Abstract
We present a novel quantum interferometric technique to perform ellipsometric measurements. Classical ellipsometric measurements are limited in their accuracy by virtue of the need for an absolutely calibrated source and detector. Mitigating this limitation requires the use of a well-characterized reference sample. Our technique relies on the use of a non-classical optical source, namely polarization-entangled twin photons generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion from a nonlinear crystal, in conjunction with a coincidence-detection scheme. We have demonstrated that entangled-photon ellipsometry eliminates the necessity of constructing an interferometer altogether and is thereby self-referencing. The underlying physics that leads to this remarkable result is the presence of fourth-order (coincidence) quantum interference of the photon pairs in conjunction with polarization entanglement.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 286-287 |
| Number of pages | 2 |
| Journal | Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering |
| Volume | 4829 I |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2003 |
| Externally published | Yes |
| Event | 19th Congress of the International Commisssion for Optics Optics for the Quality of Life - Firenze, Italy Duration: Aug 25 2002 → Aug 30 2002 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Computer Science Applications
- Applied Mathematics
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering