Physics Letters A 163 (1992) 349—355 North-Holland
Multiphoton interference and polarization effects D.N. Klyshko Physics Department, Moscow State University, Moscow 119899, Russia Received 2 January 1992; accepted for publication 20 January 1992 Communicated by V.M. Agranovich
Several modifications of recently performed two-photon quantum-optical experiments are proposed together with their classical interpretation and systematization. New phenomena such as the “hidden polarization” or “higher-order Malus laws” could be observed ifthe intensity correlations are registered.
I. Introduction
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There seems to be a continuing interest in experiments involving the observation of intensity interference using two-photon light (TPL) in various optical schemes (see refs. [1—10]). TPL can be generated by means of two-quantum transitions in atoms or of three- or four-wave parametric processes. The parametric TPL is in some sense squeezed, so it is called squeezed vacuum (SV). It is possible also to use the classical squeezed light (SL), produced by parametric conversion ofthe usual light [11,12]. We mention another way rather unexpected and quite unpractical to squeeze the vacuum: by moving through it with constant acceleratiOn [13]. In the present communication the following topics are discussed: the classification of various effects, their unified description, classical interpretation and possible modifications using multiphoton light (MPL), SL and the usual light.
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2. Classification and classical interpretation The experiments in question are described by the optical scheme’s output correlation function G~1 4a,,, is the photon number <:nknl:>,They where operator. cann,,ma), be categorized into several main types (fig. 1), involving two, four or a continuum of spatial or polarization modes. In the scheme of fig.
Fig. 1. The basic schemes of intensity interference experiments, involving two (a), four (b), (c) or a continuum (d) of spatial or polarization modes.The modes are mixed by elements D (beam splitters, rotators, etc.). The output intensity correlation is measured by two detectors and a coincidence scheme.
1 a a beam splitter (BS) [4,8], an interferometer [14], or a polarization rotator can be used for mixing; it shows the correlation suppression effect [4,8,12, 14,15] and the spatial quantum beats [5,8,12]. The scheme of fig. lb embraces the usual HanburyBrown— Twiss interference (HBTI) and its TPL modifications, including the EPR-type experiments (see refs. [1,2,9,16—19]). The indexes x, y may refer to two polarization types, two [6,16] stars, two nonlinear with a common pump or two pairs crystals of conjugated modes, picked up by diaphragms from one crystal’s parametric radiation [9,17,181. The scheme offig. ic [10,12,20] is a particular case ofthe scheme
with arbitrary frequency filters in each channel [211, which demonstrates the EPR paradox for the photon observables w, t; the same for q1, p ~ is demonstrated by the scheme of fig. 1 d [22]. The intensity interference in general has a simple classical explanation: the phase fluctuations in the input beams turn into intensity fluctuations in the output beams. Indeed, let the two in-beams of fig. 1 a have equal and constant and indepen0k (amplitudes t), k = x, y. A 50% BS (or dently diffusingorphases interferometer rotator) directs all input energy into one output mode x’ at the moments when 0 = 0 and toy’ at other moments when 0 = x. —
As a result the output intensities acquire strong fluctuations, which are perfectly anticorrelated; therefore G~~=min. This is the correlation suppression effect [4,8,15]. The spatial quantum beats [5,8,12] also have a simple classical origin: when w~, WY then there are regular beats in the output intensities, whose relative phases depend on the optical path lengths. When four or more modes are mixed, fig. 1 b, there are two possibilities depending on thewave inputinterferphases statistics: HBTI or AWl (advanced ence) [161. In classical terms they can be characterized by phase correlation or anticorrelation: Ø~± Ø~= const (the phase delays are designated according to fig. ib). Both HBTI and AWl have in essence the same classical explanation as the two-mode interference, Quantum theory predicts in all cases the same interference pattern as the classical one with a single
30 March 1992
3. General properties of MPL An evident (and difficult in practice) way to generalise the two-photon effects is to use N-photon light with N= 3, 4 As the TPL it also can be generated by cascade transitions in atoms or by parametric processes, described by the matter nonlinearity x (N) Practically the cascade generators using several three-wave interactions may be preferable. Belinskiiparametric recently proposed a concrete three-photon experiment [24]. In the degenerate case one has the parametric amplifier of the Nth subharmonic w 0/N [25], whose quantum noise consists of N-photon bunches; its Wigner distribution resembles an N-pointed starfish. Passing strong real noise through the amplifier we can generate a close classical analogue of MPL [12]. The N-photon nondegenerate interaction is governed by the Heisenberg equation da1 /dt= a~...a~, where t—~x~ ~ and f~is the classical pump amplitude. Multiplying it by at we find that tm all flkinvariants. are equal and therefore thealloperators (nk— n,) are In the SV case modes are equivalent, so [26] <(nk_nJ)m>=O, N, = = M In the N= 2 case M= 2N2 + N and N / 1 ‘~ (<‘~~ n 2> —N1 2), a1 a2 2 == <~~n2>). In the SV case for all is pump levels (here amoment there a nonstationary —