Coherence properties of entangled light beams generated by parametric down-conversion: Theory and experiment

Using a multidimensional Gaussian approximation of the wave function for the signal and idler light generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion, we derive analytical expressions for the second-order coherence function and the fourth-order coherence function (which is proportional to the signal-idler photon coincidence rate). The magnitudes of these functions are expressed as products of Gaussian functions of the azimuthal angles, the polar angles, and the time delay. Their widths determine six parameters: the coherence angles and coherence time, and the entanglement angles and entanglement time. We show how these parameters are governed by the pump-beam waist, the pump spectral width, and the crystal length. We thereby derive relations analogous to the van Cittert-Zernike theorem and the Siegert relation for thermal light. We show that the normalized photon coincidence rate decreases sharply as the signal and idler apertures become mismatched or misaligned. We experimentally confirm this latter prediction by using parametrically down-converted light obtained from a LiIO3 crystal pumped by Kr+-ion laser radiation at 413 nm.