Enhanced quantum correlations from joint pump and photon pair scattering

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates experimentally and theoretically that entangled photon pairs maintain strong correlations after passing through dynamic scattering media, even when generated under more realistic, complex conditions, advancing quantum light control in disordered systems.

Contribution

It relaxes previous assumptions by analyzing entangled photon pairs generated via scattered pump light in disordered media, showing their correlations persist under realistic conditions.

Findings

Photon pairs maintain sharp correlation peaks after scattering.

Correlation shape depends on pump scattering and generation distance.

Correlations persist regardless of generation timing.

Abstract

Scattering of non-classical light is enabling new ways to study and control photon transport. However, advances in this field often rely on simplifying assumptions regarding the quantum light's generation and its source. In this work, we relax some of these assumptions and probe the behavior of entangled photon pairs passing through a disordered layer after being generated by a randomly scattered pump via spontaneous parametric down conversion. We experimentally demonstrate that, even when both the pump and the down-converted photons propagate through a dynamic scattering medium, the pairs maintain a sharp peak in their correlations. A comprehensive theoretical and numerical analysis shows that these correlations persist regardless of when the pairs are generated, whether immediately after the pump is scattered or under other conditions. More specifically, we detail how the shape of the angular correlation depends on the pump's scattering and how it varies with the distance between the pair-generation region and the entrance of the disordered medium. These findings represent a crucial step toward understanding quantum light generation in complex media, and potentially exploiting it for quantum technologies.