Intrinsic Entanglement Degradation by Multi-Mode Detection

Abstract

Relations between photon scattering, entanglement and multi-mode detection are investigated. We first establish a general framework in which one- and two-photon elastic scattering processes can be discussed, then we focus on the study of the intrinsic entanglement degradation caused by a multi-mode detection. We show that any multi-mode scattered state cannot maximally violate the Bell-CHSH inequality because of the momentum spread. The results presented here have general validity and can be applied to both deterministic and random scattering processes.

12 pages, 4 figures, v3: minor changes. Phys. Rev. A (2004), to be published