On-Demand Photon Pairs: Entanglement or Necessity?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the generation of on-demand photon pairs, specifically focusing on whether these pairs should be entangled or if they can exist as identical photons with only directional differences. Participants explore theoretical constraints, practical applications, and the implications of different experimental setups.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants propose that entangled on-demand photon pairs are more useful and interesting than non-entangled ones, suggesting a preference for option A.
  • Others argue that there may be theoretical constraints necessitating additional degrees of freedom beyond direction for on-demand photon pairs, aligning with option B.
  • A participant mentions that a particle with a known attribute and its exact duplicate cannot exist, supporting the idea of theoretical limitations.
  • Discussion includes the Type-1 process, where photon pairs match the pump beam's polarization, and the implications of pre-selecting pairs traveling in specific directions.
  • Concerns are raised about the frequency of the photons, with some suggesting that all photons likely have the same frequency, although clarity on this point is lacking in the referenced article.
  • Another participant notes that Type I pairs are typically frequency/wavelength entangled, with a specific formula relating their frequencies to the source laser.
  • Fock states are introduced as an interesting topic, with one participant referencing a paper on their generation in superconducting quantum circuits, indicating that Fock states may hold significance independent of entanglement.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the necessity and utility of entangled versus non-entangled photon pairs, indicating that multiple competing perspectives remain unresolved.

Contextual Notes

Limitations in the discussion include assumptions about the necessity of additional degrees of freedom for photon pairs, the clarity of frequency matching in experimental setups, and the conditions under which polarization entanglement occurs.

Swamp Thing
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When I search for "on demand photon pairs" I find that most publications are about entangled pairs.

I found no papers and articles about on-demand pairs where the photons are identical in all respects except their direction, and whose polarization & frequency are the same across pairs and within pairs. It always seems to involve one other parameter (e.g. polarization) whose value is random from pair to pair, but is correlated across each pair.

Just wondering whether this is because
(A) entangled on-demand pairs are more useful and interesting than non-entangled ones

OR

(B) because there is some theoretical constraint that makes it necessary that they should have an additional degree of freedom (apart from direction) and that they should have correlated values in that degree of freedom.
 
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If I understand what you are looking for, the answer is "B".
A particle with a known attribute (such as spin orientation) and its exact duplicate cannot exist.
 
Swamp Thing said:
Just wondering whether this is because
(A) entangled on-demand pairs are more useful and interesting than non-entangled ones

OR

(B) because there is some theoretical constraint that makes it necessary that they should have an additional degree of freedom (apart from direction) and that they should have correlated values in that degree of freedom.
It's option A. Look at this paper Entangled photons, nonlocality and Bell inequalities in the undergraduate laboratory
They are using two down-conversion crystals to get overlapping HH and VV pairs. If you would use just one crystal you would get HH or VV pairs only.
 
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zonde said:
It's option A. Look at this paper Entangled photons, nonlocality and Bell inequalities in the undergraduate laboratory
They are using two down-conversion crystals to get overlapping HH and VV pairs. If you would use just one crystal you would get HH or VV pairs only.

Thanks.
So, for the Type-1 process, we get all photon pairs with their polarizations matching the pump beam. No polarization entanglement. And when we pre-select pairs traveling out in specific directions, we get rid of the spatial (mode) entanglement as well. What about frequency? From the article, it seems highly likely that all photons have to be the same frequency, but the authors don't make this clear.
 
Oh, OK, they have red filters before both detectors. So I guess the frequencies are all the same.
 
Swamp Thing said:
Thanks.
So, for the Type-1 process, we get all photon pairs with their polarizations matching the pump beam. No polarization entanglement. And when we pre-select pairs traveling out in specific directions, we get rid of the spatial (mode) entanglement as well. What about frequency? From the article, it seems highly likely that all photons have to be the same frequency, but the authors don't make this clear.

A couple of points about Type I. These pairs are normally frequency/wavelength entangled. The formula is f1 + f2 = k where k is the frequency of the source laser (which is essentially constant).

They may or may not be polarization entangled, it depends on the specific setup. If there are 2 crystals positioned orthogonal to each other, they will be polarization entangled. Sometimes that is not necessary for an experiment, and then only 1 crystal is needed.
 
About the original post. Such states mostly considered within the context of Fock states. For instance, the first paper that Google returns after 'generation fock states' search

Generation of Fock states in a superconducting quantum circuit

Fock states are interesting on their own, regardless entanglement.
 

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