Three-photon states in nonlinear crystal superlattices

Abstract

It has been a longstanding goal in quantum optics to realize controllable sources generating joint multiphoton states, particularly, photon triplet with arbitrary spectral characteristics. We demonstrate that such sources can be realized via cascaded parametric down-conversion (PDC) in superlattice structures of nonlinear and linear segments. We consider scheme that involves two parametric processes: $\omega_{0}\rightarrow\omega_{1}+\omega_{2}$, $\omega_{2}\rightarrow\omega_{1}+\omega_{1}$ under pulsed pump and investigate spontaneous creation of photon triplet as well as generation of high-intensity mode in intracavity three-photon splitting. We show preparation of Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger polarization entangled states in cascaded type-II and type-I PDC in framework of consideration dual-grid structure that involves two periodically-poled crystals. We demonstrate the method of compensation of the dispersive effects in non-linear segments by appropriately chosen linear dispersive segments of superlattice for preparation heralded joint states of two polarized photons. In the case of intracavity three-photon splitting, we concentrate on investigation of photon-number distributions, third-order photon-number correlation function as well as the Wigner functions. These quantities are observed both for short interaction time intervals and in over transient regime, when dissipative effects are essential.