Non-Markovianity of photon dynamics in a birefringent crystal

Abstract: The way a principle system and its environment interact characterizes the non-Markovianity of the dynamics. Herein, we investigate the non-Markovian dynamics of photon polarization in a birefringent crystal. We consider the so-called `quantity of quantum-mechanical process' first defined by Hsieh et al. [Sci. Rep. 7, 13588 (2017)]. The non-Markovianity of the photon dynamics is evaluated by examining the quantity of quantum-mechanical process varying with time, and the difference between the quantity of quantum-mechanical process in a complete dynamics and that in a process composed of two subprocesses. We show that all of the processes identified as Markovian in the seminal study of Liu et al. [Nat. Phys. 7, 931 (2011)] can actually be identified as non-Markovian. The presented method enables us to classify non-Markovianity in the dynamical processes that are classified as Markovian by existing verification criteria. Overall, the results confirm the feasibility of performing the experimental characterization of photon dynamics using an all-optical setup and provide a useful insight into enhancing the accuracy and control of quantum system designs for quantum engineering applications.