Polarization state of a biphoton: Quantum ternary logic

The polarization state of biphoton light generated via colinear frequency-degenerate spontaneous parametric down-conversion is considered. A biphoton is described by a three-component polarization vector, its arbitrary transformations relating to the SU(3) group. A subset of such transformations, available with retardation plates, is realized experimentally. In particular, two biphoton beams, formed by colinearly polarized photons (type I) are transformed into a single biphoton beam formed by orthogonally polarized photons (type II). Polarized biphotons are suggested as ternary analogs of two-state quantum systems (qubits). [S1050-2947(99)51312-7]