Seminar by Dr. Girish Kulkarni, University of Ottawa
Event Date: 
Wednesday, 25 January 2023 - 4:00pm

Title: Novel tools for characterizing photon correlations in parametric down-conversion

Speaker: Dr. Girish Kulkarni, University of Ottawa

Abstract: Over the last two decades, numerous experimental studies have demonstrated that quantum systems are capable of performing information processing tasks – such as teleportation, superdense coding, secure communication, and efficient integer factorization – which are widely considered to be impossible with classical systems. These enhanced capabilities are believed to arise at least partly from the nonlocal correlations present in entangled quantum systems. While the intrinsic correlations that underlie interference effects are a general feature of both quantum and classical systems, the nonlocal correlations of entangled quantum systems have no known classical counterpart. In addition to being a vital resource for quantum applications, these nonlocal correlations also pose fundamental questions regarding the consistency and completeness of quantum theory. Currently, the most important experimental source of entangled states is parametric down-conversion – a second-order nonlinear optical process in which a single photon, referred to as pump, is annihilated in its interaction with a nonlinear medium to create a pair of entangled photons, referred to as signal and idler. This talk will draw on concepts from optical coherence theory and quantum information theory, and present some tools and techniques for characterizing the correlations of the signal-idler photons and their relationship to the intrinsic correlations of the pump photon in various degrees of freedom.

Venue: 
Seminar Room (202), Physics Department
IIT Bombay, Powai, Mumbai