Toward real maximally path-entangled N-photon-state sources

Milena D’Angelo, Augusto Garuccio, and Vincenzo Tamma
Phys. Rev. A 77, 063826 – Published 17 June 2008

Abstract

Path-entangled N-photon systems described by NOON states are the main ingredient of many quantum information and quantum imaging protocols. Our analysis aims to lead the way toward the implementation of both NOON-state sources and their applications. To this end, we study the functionality of “real” NOON-state sources by quantifying the effect real experimental apparatuses have on the actual generation of the desired NOON state. In particular, since the conditional generation of NOON states strongly relies on photon counters, we evaluate the dependence of both the reliability and the signal-to-noise ratio of “real” NOON-state sources on detection losses. We find a surprising result: NOON-state sources relying on nondetection are much more reliable than NOON-state sources relying on single-photon detection. Also the comparison of the resources required to implement these two protocols comes out to be in favor of NOON-state sources based on nondetection. A scheme to improve the performances of “real” NOON-state sources based on single-photon detection is also proposed and analyzed.

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  • Received 1 February 2008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.77.063826

©2008 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Milena D’Angelo1, Augusto Garuccio1,2, and Vincenzo Tamma1,3

  • 1Dipartimento Interateneo di Fisica, Universitá degli Studi di Bari, 70100 Bari, Italy
  • 2Instituto Nazionale Di Fisica Nucleare, sez. di Bari, 70100 Bari, Italy
  • 3Department of Physics, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland 21250, USA

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Issue

Vol. 77, Iss. 6 — June 2008

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