Biphoton Interference in a Double-Slit Experiment

A double-slit experiment with entangled photons is theoretically analyzed. It is shown that, under suitable conditions, two entangled photons of wavelength λ can behave like a biphoton of wavelength λ/2. The interference of these biphotons, passing through a double-slit can be obtained by detecting...

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Main Authors: Ananya Paul, Tabish Qureshi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Quanta 2018-02-01
Series:Quanta
Online Access:https://dankogeorgiev.com/ojs/index.php/quanta/article/view/36
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author Ananya Paul
Tabish Qureshi
author_facet Ananya Paul
Tabish Qureshi
author_sort Ananya Paul
collection DOAJ
description A double-slit experiment with entangled photons is theoretically analyzed. It is shown that, under suitable conditions, two entangled photons of wavelength λ can behave like a biphoton of wavelength λ/2. The interference of these biphotons, passing through a double-slit can be obtained by detecting both photons of the pair at the same position. This is in agreement with the results of an earlier experiment. More interestingly, we show that even if the two entangled photons are separated by a polarizing beam splitter, they can still behave like a biphoton of wavelength λ/2. In this modified setup, the two separated photons passing through two different double-slits, surprisingly show an interference corresponding to a wavelength λ/2, instead of λ which is the wavelength of each photon. We point out two experiments that have been carried out in different contexts, which saw the effect predicted here without realizing this connection. Quanta 2018; 7: 1–6.
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spelling doaj-art-46f73a3e60124c49a64f86a51b6a2f8d2025-08-20T02:37:36ZengQuantaQuanta1314-73742018-02-01710.12743/quanta.v7i1.6736Biphoton Interference in a Double-Slit ExperimentAnanya Paul0Tabish Qureshi1Jamia Millia IslamiaJamia Millia Islamia A double-slit experiment with entangled photons is theoretically analyzed. It is shown that, under suitable conditions, two entangled photons of wavelength λ can behave like a biphoton of wavelength λ/2. The interference of these biphotons, passing through a double-slit can be obtained by detecting both photons of the pair at the same position. This is in agreement with the results of an earlier experiment. More interestingly, we show that even if the two entangled photons are separated by a polarizing beam splitter, they can still behave like a biphoton of wavelength λ/2. In this modified setup, the two separated photons passing through two different double-slits, surprisingly show an interference corresponding to a wavelength λ/2, instead of λ which is the wavelength of each photon. We point out two experiments that have been carried out in different contexts, which saw the effect predicted here without realizing this connection. Quanta 2018; 7: 1–6. https://dankogeorgiev.com/ojs/index.php/quanta/article/view/36
spellingShingle Ananya Paul
Tabish Qureshi
Biphoton Interference in a Double-Slit Experiment
Quanta
title Biphoton Interference in a Double-Slit Experiment
title_full Biphoton Interference in a Double-Slit Experiment
title_fullStr Biphoton Interference in a Double-Slit Experiment
title_full_unstemmed Biphoton Interference in a Double-Slit Experiment
title_short Biphoton Interference in a Double-Slit Experiment
title_sort biphoton interference in a double slit experiment
url https://dankogeorgiev.com/ojs/index.php/quanta/article/view/36
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