Erlangen 2018 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 51: Poster: Quantum Optics and Photonics IV
Q 51.58: Poster
Wednesday, March 7, 2018, 16:15–18:15, Redoutensaal
Limits on generating higher-order Fock states with parametric down conversion — •Johannes Tiedau1, Tim J. Bartley1, Georg Harder1, Thomas Gerrits2, and Christine Silberhorn1 — 1Universität Paderborn, Integrierte Quantenoptik, Warburger Str. 100, D-33098 Paderborn — 2National Institute of Standards and Technology, 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
Photon number (Fock) states are of both fundamental and practical interest. They are used as resources in quantum metrology schemes, and can be used to probe the boundary between quantum and classical phenomena. In general, the metrological advantages and photonic state regimes of interest scale with the number of photons, therefore generating higher-order Fock states n, where n>2, is required. To date, nonlinear interactions such as heralded parametric down conversion are the standard method to generate such states. However, the probabilistic nature of the down-conversion process leads to a fundamental trade-off between generation probability and fidelity of the final states to the desired Fock states. For single photon Fock states, generated in this way, it is known that the maximal generation probability is 25%. Here, we generalise this result to cover higher order Fock states, taking into account the possible spectral multimode nature of the PDC state. The generalisation is non-trivial as all combinatorial possibilities to generate n photons from m possible modes need to be considered. This is supported by experimental data demonstrating the trade-off in the case where a spectrally optimised source is used.