Characterizing entanglement in pulsed parametric downconversion using chronocyclic Wigner functions

Abstract

Pulsed parametric downconversion (PDC) processes generate photon pairs with a rich spectral-temporal structure, which offer an attractive potential for quantum information and communication applications. In this paper, we investigate the four-dimensional chronocyclic Wigner function of the PDC state, which naturally lends itself to the pulsed characteristics of these states. From this function we derive the conditioned time-bandwidth product of one of the pair photons, a quantity which is not only a valid measure of entanglement between the PDC photons but also allows to highlight a remarkable link between the discrete and continuous variable descriptions of PDC. We numerically analyze PDC processes with different conditions to demonstrate the versatility of our approach, which is applicable to a large number of current PDC sources.