Abstract

Quantum state tomography (QST) is a universal tool for the design and optimization of entangled-photon sources [1]. It typically requires single-photon detectors and coincidence measurements. Recently, it was suggested that the information provided by the QST of photon pairs generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) could be obtained by exploiting the stimulated version of this process [2], namely difference frequency generation. In this protocol, so-called “stimulated-emission tomography” (SET), a seed field is injected along with the pump pulse, and the resulting stimulated emission is measured. Since the intensity of the stimulated field can be several orders of magnitude larger than the intensity of the corresponding spontaneous emission, measurements can be made with simple classical detectors. In this talk we will present our experimental test of SET [3], discussing our results and important experimental considerations.

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