Spectral and temporal properties of type-II parametric down-conversion: The impact of losses during state generation

In this paper, we theoretically study the spectral and temporal properties of pulsed spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) generated in lossy waveguides. Our theoretical approach is based on the formalism of Gaussian states and the Langevin equation, which is elaborated for weak parametric down-conversion and photon-number-unresolved click detection. Using the example of frequency-degenerate type-II SPDC generated under the pump-idler group-velocity-matching condition, we show how the joint-spectral intensity, mode structure, normalized second-order correlation function, and Hong-Ou-Mandel interference pattern depend on internal losses of the SPDC process. We found that the joint-spectral intensity is almost insensitive to internal losses, while the second-order correlation function shows a strong dependence on them, being different for the signal and idler beams in the presence of internal losses. Based on the sensitivity of the normalized second-order correlation function, we show how its measurement can be used to experimentally determine internal losses.