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Giorgio Brida

Publications and source records attributed to Giorgio Brida.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2024

Detection Efficiency Characterization for Free-Space Single-Photon Detectors: Measurement Facility and Wavelength-Dependence Investigation

In this paper, we present a new experimental apparatus for the measurement of the detection efficiency of free-space single-photon detectors based on the substitution method. For the first time, we extend the analysis to account for the wavelength dependence introduced by the transmissivity of the optical window in front of the detector's active area. Our method involves measuring the detector's response at different wavelengths and comparing it to a calibrated reference detector. This allows us to accurately quantify the efficiency variations due to the optical window's transmissivity. The results provide a comprehensive understanding of the wavelength-dependent efficiency, which is crucial for optimizing the performance of single-photon detectors in various applications, including quantum communication and photonics research. This characterization technique offers a significant advancement in the precision and reliability of single-photon detection efficiency measurements.

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arXiv2021

Protective Measurement -- a new quantum measurement paradigm: detailed description of the first realisation

We present a detailed description of the experiment realising for the first time a protective measurement, a novel measurement protocol which combines weak interactions with a ``protection mechanism'' preserving the measured state coherence during the whole measurement process. Furthermore, protective measurement allows finding the expectation value of an observable, i.e. an inherently statistical quantity, by measuring a single particle, without the need of any statistics. This peculiar property, in sharp contrast with the framework of traditional (projective) quantum measurement, might constitute a groundbreaking advance for several quantum technology related fields.

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arXiv2017

Quantum Time: experimental multi-time correlations

In this paper we provide an experimental illustration of Page and Wootters' quantum time mechanism that is able to describe two-time quantum correlation functions. This allows us to test a Leggett-Garg inequality, showing a violation from the "internal" observer point of view. The "external" observer sees a time-independent global state. Indeed, the scheme is implemented using a narrow-band single photon where the clock degree of freedom is encoded in the photon's position. Hence, the internal observer that measures the position can track the flow of time, while the external observer sees a delocalized photon that has no time evolution in the experiment time-scale.

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arXiv2017

Investigating the Effects of the Interaction Intensity in a Weak Measurement

Measurements are crucial in quantum mechanics, in fundamental research as well as in applicative fields like quantum metrology, quantum-enhanced measurements and other quantum technologies. In the recent years, weak-interaction-based protocols like Weak Measurements and Protective Measurements have been experimentally realized, showing peculiar features leading to surprising advantages in several different applications. In this work we analyze the validity range for such measurement protocols, that is, how the interaction strength affects the weak value extraction, by measuring different polarization weak values measured on heralded single photons. We show that, even in the weak interaction regime, the coupling intensity limits the range of weak values achievable, putting a threshold on the signal amplification effect exploited in many weak measurement based experiments.

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arXiv2016

Creation and characterization of He-related color centers in diamond

Diamond is a promising material for the development of emerging applications in quantum optics, quantum information and quantum sensing. The fabrication and characterization of novel luminescent defects with suitable opto-physical properties is therefore of primary importance for further advances in these research fields. In this work we report on the investigation in the formation of photoluminescent (PL) defects upon MeV He implantation in diamond. Such color centers, previously reported only in electroluminescence and cathodoluminescence regime, exhibited two sharp emission lines at 536.5 nm and 560.5 nm, without significant phonon sidebands. A strong correlation between the PL intensities of the above-mentioned emission lines and the He implantation fluence was found in the 10^15-10^17 cm^{-2} fluence range. The PL emission features were not detected in control samples, i.e. samples that were either unirradiated or irradiated with different ion species (H, C). Moreover, the PL emission lines disappeared in samples that were He-implanted above the graphitization threshold. Therefore, the PL features are attributed to optically active defects in the diamond matrix associated with He impurities. The intensity of the 536.5 nm and 560.5 nm emission lines was investigated as a function of the annealing temperature of the diamond substrate. The emission was observed upon annealing at temperatures higher than 500°C, at the expenses of the concurrently decreasing neutral-vacancy-related GR1 emission intensity. Therefore, our findings indicate that the luminescence originates from the formation of a stable lattice defect. Finally, the emission was investigated under different laser excitations wavelengths (i.e. 532 nm and 405 nm) with the purpose of gaining a preliminary insight about the position of the related levels in the energy gap of diamond.

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arXiv2016

Absolute calibration of an EMCCD camera by quantum correlation linking photon counting to analog regime

We show how the same set-up and procedure, exploiting spatially multi-mode quantum correlations, allows the absolute calibration of a EMCCD camera from the analog regime down to the single photon counting level, just by adjusting the brightness of the quantum source. At single photon level EMCCD can be operated as an on-off detector, where quantum efficiency depends on the discriminating threshold. We develop a simple model to explain the connection of the two different regime demonstrating that the efficiency estimated in the analog (bright) regime allows to accurately predict the detector behaviour in the photo-counting regime and vice-versa. This work establishes a bridge between two regions of the optical measurements that up to now have been based on completely different standards, detectors and measurement techniques.

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arXiv2013

Separable Schmidt modes of a non-separable state

Two-photon states entangled in continuous variables such as wavevector or frequency represent a powerful resource for quantum information protocols in higher-dimensional Hilbert spaces. At the same time, there is a problem of addressing separately the corresponding Schmidt modes. We propose a method of engineering two-photon spectral amplitude in such a way that it contains several non-overlapping Schmidt modes, each of which can be filtered losslessly. The method is based on spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) pumped by radiation with a comb-like spectrum. There are many ways of producing such a spectrum; here we consider the simplest one, namely passing the pump beam through a Fabry-Perot interferometer. For the two-photon spectral amplitude (TPSA) to consist of non-overlapping Schmidt modes, the crystal dispersion dependence, the length of the crystal, the Fabry-Perot free spectral range and its finesse should satisfy certain conditions. We experimentally demonstrate the control of TPSA through these parameters. We also discuss a possibility to realize a similar situation using cavity-based SPDC.

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arXiv2013

Time from quantum entanglement: an experimental illustration

In the last years several theoretical papers discussed if time can be an emergent property deriving from quantum correlations. Here, to provide an insight into how this phenomenon can occur, we present an experiment that illustrates Page and Wootters' mechanism of "static" time, and Gambini et al. subsequent refinements. A static, entangled state between a clock system and the rest of the universe is perceived as evolving by internal observers that test the correlations between the two subsystems. We implement this mechanism using an entangled state of the polarization of two photons, one of which is used as a clock to gauge the evolution of the second: an "internal" observer that becomes correlated with the clock photon sees the other system evolve, while an "external" observer that only observes global properties of the two photons can prove it is static.

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arXiv2013

Experimental estimation of quantum discord for polarization qubit and the use of fidelity to assess quantum correlations

We address the experimental determination of entropic quantum discord for systems made of a pair of polarization qubits. We compare results from full and partial tomography and found that the two determinations are statistically compatible, with partial tomography leading to a smaller value of discord for depolarized states. Despite the fact that our states are well described, in terms of fidelity, by families of depolarized or phase-damped states, their entropic discord may be largely different from that predicted for these classes of states, such that no reliable estimation procedure beyond tomography may be effectively implemented. Our results, together with the lack of an analytic formula for the entropic discord of a generic two-qubit state, demonstrate that the estimation of quantum discord is an intrinsically noisy procedure. Besides, we question the use of fidelity as a figure of merit to assess quantum correlations.

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arXiv2013

Experimental Test of an Event-Based Corpuscular Model Modification as an Alternative to Quantum Mechanics

We present the first experimental test that distinguishes between an event-based corpuscular model (EBCM) [H. De Raedt et al.: J. Comput. Theor. Nanosci. 8 (2011) 1052] of the interaction of photons with matter and quantum mechanics. The test looks at the interference that results as a single photon passes through a Mach-Zehnder interferometer [H. De Raedt et al.: J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 74 (2005) 16]. The experimental results, obtained with a low-noise single-photon source [G. Brida et al.: Opt. Expr. 19 (2011) 1484], agree with the predictions of standard quantum mechanics with a reduced $χ^2$ of 0.98 and falsify the EBCM with a reduced $χ^2$ of greater than 20.

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arXiv2012

Quantum characterization of superconducting photon counters

We address the quantum characterization of photon counters based on transition-edge sensors (TESs) and present the first experimental tomography of the positive operator-valued measure (POVM) of a TES. We provide the reliable tomographic reconstruction of the POVM elements up to 11 detected photons and M=100 incoming photons, demonstrating that it is a linear detector.

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arXiv2011

Experimental realization of Counterfactual Quantum Cryptography

In counterfactual QKD information is transfered, in a secure way, between Alice and Bob even when no particle carrying the information is in fact transmitted between them. In this letter we fully implement the scheme for counterfactual QKD proposed in [T. Noh, \PRL \textbf{103}, 230501 (2009)], demonstrating for the first time that information can be transmitted between two parties without the transmission of a carrier.

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arXiv2010

Experimental quantum cryptography scheme based on orthogonal states

Since, in general, non-orthogonal states cannot be cloned, any eavesdropping attempt in a Quantum Communication scheme using non-orthogonal states as carriers of information introduces some errors in the transmission, leading to the possibility of detecting the spy. Usually, orthogonal states are not used in Quantum Cryptography schemes since they can be faithfully cloned without altering the transmitted data. Nevertheless, L. Goldberg and L. Vaidman [\prl 75 (1995) 1239] proposed a protocol in which, even if the data exchange is realized using two orthogonal states, any attempt to eavesdrop is detectable by the legal users. In this scheme the orthogonal states are superpositions of two localized wave packets travelling along separate channels. Here we present an experiment realizing this scheme.

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arXiv2010

Experimental Quantum Imaging exploiting multi-mode spatial correlation of twin beams

Properties of quantum states have disclosed new and revolutionary technologies, ranging from quantum information to quantum imaging. This last field is addressed to overcome limits of classical imaging by exploiting specific properties of quantum states of light. One of the most interesting proposed scheme exploits spatial quantum correlations between twin beams for realizing sub-shot-noise imaging of the weak absorbing objects, leading ideally to a noise-free imaging. Here we discuss in detail the experimental realization of this scheme, showing its capability to reach a larger signal to noise ratio with respect to classical imaging methods and, therefore, its interest for future practical applications.

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arXiv2010

Detection of multimode spatial correlation in PDC and application to the absolute calibration of a CCD camera

We propose and demonstrate experimentally a new method based on the spatial entanglement for the absolute calibration of analog detector. The idea consists on measuring the sub-shot-noise intensity correlation between two branches of parametric down conversion, containing many pairwise correlated spatial modes. We calibrate a scientific CCD camera and a preliminary evaluation of the statistical uncertainty indicates the metrological interest of the method.

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arXiv2009

Experimental estimation of entanglement at the quantum limit

Entanglement is the central resource of quantum information processing and the precise characterization of entangled states is a crucial issue for the development of quantum technologies. This leads to the necessity of a precise, experimental feasible measure of entanglement. Nevertheless, such measurements are limited both from experimental uncertainties and intrinsic quantum bounds. Here we present an experiment where the amount of entanglement of a family of two-qubit mixed photon states is estimated with the ultimate precision allowed by quantum mechanics.

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arXiv2008

Improved implementation of nonclassicality test for a single particle

Recently a test of nonclassicality for a single qubit was proposed [R. Alicki and N. Van Ryn, J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 41, 062001 (2008)]. We present an optimized experimental realization of this test leading to a 46 standard deviation violation of classicality. This factor of 5 improvement over our previous result was achieved by moving from the infrared to the visible where we can take advantage of higher efficiency and lower noise photon detectors.

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