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[aps,prl,twocolumn,showpacs,groupaddress]We experimentally demonstrate two-photon absorption (TPA) with broadband down-converted light (squeezed vacuum). Although incoherent and exhibiting the statistics of a thermal noise, broadband downconverted light can induce TPA with the same sharp temporal behavior as femtosecond pulses, while exhibiting the high spectral resolution of the narrowband pump laser. Using pulse-shaping methods, we coherently control TPA in Rubidium, demonstrating spectral and temporal resolutions that are 3-5 orders of magnitude below the actual bandwidth and temporal duration of the light itself. Such properties can be exploited in various applications such as spread-spectrum optical communications, tomography and nonlinear microscopy.

We experimentally demonstrate shaping of the two-photon wave function of entangled-photon pairs, utilizing coherent pulse-shaping techniques. By performing spectral-phase manipulations we tailor the second-order correlation function of the photons exactly like a coherent ultrashort pulse. To observe the shaping we perform sum-frequency generation with an ultrahigh flux of entangled photons. At the appropriate conditions, sum-frequency generation performs as a coincidence detector with an ultrashort response time (approximately 100 fs), enabling a direct observation of the two-photon wave function. This property also enables us to demonstrate background-free, high-visibility two-photon interference oscillations.

We experimentally demonstrate sum-frequency generation with entangled photon pairs, generating as many as 40,000 photons per second, visible even to the naked eye. The nonclassical nature of the interaction is exhibited by a linear intensity dependence of the nonlinear process. The key element in our scheme is the generation of an ultrahigh flux of entangled photons while maintaining their nonclassical properties. This is made possible by generating the down-converted photons as broadband as possible, orders of magnitude wider than the pump. This approach can be applied to other nonlinear interactions, and may become useful for various quantum-measurement tasks.