On Discerning Between Mixtures of Linearly Polarized Photons using the Hong-Ou-Mandel Effect and Heralding Photon
Lidror Troyansky · Research Square · 2023
Abstract The Hong, Ou, and Mandel (HOM) effect allows to assess the similarity between the polarization of two (otherwise identical) photons that enter a beam-splitter from two different ports at the same time, without obtaining information regarding the absolute polarization. This report presents new methods that utilize the HOM effect with three photons to discern between mixtures of polarized photons. When one photon is detected in one port of the beam splitter, it heralds that the two other photons are likely to be identical. The resulted polarization statistics can be utilized to discern between mixed states of polarized photons that cannot be discerned by previous methods.