Direct transfer of pump amplitude to parametric down-converted photons

Abstract: We numerically and experimentally show that all photons generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) follow a transverse amplitude similar to that of the pump. This amplitude transfer from pump to SPDC is revealed in the Fourier image plane of the down-converted photons restricted by an aperture. We also observe a considerable shift of the image plane from the actual Fourier plane, when size of the aperture is gradually increased. The shift of the Fourier image of down-converted photons affects the quality of spatial mode-based projection in various quantum correlation experiments with parametric down-converted photon pairs. The results may be useful in applications of down-converted photons for quantum imaging and quantum communication.