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Updated: Aug 4, 2025

A Photonic System for Generating Unconditional Polarization-Entangled Photons Based on Multiple Quantum Interference
Published on: September 5, 2019
Strong Polarization of a J=1/2 to 1/2 Transition Arising from Unexpectedly Large Quantum Interference
Nobuyuki Nakamura1, Naoki Numadate1, Simpei Oishi1
1Institute for Laser Science, The University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo 182-8585, Japan.
Abstract:
We experimentally show that the 1s^{2}2s^{2}2p_{1/2}-1s2s^{2}2p_{1/2}^{2} transition in Pb^{77+} emitted in dielectronic recombination of Pb^{78+} is strongly polarized, although it is an intrinsically unpolarized J=1/2 to 1/2 transition. This unanticipated polarization is shown to be due to quantum interference with radiative recombination. The interference effect has been studied on an asymmetric resonance profile but has never been studied on polarization. In this Letter, we show that the effect on polarization can arise from a different cross term than that responsible for asymmetry, resulting in unexpectedly large polarization even for a nearly symmetric resonance suggesting a small interference.
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