Entanglement in optical parametric down-conversion with losses and noise

We show that radiation generated in optical parametric down-conversion with losses and noise is entangled for all times if the coupling coefficient is higher than half of damping constant and the product of damping constant and mean number of noise photons. For the process stimulated by means of chaotic light there is a saturable bound of its intensity for the generation of nonclassical light. Otherwise the quantum behaviour and entanglement are fully reduced. Under some restrictions for noise nonclassical light can also be generated at and below the threshold.     

Conditional generation of field states in parametric down-conversion

The statistics of generalized measurements provides the implicit definition of specific states of light. We examine practical schemes of generation of these states by the quantum-state reduction associated with an arbitrary generalized measurement. Some currently available examples are presented.     

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.     

Spontaneous parametric down-conversion

Spontaneous Parametric Down-Conversion (SPDC), also known as parametric fluorescence, parametric noise, parametric scattering and all various combinations of the abbreviation SPDC, is a non-linear optical process where a photon spontaneously splits into two other photons of lower energies. One would think that this article is about particle physics and yet it is not, as this process can occur fairly easily on a day to day basis in an optics laboratory. Nowadays, SPDC is at the heart of many quantum optics experiments for applications in quantum cryptography, quantum simulation, quantum metrology but also for testing fundamentals laws of physics in quantum mechanics. In this article, we will focus on the physics of this process and highlight a few important properties of SPDC. There will be two parts: a first theoretical one showing the particular quantum nature of SPDC, and the second part, more experimental and in particular focusing on applications of parametric down-conversion. This is clearly a non-exhaustive article about parametric down-conversion as there is a tremendous literature on the subject, but it gives the necessary first elements needed for a novice student or researcher to work on SPDC sources of light.     

Spontaneous parametric down-conversion

Spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in media with no inversion center and the use of this phenomenon in the spectroscopy of natural oscillation states of a crystal lattice (i.e., optical phonons) are retrospectively described. We think that the SPDC spectroscopy method is estimated inappropriately and hope to again attract the attention of readers to one of the most interesting quantum phenomena of nonlinear optics that has no classical analog. The capabilities of SPDC spectroscopy will certainly be used in both fundamental science and technology of new materials.     

Phonon-phonon interaction and parametric down-conversion generation in multimode optomechanical systems

We studied the process of polariton conversion in a 3-mode nonlinear optomechanical system.Compared with the standard 2-mode optomechanical system, we find a much larger conversion rate of polariton modes can be achieved under typical dissipation conditions. To obtain a transparent understanding of the relevant physical process, we show that in the large detuned case, the cavity can be eliminated adiabatically, resulting in a parametric down-conversion(PDC) interaction between two phononic polar...     

Revisiting non-degenerate parametric down-conversion

The quantum dynamics of a two-mode non-resonant parametric down-conversion process is studied by recasting the time evolution equations for the basic operators in an equivalent spin equation form with simpler exact solutions for a pump field with harmonic time dependence. Expectation values of suitable operators for studying important features such as squeezing and quantum revivals are presented in simple forms.      

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.     

Terahertz generation with tandem seeded optical parametric generators

A simple difference frequency generation (DFG) scheme based on two seeded optical parametric generators is presented as a tunable terahertz (THz) source. Using the nonlinear optical crystal 4-dimethylamino-N-methyl-4-stilbazolium-tosylate (DAST) as the DFG crystal, our system has demonstrated continuous and seamless tunable operation from 1.6 to 4.5 THz. The output bandwidth of the THz source is 2.4 GHz. The utility of the source over this spectral range is demonstrated by measuring a high-resolution transmission spectrum of water vapor in air.     

Four-photon correlations in parametric down-conversion

Four-photon correlations of the output radiation of a parametric amplifier with a vacuum at the input are considered for an arbitrary parametric gain coefficient. Such states are interpreted in the literature as four-photon states. It is shown that the fourth-order correlation function for such states in the limit of a small number of photons has an asymptotics typical of two-photon states. Nevertheless, even in the “classical” limit of high intensities, the level of four-photon correlations, i.e., the value of the normalized fourth-order correlation function, is substantially greater than that for coherent and even thermal fields.     

High-efficiency generation of a supercontinuum in an optical fiber

The results of experimental studies of high-efficiency generation of a supercontinuum in different types of single-mode optical fibers by pulses with a width of ～20 ps and with a wavelength widely tunable within the regions of normal and anomalous dispersion of the fibers are reported. A high efficiency of transformation of initially monochromatic radiation into a wide-spectrum supercontinuum with intense wings (in the range of 1000–2100 nm at a transformation efficiency of 95%) is demonstrated.     

Multimode description of stimulated parametric down-conversion

We derive multimode generating functions, photon-number distributions, integrated-intensity distributions, moments and quadrature fluctuations for stimulated parametric down-conversion in relation to experiments measuring joint distributions. The border between classical and quantum behaviour is given.     

Simple and efficient quantum key distribution with parametric down-conversion

We propose an efficient quantum key distribution protocol based on the photon-pair generation from parametric down-conversion (PDC). It uses the same experimental setup as the conventional protocol, but a refined data analysis enables detection of photon-number splitting attacks by utilizing information from a built-in decoy state. Assuming the use of practical detectors, we analyze the unconditional security of the new scheme and show that it improves the secure key generation rate by several orders of magnitude at long distances, using a high intensity PDC source.     

Broadband optical frequency comb generation with a phase-modulated parametric oscillator

We introduce a novel broadband optical frequency comb generator consisting of a parametric oscillator with an intracavity electro-optic phase modulator. The parametric oscillator is pumped by 532-nm light and produces near-degenerate signal and idler fields. The modulator generates a comb structure about both the signal and the idler. Coupling between the two families of modes results in a dispersion-limited comb that spans 20 nm (5.3 THz). A signal-to-noise ratio of >30 dB in a 300-kHz bandwidth is observed in the beat frequency between individual comb elements and a reference laser.     

Infrared laser generation by cascaded difference frequency generation combined with optical parametric oscillator

Optical Review - We introduce an infrared laser generation scheme by cascaded difference frequency generation (CDFG) combined with optical parametric oscillator (OPO). An inventive infrared laser...     

Optical poling in germanium-doped microstructured optical fiber for visible supercontinuum generation

We report visible supercontinuum generation initiated by the second harmonic generation obtained in a germanium-doped microstructured optical fiber after optical poling processing. The visible spectral broadening is due to a cross-phase modulation effect between the generated IR solitons and the second harmonic (532 nm) of the 1064 nm pump wave. The 400-650 nm white-light emission is obtained on the fundamental propagation mode of the fiber.     

Ghost interference in double-slit experiment with type-II parametric down-conversion resource

A double-slit ghost interference experiment performed on an entangled resource using type-II non-collinear degenerate spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) is demonstrated. The influence of the distance between the double-slit and the bucket detector preceded by a pinhole is studied. The experimental results show that the interference fringes become increasingly distinct with higher visibility when the pinhole-double-slit distance increases. A first-order classical theory based on the Klyshko’s two-photon advanced-wave picture, and a second-order quantum-image theory are provided for explanations. The fitting results indicate that the divergence of the converted fluorescence significantly affects the ghost fringes.