplay between the concepts of entanglement sudden death, decoherence-free subspaces, and nonlocality. We define the boundaries in which entanglement-based quantum communications protocols relying on fiber propagation can be applied.     

TeO2 single-crystal acoustooptic 2×2 switch for light beams of different wavelengths

The principles of acoustooptic switching of two light beams of different wavelengths by means of an acoustooptic interaction with two acoustic waves are examined. A version in which the acoustic waves form parallelograms and a version with strictly orthogonal propagation are considered. The latter version is the more attractive one when a TeO₂ single crystal is used as the acoustooptic cell. Experiments on the switching of two-color Ar laser radiation with wavelengths λ₁=0.5145 and λ₂=0.488 μm are carried out and demonstrate a high switching efficiency. On the whole, the experiment confirms the basic conclusions of the theory. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 67, 66–71 (February 1997)     

Broadband source of polarization entangled photons

A broadband source of polarization entangled photons based on type-II spontaneous parametric down conversion from a chirped PPKTP crystal is presented. With numerical simulation and experimental evaluation, we report a source of broadband polarization entangled states with a bandwidth of approximately 125 nm for use in quantum interferometry. The technique has the potential to become a basis for the development of flexible broadband sources with designed spectral properties.     

Effect of spectral dependencies of radiation-induced attenuation in polarization maintaining fibers on interferometric fiber optic gyroscope at near-infrared wavelengths

In order to analyze the effect of spectral dependencies of radiation-induced attenuation in polarization maintaining fibers on interferometric fiber optic gyroscopes at near-infrared wavelengths, phosphorus-doped, germanium-doped and pure-silica-core fibers were exposed to a ⁶⁰Co γ-radiation source, as well as their spectral properties were compared and interpreted by color centers theory involving total dose-dependent infrared absorption bands. Based on testing and comparing the radiation-induced attenuation spectra, the loss variation and mean wavelength shift in fibers at 1300 nm and 1550 nm wavelengths are discussed. Finally, the random walk coefficient degradation and scale factor error induced by spectral dependencies of radiation-induced attenuation in fibers are verified.     

Optical nuclear polarization for sensitivity enhancement of2H NMR single-crystal studies

A gain in detection sensitivity of more than three orders of magnitude is achieved in high-resolution solid-state²H nuclear magnetic resonance of monocrystalline fluorene-d₁₀ by applying optical nuclear polarization via excited triplet states of acridine-h₉ guest molecules. The sensitivity gain is utilized to measure the angular dependence (rotation pattern) of the²H nuclear magnetic resonance lines. In this way the principal values and orientations of all²H quadrupolar tensors are determined. Except for the methylene deuterons, all tensors belonging to the same molecule have one principal axis in common, namely the axis perpendicular to the molecular plane, showing that in the crystal lattice the fluorene molecule is in a planar configuration.     

Purity and entanglement of two-photon polarization states generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion

We elucidate the dependence of purity and entanglement of two-photon states generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion on the parameters of the source, such as crystal length, pump beam divergence, frequency bandwidth, and detectors angular aperture. The effect of crystal anisotropy is taken into account. Numerical simulations are presented for two types of commonly used source configurations.     

Dynamic nuclear polarization at 9T using a novel 250 gyrotron microwave source

In the 1990’s we initiated development of high frequency gyrotron microwave sources with the goal of performing dynamic nuclear polarization at magnetic fields (∼5–23 T) used in contemporary NMR experiments. This article describes the motivation for these efforts and the developments that led to the operation of a gyrotron source for DNP operating at 250 GHz. We also mention results obtained with this instrument that would have been otherwise impossible absent the increased sensitivity. Finally, we describe recent efforts that have extended DNP to 460 GHz and 700 MHz ¹H frequencies.     

Demonstration of a stable atom-photon entanglement source for quantum repeaters

We demonstrate a novel way to efficiently create a robust entanglement between an atomic and a photonic qubit. A single laser beam is used to excite one atomic ensemble and two different modes of Raman fields are collected to generate the atom-photon entanglement. With the help of built-in quantum memory, the entanglement still exists after 20.5 micros storage time which is further proved by the violation of Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt type Bell's inequality. The entanglement procedure can serve as a building block for a novel robust quantum repeater architecture [Zhao, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 240502 (2007)10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.240502] and can be extended to generate high-dimensional atom-photon entanglements.     

用光子纠缠源验证Bell不等式

以Bell不等式的推广形式CHSH不等式为理论指导,利用自主搭建的双光子纠缠源制备光子纠缠态,通过测量不同条件下符合对比度计算Bell不等式,验证了量子力学的完备性.