Spontaneous parametric down-conversion: Anisotropical and anomalously strong narrowing of biphoton momentum correlation distributions

Abstract

We show that the wave packet of a biphoton generated via spontaneous parametric down-conversion is strongly anisotropic. Its anisotropic features manifest themselves very clearly in comparison with measurements performed in two different schemes: When the detector scanning plane is perpendicular or parallel to the plane containing the crystal optical axis and the laser axis. The first of these two schemes is traditional whereas the second one gives rise to such unexpected results, such as anomalously strong narrowing of the biphoton wave packet measured in the coincidence scheme and very high degree of entanglement. The results are predicted theoretically and confirmed experimentally.