Efficient two-step up-conversion by quantum-correlated photon pairs.

We theoretically investigate the sequential two-step upconversion of correlated photon pairs with positive and negative energy correlations, in terms of how the up-conversion efficiency depends on the incident pulse delay. A three-level atomic system having a metastable state is used to evaluate the up-conversion efficiency. It is shown that a photon pair with a positive energy correlation can drastically enhance the up-conversion efficiency compared with uncorrelated photons and correlated photons with a negative energy correlation.