Experimental Classification of Samples with Few Coincidence Measurements Using Polarization-Entangled Photon Pairs

Probing the polarization response of an object with the well-acknowledged technique of optical polarimetry enables determination of the specimen's inner properties. Prominent examples include the measurement of the chirality of proteins and molecules [1] or the induced anisotropy of disease-affected cells and tissues [2]. Aiming for better signal-to-noise ratio, lower photon flux of the probing beam and non-local diagnostics, polarimetric approaches employing the quantum nature of light and entanglement are currently rapidly developing [3-6]. In the present work we study the experimental feasibility of the non-local identification of different polarizing samples by performing only few coincidence measurements [6] without necessity for full density matrix reconstruction of the quantum state.