Recent content by phonon44145

I replaced 100 with 10 as amplitude is given by sqrt 100 (not that it changes much). If the probabilities were to relate as 100:1, that would solve the problem. However, what happened to normalization? Looks like the amplitudes 10/√2 and 1/√2 must be attenuated by a normalizing constant?

"What does "otherwise" mean exactly?" This is a good question, and the one that I think lies at the root of the matter. If you read almost any textbook, they will simply say "the probability increases". My understanding is, what increases by (n+1) is the conditional probability of transition...

It is said that is there already n bosons in a particular quantum state, the probability of another boson joining them is (n+1) times larger than it would have been otherwise. But if we apply this rule to calculate probability for one horizontally (H) polarized photon to join a bunch of n=99...

Then can we write |2V,0H> biphoton state in an orthogonal basis according to |2V,0H> = 1*|2V,0H> + 0*|1V,1H> + 0*|0V,2H> and |2V,0H> = (1/2) * |2R,0L> + (1/sqrt 2) * |1R,1L> + (1/2) * |0R, 2L> so that light will behave "classically"? Also, by "simple and straightforward" you mean...

Just for curiosity, what are those probabilities equal to? Are they 25% each as one would expect if the photons were totally independent? I think I can understand the bunching of photons (at least in a thermal source) and antibunching (e.g. resonance fluorescence) and can see that it does...

But in most standard situations a wave function is defined in terms of amplitudes of possible experimental outcomes. So shouldn't this be true for multi-photon states as well? Suppose we have a bi-photon |2V,0H> i.e. both photons are vertically polarized, and none is polarized horizontally...

This makes sense. Actually, I just realized that the wikipedia article implies your definition, once we define a Fock state as the eigenstate of the number operator. So it makes sense that |1>|1>...|1> (or more generally, |n1>|n2>...|nk>) would just be a multimode Fock state, and then SPDC...

Here is why I think they mean the same thing. The way I understand the definition, a multi-particle state of the form |n1,n2,n3...> denotes a state where there are n1 particles in one state, n2 in another etc. etc. Once we define |n> as the state where there are n particles, each in that same...

Thanks, I will be looking forward to more details tomorrow. Also I wondered, what would happen if these two input photons were not identical (for example, had different frequency or polarization). Would this input Fock state |1v,1h> also behave "classically" at the beam splitter?

Your point is well taken. But how should I then write the output state? If I count the two |1,1> outcomes as distinguishable events, and write them separately, (-1) |r|^2 |2,0> + |t|^2 |0,2> + i |r t| |1,1> + i |r t| |1,1> (1) then elementary algebra will make that form identical to...

That's my understanding as well. But since the two possibilities r,t and t,r both result in the same |1,1> state, how can we distinguish them? One photon exits port 1, and another identical photon exits port 2. What will change if we swap the photons? So why cannot we add these two amplitudes...

But from normalization, |-1|^2 + |1|^2 + |2i|^2 = 6, so after dividing by sqrt 6, the amplitude of |1,1> term becomes 2i/sqrt 6 and the respective probability 4/6 = 2/3?

Thanks, Cthugha, the math works just fine. Should we use a similar equation if both photons arrive from the SAME direction? Then two transmissions or two reflections will mean that both photons will emerge together from the same port, and if they emerge from different ports, it means one was...

I've been reading about this two-photon interference experiment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong%E2%80%93Ou%E2%80%93Mandel_effect But the wikipedia article does not explain the origin of the "-" sign before states 3 and 4. Just because one photon reflecting off the bottom side changes its...

4. The same question if polarizations are measured in the circular basis. What are the probabilities of a) |1R>|1R>, b) |1L>|1L>, c) |1R>|1L>?