Quantum measurement of the degree of polarization of a light beam.
We demonstrate a coherent quantum measurement for the determination of the degree of polarization (DOP). This method allows us to measure the DOP in the presence of fast polarization state fluctuations, difficult to achieve with the typically used polarimetric technique. A good precision of the DOP measurements is obtained using eight type II nonlinear crystals assembled for spatial walk-off compensation.
Legré
M
M
GAP-Optique, University of Geneva, 20, Rue de l'Ecole de Médecine, CH-1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland. Matthieu.legre@physics.unige.it
Wegmüller
M
M
Gisin
N
N