Partial angular coherence and the angular Schmidt spectrum of entangled two-photon fields

Anand Kumar Jha, Girish S. Agarwal, and Robert W. Boyd
Phys. Rev. A 84, 063847 – Published 27 December 2011

Abstract

We study partially coherent fields that have a coherent-mode representation in the orbital-angular-momentum-mode basis. For such fields, we introduce the concepts of the angular coherence function and the coherence angle. Such fields are naturally produced by the process of parametric down-conversion—a second-order nonlinear optical process in which a pump photon breaks up into two entangled photons, known as the signal and idler photons. We show that the angular coherence functions of the signal and idler fields are directly related to the angular Schmidt (spiral) spectrum of the down-converted two-photon field and thus that the angular Schmidt spectrum can be measured directly by measuring the angular coherence function of either the signal or the idler field, without requiring coincidence detection.

  • Figure
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  • Received 13 September 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.84.063847

©2011 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Anand Kumar Jha1, Girish S. Agarwal2, and Robert W. Boyd1

  • 1The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA
  • 2Department of Physics, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078, USA

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Issue

Vol. 84, Iss. 6 — December 2011

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