Spatial labeling in a two-photon interferometer
P. S. K. Lee, Martin P. Van Exter · Physical Review A · 2006
We study the spatial coherence of entangled photon pairs that are generated via type-I spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC). By manipulating the spatial overlap between the two down-converted beams in a Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometer we observe the spatial interference of multiple transverse modes for an even and an odd number of mirrors in the interferometer. We demonstrate that the two-photon spatial coherence, which is quantified in terms of a transverse coherence length, differs completely for the two mirror geometries and support this result by a theoretical and experimental explanation in terms of photon labeling.