Generation of Entangled Photons in Graphene in a Strong Magnetic Field

Abstract

Entangled photon states attract tremendous interest as the most vivid manifestation of nonlocality of quantum mechanics and also for emerging applications in quantum information. Here we propose a mechanism of generation of polarization-entangled photons, which is based on the nonlinear optical interaction (four-wave mixing) in graphene placed in a magnetic field. Unique properties of quantized electron states in a magnetized graphene and optical selection rules near the Dirac point give rise to a giant optical nonlinearity and a high rate of photon production in the mid- or far-infrared range. A similar mechanism of photon entanglement may exist in topological insulators where the surface states have a Dirac-cone dispersion and demonstrate similar properties of magneto-optical absorption.