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Stimulated emission of polarization-entangled photons

Nature volume 412, pages 887–890 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Entangled photon pairs—discrete light quanta that exhibit non-classical correlations—play a crucial role in quantum information science (for example, in demonstrations of quantum non-locality1,2,3,4,5,6,7, quantum teleportation8,9 and quantum cryptography10,11,12,31). At the macroscopic optical-field level non-classical correlations can also be important, as in the case of squeezed light13, entangled light beams14,15 and teleportation of continuous quantum variables16. Here we use stimulated parametric down-conversion to study entangled states of light that bridge the gap between discrete and macroscopic optical quantum correlations. We demonstrate experimentally the onset of laser-like action for entangled photons, through the creation and amplification of the spin-1/2 and spin-1 singlet states consisting of two and four photons, respectively. This entanglement structure holds great promise in quantum information science where there is a strong demand for entangled states of increasing complexity.

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Figure 1: The photon number (pair) distribution, P(n), arising from stimulated parametric down-conversion shifts its peak and broadens as the mean number of photons increases.
Figure 2: Experimental set-up.
Figure 3: Experimental demonstration of stimulated entanglement.
Figure 4: Two- and four-photon interference due to stimulated emission.

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Acknowledgements

We thank C. Mikkelsen, P. Varisco, W. Irvine, A. Ekert and J. Rarity for suggestions and experimental support. This work was supported by the EPSRC, the UK Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, and the European QuComm project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Quantum Computation, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU, UK

    A. Lamas-Linares, J. C. Howell & D. Bouwmeester

Authors
  1. A. Lamas-Linares
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  2. J. C. Howell
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  3. D. Bouwmeester
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Correspondence to D. Bouwmeester.

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Lamas-Linares, A., Howell, J. & Bouwmeester, D. Stimulated emission of polarization-entangled photons. Nature 412, 887–890 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35091014

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