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Title: Frustrated Two-Photon Creation in a Time-Dependent Cavity

Abstract

In the process of parametric downconversion, a high-energy photon is annihilated to create a pair of lower-energy photons within a nonlinear dielectric material. It was shown some years ago that this process can be modified by quantum interference, by reflecting the high-energy and low-energy light back into the dielectric. The suppression or enhancement of the downconversion rate is analogous to the phenomenon of inhibited spontaneous emission that occurs when an excited atom is placed in a cavity whose allowed modes cannot support the spontaneous emission. In this case, the atom remains excited--but then, how does it interact with the cavity? If the cavity mirror were replaced by a detector, could photons be counted immediately, or only after some time delay? Our experiment uses spontaneous downconversion, a 2-m long cavity, and a fast optical switch to obtain the answer.

Authors:
 [1]
  1. Department of Physics, Trinity College, 300 Summit St., Hartford, CT, 06106 (United States)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
21293350
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
AIP Conference Proceedings
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 1101; Journal Issue: 1; Conference: 5. international conference on foundations of probabillity and physics, Vaexjoe (Sweden), 24-27 Aug 2008; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3109941; (c) 2009 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 0094-243X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; ANNIHILATION; ATOMS; DIELECTRIC MATERIALS; EXCITED STATES; INTERFERENCE; MIRRORS; NONLINEAR PROBLEMS; PHOTON EMISSION; PHOTONS; QUANTUM MECHANICS; TIME DELAY; TIME DEPENDENCE; VISIBLE RADIATION

Citation Formats

Branning, David. Frustrated Two-Photon Creation in a Time-Dependent Cavity. United States: N. p., 2009. Web. doi:10.1063/1.3109941.
Branning, David. Frustrated Two-Photon Creation in a Time-Dependent Cavity. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3109941
Branning, David. 2009. "Frustrated Two-Photon Creation in a Time-Dependent Cavity". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3109941.
@article{osti_21293350,
title = {Frustrated Two-Photon Creation in a Time-Dependent Cavity},
author = {Branning, David},
abstractNote = {In the process of parametric downconversion, a high-energy photon is annihilated to create a pair of lower-energy photons within a nonlinear dielectric material. It was shown some years ago that this process can be modified by quantum interference, by reflecting the high-energy and low-energy light back into the dielectric. The suppression or enhancement of the downconversion rate is analogous to the phenomenon of inhibited spontaneous emission that occurs when an excited atom is placed in a cavity whose allowed modes cannot support the spontaneous emission. In this case, the atom remains excited--but then, how does it interact with the cavity? If the cavity mirror were replaced by a detector, could photons be counted immediately, or only after some time delay? Our experiment uses spontaneous downconversion, a 2-m long cavity, and a fast optical switch to obtain the answer.},
doi = {10.1063/1.3109941},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/21293350}, journal = {AIP Conference Proceedings},
issn = {0094-243X},
number = 1,
volume = 1101,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Mar 10 00:00:00 EDT 2009},
month = {Tue Mar 10 00:00:00 EDT 2009}
}