Two-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy with quantum entangled photons and time- and frequency-resolved two-photon coincidence detection

TL;DR

This paper proposes a practical quantum spectroscopy method using entangled photons and time-resolved fluorescence detection, enabling easier and more effective two-dimensional spectroscopy of molecular systems.

Contribution

It introduces a feasible quantum spectroscopy approach that overcomes previous intensity and complexity limitations, leveraging current photon detection technology.

Findings

Enables acquisition of two-dimensional spectra without multiple pulsed lasers.

Reduces spectral complexity by focusing on spontaneous emission processes.

Achieves detectable signal intensities with existing photon detectors.

Abstract

Recent theoretical studies in quantum spectroscopy have emphasized the potential of non-classical correlations in entangled photon pairs for selectively targeting specific nonlinear optical processes in nonlinear optical responses. However, because of the extremely low intensity of the nonlinear optical signal generated by irradiating molecules with entangled photon pairs, time-resolved spectroscopic measurements using entangled photons have yet to be experimentally implemented. In this paper, we theoretically propose a quantum spectroscopy measurement employing a time-resolved fluorescence approach that aligns with the capabilities of current photon detection technologies. The proposed quantum spectroscopy affords two remarkable advantages over conventional two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy. First, it enables the acquisition of two-dimensional spectra without requiring control over multiple pulsed lasers. Second, it reduces the complexity of the spectra because the spectroscopic signal is contingent upon the nonlinear optical process of spontaneous emission. These advantages are similar to those achieved in a previous study [Fujihashi et al., J. Chem. Phys. 160, 104201 (2024)]. However, our approach achieves sufficient signal intensities that can be readily detected using existing photon detection technologies, thereby rendering it a practicable. Our findings will potentially facilitate the first experimental real-time observation of dynamic processes in molecular systems using quantum entangled photon pairs.