In this paper, we develop a simple model describing inherent photon-number noise in Rarity-Tapster type interferometers. This noise is caused by generating photon pairs in the process of spontaneous parametric down-conversion and adding a third photon by attenuating fundamental laser mode to single-photon level. We experimentally verify our model and present resulting signal to noise ratios as well as obtained three-photon generation rates as functions of various setup parameters. Subsequently we evaluate impact of this particular source of noise on quantum teleportation which is a key quantum information protocol using this interferometric configuration.
@article{arxiv.1704.07590,
title = {Experimental characterization of photon-number noise in Rarity-Tapster type interferometers},
author = {Vojtěch Trávníček and Karol Bartkiewicz and Antonín Černoch and Karel Lemr},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1704.07590},
year = {2017}
}