Wednesday, 1 March 2017

terminology - The meaning of "heralded photon"


I am not a native English speaker, and I have just started to study physics in English. However, I came across the term heralded photon while I was reading a review article about optical quantum memory. I don't understand what it means. A dictionary explains herald as, "to be a sign that something is going to happen," but it does not make any sense. Below is the excerpt from the article:



If a single-photon detector is placed in one of the emission channels of non-degenerate spontaneous parametric down-conversion, a detection event indicates emission of a photon pair, and thus the presence of a single photon in the other channel. Such a heralded photon is emitted at an arbitrary time, however, making it unsuitable for many application.




Would you help me understand this term?




No comments:

Post a Comment

Understanding Stagnation point in pitot fluid

What is stagnation point in fluid mechanics. At the open end of the pitot tube the velocity of the fluid becomes zero.But that should result...