Real-Space Analysis of Two-Photon Polarization States in Type-II SPDC for High-Quality Polarization Entanglement
Spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) is one of the most widely used sources of polarization-entangled photon pairs, and understanding the generated biphoton state is essential for realizing high-brightness and high-purity entangled-photon sources. In particular, Type-II SPDC produces a biphoton wavefunction with a complex coupling between the spatial and polarization degrees of freedom owing to birefringence. In this study, we calculate the real-space distribution of the two-photon polarization state from the biphoton wavefunction of Type-II SPDC generated in a \b{eta}-barium borate (BBO) crystal. By identifying the spatial correlation direction between polarization and real-space coordinates, we designed aperture shapes that restrict the collection along this correlation direction. Through both numerical simulations and experiments, we demonstrate that such correlation-aligned apertures simultaneously achieve higher entanglement purity and improved photon collection efficiency. These results establish a practical design principle for optimizing aperture geometries based on the real-space biphoton wavefunction, providing a new approach to realizing high-purity and high-brightness SPDC entangled-photon sources.
Authors
- Ken Morita (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2279-963X)
- Koji Taninaka
- Takashi Kakue (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7607-0000)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Optics Express
- Published
- 2026-11-08
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1364/oe.614399
- Primary Topic
- Quantum Information and Cryptography
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00