text:
# Interferometric Bell-state preparation using femtosecond-pulse-pumped Spontaneous Parametric Down-Conversion

## I Introduction

The nature of quantum entanglement attracted a great deal of attention even in the early days of quantum mechanics, yet it remained an unsolvable subject of philosophy until Bell showed the possibility of practical experimental tests . Since then, many experimental tests on the foundations of quantum mechanics have been performed . All these tests confirmed quantum mechanical predictions. More recently, experimental and theoretical efforts are being shifted to “applications”, such as quantum communications, quantum cryptography , and quantum teleportation , taking advantage of the peculiar physical properties of quantum entanglement. It is clear that preparation of maximally entangled two-particle (two-photon) entangled states, or Bell states, is an important subject in modern experimental quantum optics.

By far the most efficient source of obtaining two-particle entanglement is spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC). SPDC is a nonlinear optical process in which a higher-energy pump photon is converted into two lower-energy daughter photons, usually called the signal and the idler, inside a non-centrosymmetric crystal . In type-I SPDC, both daughter photons have the same polarizations but in type-II SPDC, the signal and the idler photons have orthogonal polarizations. The signal and the idler are generated into a non-factorizable entangled state. The photon pair is explicitly correlated in energy and momentum or equivalently in space and time. To prepare a maximally entangled two-photon polarization state, or a Bell state, one has to make appropriate local operations on the SPDC photon pairs.

The polarization Bell states, for photons, can be written as

$`|\mathrm{\Phi }^\pm `$ $`=`$ $`|X_1,X_2\pm |Y_1,Y_2,`$ (1)
$`|\mathrm{\Psi }^\pm `$ $`=`$ $`|X_1,Y_2\pm |Y_1,X_2,`$ (2)
where the subscripts 1 and 2 refer to two different photons, photon 1 and photon 2, respectively, and they can be arbitrarily far apart from each other. $`|X`$ and $`|Y`$ form the orthogonal basis for the polarization states of a photon, for example, it can be horizontal ( $`|H`$) and vertical ($`|V`$) polarization state, as well as $`|45^{}`$ and $`|45^{}`$, respectively.

The subject of this paper is a detailed theoretical and experimental account of how one can prepare a polarization Bell state using femtosecond pulse pumped SPDC. In section I, we discuss why one needs such a pulsed source of Bell states, what happens when femtosecond pulsed laser is used to pump a type-II SPDC, and what has been done to recover the visibility in femtosecond pulse pumped type-II SPDC. In section II, we present a detailed theoretical description of how one can prepare a polarization Bell state using femtosecond pulse pumped type-II SPDC without any post-selection, followed by the experiment in section III. We then turn our attention to type-I SPDC and investigate it in detail theoretically in section IV and experimentally in section V.

The quantum nature of SPDC was first studied by Klyshko in late 1960’s . Zel’dovich and Klyshko predicted the strong quantum correlation between the photon pairs in SPDC , which was first experimentally observed by Burnham and Weinberg . The nonclassical properties of SPDC were first applied to develop an optical brightness standard  and absolute measurement of detector quantum efficiency .

Quantum interference effect in SPDC was first clearly demonstrated by Hong, Ou, and Mandel . Shih and Alley first used SPDC to prepare a Bell state . Such experiments have used type-I non-collinear SPDC and a beamsplitter to superpose the signal-idler amplitudes. Experimentally, type-I non-collinear SPDC is not an attractive way of preparing a Bell state mostly due to the difficulties involved in alignment of the system. Collinear type-II SPDC developed by Shih and Sergienko resolved this issue . There is, however, a common problem: the entangled photon pairs have 50% chances of leaving at the same output ports of the beamsplitter. Therefore, the state prepared after the beamsplitter may not be considered as a Bell state without amplitude post-selection as pointed out by De Caro and Garuccio . Only when one considers the coincidence contributing terms by throwing away two out of four amplitudes (post-selection of 50% of the amplitudes), the state is then considered to be a Bell state. Kwiat *et al* solved this problem by using non-collinear type-II SPDC . This non-collinear type-II SPDC method of preparing a Bell state has been widely used in quantum optics community.

Recently, cw pumped type-I SPDC has also been used to prepare Bell states. Kwiat *et al* used two thin nonlinear crystals to prepare Bell states using non-collinear type-I SPDC  and Burlakov *et al* used a beamsplitter to join collinear type-I SPDC from two thick crystals in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer type setup .

Therefore, in cw pumped SPDC, there are readily available well-developed methods of preparing a Bell state. However, entangled photon pairs occur randomly within the coherence length of the pump laser beam. This huge time uncertainty makes it difficult to use in some applications, such as generation of multi-photon entangled state, quantum teleportation, etc, as interactions between entangled photon pairs generated from different sources are required. This difficulty was thought to be solved by using a femtosecond pulse laser as a pump. Unfortunately, femtosecond pulse pumped type-II SPDC shows poor quantum interference visibility due to the very different (compared to the cw case) behavior of the two-photon effective wave-function . One has to utilize special experimental schemes to maximize the overlap of the two-photon amplitudes. Traditionally, the following methods were used to restore the quantum interference visibility in femtosecond pulse pumped type-II SPDC: (i) to use a thin nonlinear crystal ($`100\mu `$m)  or (ii) to use narrow-band spectral filters in front of detectors . Both methods, however, reduce the available flux of the entangled photon pair significantly and cannot achieve complete overlap of the wave-functions in principle. We will discuss this in detail in section II.

Branning *et al* first reported an interferometric technique to remove the intrinsic distinguishability in femtosecond pulse pumped type-II SPDC without using narrowband filters and a thin crystal . This method, however, cannot be used to prepare a Bell state since *four* biphoton amplitudes are involved in the quantum interference process . This issue will be discussed in section II. More recently, Atatüre et al. claimed recovery of high-visibility quantum interference in pulse pumped type-II SPDC from a thick crystal without spectral post-selection. Unfortunately, the theory as well as the interpretation of the experimental data presented their work are shown to be in error . Then it is fair to say that there have been no generally accepted method of preparing a Bell state from femtosecond pulse pumped SPDC without making any post-selection, especially the spectral post-selection. In the following sections, we will present experimental studies of preparing a Bell state using femtosecond pulse pumped SPDC (both type-II and type-I) together with the theoretical analysis.

## II Bell state preparation using type-II SPDC: Theory

Let us first briefly discuss the basic formalism of pulse pumped type-II SPDC as discussed by Keller and Rubin . A femtosecond pulse pumps a type-II BBO crystal to create entangled photon pairs via SPDC process. Orthogonally polarized signal and idler photons are separated by a polarizing beam splitter (PBS) and detected by two detectors, see Fig.1(a).

Let us start from the Hamiltonian of the SPDC

$$=ϵ_0d^3\stackrel{}{r}\chi ^{(2)}E_p(z,t)E_o^{()}E_e^{()},$$
(3)
where $`E_p(z,t)`$ is the electric field for the pump pulse which is considered to be classical, and $`E_o^{()}`$ ($`E_e^{()}`$) is the negative frequency part of the quantized electric field for the $`o`$-polarized ($`e`$-polarized) photon inside the $`\chi ^{(2)}`$ nonlinear crystal (BBO). The pump field can be written as

$$E_p(z,t)=_p𝑑\omega _pe^{[\omega _p\mathrm{\Omega }_p]^2/\sigma _p^2}e^{i[k_p(\omega _p)z\omega _pt]},$$
(4)
where $`_p`$ is the amplitude of the pump pulse, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_p`$ is the central frequency of the pump pulse, $`\sigma _p^2=4\mathrm{ln}2/[\sigma _p^{\mathrm{FWHM}}]^2`$ where $`\sigma _p^{\mathrm{FWHM}}`$ is the FWHM bandwidth of the pump pulse, and $`z`$-direction is taken to be the pump pulse propagation direction. In the interaction picture, the state of SPDC is calculated from first-order perturbation theory

$`|\psi `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{i}{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑t|0,`$ (5)
$`=`$ $`C{\displaystyle 𝑑k_o𝑑k_e𝑑\omega _p_o^L𝑑ze^{[\omega _p\mathrm{\Omega }_p]^2/\sigma _p^2}e^{i\mathrm{\Delta }z}}`$ (7)
$`\times \delta (\omega _o+\omega _e\omega _p)a_o^{}a_e^{}|0,`$
where $`C`$ is a constant, $`L`$ is the thickness of the crystal, $`a_o^{}`$ ($`a_e^{}`$) is the creation operator of $`o`$-polarized ($`e`$-polarized) photon in a given mode, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }=k_pk_ok_e`$ the phase mismatch.

The state vector $`|\psi `$ obtained in Eq.(7) is used to calculate the probability of getting a coincidence count .

$$R_c𝑑t_1𝑑t_2|0|E_2^{(+)}E_1^{(+)}|\psi |^2,$$
(8)
where the field at the detector $`D_1`$ can be written as

$$E_1^{(+)}=𝑑\omega ^{}e^{[\omega ^{}\mathrm{\Omega }_1]^2/\sigma _1^2}e^{i\omega ^{}t_1^o}a_o(\omega ^{}),$$
(9)
where $`t_1^o=t_1l_1^o/c`$, $`l_1^o`$ is the optical path length experienced by the $`o`$-polarized photon from the output face of the crystal to $`D_1`$ and $`a_o(\omega ^{})`$ is the destruction operator of $`o`$-polarized photon of frequency $`\omega ^{}`$. $`\mathrm{\Omega }_1`$ is the central frequency and $`\sigma _1^2=4\mathrm{ln}2/[\sigma _1^{\mathrm{FWHM}}]^2`$ where $`\sigma _1^{\mathrm{FWHM}}`$ is the FWHM bandwidth of the spectral filter inserted in front of the detector $`D_1`$. $`E_2^{(+)}`$ is defined similarly.

We now define the two-photon amplitude (or biphoton) as

$$A(t_+,t_{})=0|E_2^{(+)}E_1^{(+)}|\psi ,$$
(10)
where $`t_+(t_1^o+t_2^e)/2`$, and $`t_{}t_1^ot_2^e`$.

For generality, we have included the spectral filtering in Eq.(9). The effect of spectral filtering on the two-photon effective wave-function in femtosecond pulse pumped type-II SPDC is studied theoretically and experimentally by Kim *et al* . For the purpose of this paper, the bandwidths of the spectral filters $`\sigma _1`$ and $`\sigma _2`$ are now taken to be infinite. Let us also assume degenerate SPDC ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_1=\mathrm{\Omega }_2`$).

Therefore the two-photon amplitude originated from each pump pulse has the form

$`A(t_+,t_{})`$ $`=`$ $`e^{i\mathrm{\Omega }_pt_+}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑\nu _p{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑\nu _{}{\displaystyle _0^L}𝑑z`$ (11)
$`\times `$ $`e^{[\nu _p/\sigma _p]^2}e^{i\left\{\nu _pD_++[\nu _{}/2]D\right\}z}`$ (12)
$`\times `$ $`e^{i\nu _pt_+}e^{i[\nu _{}/2]t_{}},`$ (13)
$``$ $`e^{i\mathrm{\Omega }_pt_+}\mathrm{\Pi }(t_+,t_{}),`$ (14)
where $`D_+\frac{1}{2}\left\{1/u_o(\mathrm{\Omega }_o)+1/u_e(\mathrm{\Omega }_e)\right\}1/u_p(\mathrm{\Omega }_p)`$, and $`D1/u_o(\mathrm{\Omega }_o)1/u_e(\mathrm{\Omega }_e)`$. $`u_o(\mathrm{\Omega }_o)`$ is the group velocity of o-polarized photon of frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }_o`$ inside the BBO. Subscripts $`o`$, $`e`$, and $`p`$ refer to o-polarized photon, e-polarized photon, and the pump, respectively. $`\nu _p`$ is the detuning from the pump central frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }_p`$ ($`\nu _p=\omega _p\mathrm{\Omega }_p`$). $`\nu _o`$ and $`\nu _e`$ are defined similarly and $`\nu _{}\nu _o\nu _e`$.

The exact form of the $`\mathrm{\Pi }(t_+,t_{})`$ function is given by

$$\mathrm{\Pi }(t_+,t_{})=\{\begin{array}{cc}ge^{\sigma _p^2\{t_+[D_+/D]t_{}\}^2/4}\hfill & \mathrm{for}0<t_{}<DL\hfill \\ 0\hfill & \mathrm{otherwise}\hfill \end{array}$$

where $`g`$ is a constant. Note that, different from the cw case where $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$ is a function of $`t_{}`$ only , $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$ is now a function of both $`t_+`$ and $`t_{}`$.

The shape of $`\mathrm{\Pi }(t_+,t_{})`$ function is shown in Fig.2(a). It differs from the cw pumped type-II SPDC significantly. Similar to the cw case, the biphoton starts at $`t_{}=0`$ and ends at $`|t_{}|=DL`$ , but unlike the cw case, there is a strong dependence on $`t_+`$ direction. This is the reason why quantum interference visibility is reduced in femtosecond pulse pumped type-II SPDC.

To prepare a polarization entangled state using type-II collinear SPDC, one first has to replace the polarization beam splitter ($`PBS`$) in Fig.1(a) with a non-polarizing 50/50 beam splitter ($`NPBS`$), see Fig.1(b), so that there are two biphoton amplitudes to contribute to a coincidence count: (i) the signal is transmitted and the idler is reflected at the $`NPBS`$ ($`tr`$ or $`|V_1,H_2`$ amplitude), or (ii) the signal is reflected and the idler is transmitted at the $`NPBS`$ ($`rt`$ or $`|H_1,V_2`$ amplitude). Here we only considered the coincidence contributing amplitudes: amplitude post-selection. When these two $`tr`$ ($`|V_1,H_2`$) and $`rt`$ ($`|H_1,V_2`$) amplitudes are made indistinguishable, a Bell state is prepared (modulo amplitude post-selection) and it can be confirmed experimentally by observing 100% quantum interference . To make the two amplitudes indistinguishable, the e-o delay $`\tau `$ should be correctly chosen. A typical method to find the correct e-o delay $`\tau `$ is to observe Hong-Ou-Mandel dip when the e-o delay $`\tau `$ in Fig.1(b) is varied. One then fixes $`\tau `$ where the complete destructive (when analyzers are set at $`A_1=A_2=45^{}`$) or constructive (when analyzers are set at $`A_1=45^{}`$ and $`A_2=45^{}`$) interference occurs.

What happens in the experimental setup shown in Fig.1(b) can be understood easily in the biphoton picture shown in Fig.2(b). As discussed above, there are two biphoton amplitudes distributed in ($`t_+`$,$`t_{}`$) space. The one on the left represents $`|V_1,H_2`$ and the one on the right represents $`|H_1,V_2`$. When the e-o delay $`\tau =0`$, there is no overlap, i.e, no quantum interference. As $`\tau `$ increases, the biphoton wave-functions move toward each other by $`\tau `$. In cw pumped type-II SPDC, when $`\tau =DL/2`$, the overlap between two amplitudes is complete since the biphoton amplitude is essentially independent of $`t_+`$, i.e., 100% quantum interference can be observed. On the other hand, in femtosecond pulse pumped type-II SPDC, as shown in Fig.2(b), the amount of overlap is very small even at $`\tau =DL/2`$. Due to the tilted shape of the biphoton amplitude, there can never be 100% overlap between the two amplitudes and this results in the reduction of the visibility of quantum interference. It is important to note that, by introducing $`\tau `$, we are shifting the biphoton amplitudes in $`t_{}`$ direction only.

There are several ways to increase the overlap between the two biphoton amplitudes: (i) One can use a thin BBO crystal. In this case the relative area of overlap between the two biphoton amplitudes is increased (since $`|DL|`$ is decreased) by sacrificing the amount of photon flux. (ii) One can use very narrowband spectral filters in front of the detectors. In this case, the biphoton amplitudes get broadened strongly in $`t_{}`$ direction, which results in increased overlap between the two amplitudes (The effect of spectral filtering in $`t_+`$ direction is much smaller than that in $`t_{}`$ direction) . Again, the available photon flux is reduced.

Branning *et al* recently introduced an interferometric technique to overcome this problem by placing a type-II BBO crystal in a Michelson interferometer . Such a method can in principle give a 100% quantum interference. It, however, cannot be used to prepare a polarization Bell state since there are *four* biphoton amplitudes, rather than two, involved in the interfering process . In addition, the first-order interference (observed in single counting rates) cannot be avoided in Branning *et al*’s scheme . Let us discuss this a little further. By placing a thick (5mm) type-II BBO crystal into a Michelson interferometer, Branning *et al* achieve a double-pass down-conversion scheme . In this case, there are *four* biphoton amplitudes involved in the process: two from the first-pass of the pump pulse and the other two from the second-pass of the pump pulse since each pass of the pump pulse results in two biphoton amplitudes as shown in Fig.2(b). Then the non-zero contribution of the biphoton amplitudes in Branning *et al*’s scheme can be depicted as in Fig.3. $`T_p`$ is the delay introduced between the first-pass and the second-pass of the pump pulse, i.e. the delay between the two biphoton amplitudes from the first-pass of the pump pulse and the two biphoton amplitudes from the second-pass of the pump pulse. This delay $`T_p`$ is only introduced in $`t_+`$ direction. The e-o delay $`\tau `$ is introduced in $`t_{}`$ direction by introducing a stack of quartz plates as before, see Fig.1(b) and Fig.2(b). When $`\tau =0`$ and $`T_p=0`$, 100% quantum interference should be observed if polarization information is erased by setting both analyzers at $`45^{}`$. However, Bell states of the type shown in Eq.(2) have not been prepared in this method.

Let us now consider the experimental setup shown in Fig.4 . A type-II BBO crystal is placed in each arm of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI). The pump pulse is polarized at $`45^{}`$ by using a $`\lambda /2`$ plate. PBS is the polarizing beam splitter. The optic axis of the first BBO is oriented vertically ($``$) and the other horizontally ($``$). The pump pulse is blocked by the mirrors $`M_3`$ and $`M_4`$. There are only two biphoton amplitudes in this process, one from each crystal, due to the fact that a polarizing beam splitter is used to split the signal and the idler of the entangled photon pairs. Therefore, the quantum state, when the MZI is properly aligned, can be written as

$$|\psi =|H_1,V_2+e^{i\phi }|V_1,H_2,$$
(15)
where $`H`$ and $`V`$ represent horizontal and vertical polarization respectively. Therefore, by varying the relative phase delay $`\phi `$, one can prepare the Bell states $`|\mathrm{\Psi }^\pm `$. The other two Bell states $`|\mathrm{\Phi }^\pm `$ can be easily achieved by inserting a $`\lambda /2`$ plate in one output port of the MZI. Note that $`\phi =\mathrm{\Omega }_pT_p`$, where $`T_p`$ is the time delay between the two amplitudes in Eq.(15), so that by varying $`T_p`$, modulation in the coincidence counting rate is observed at the pump central frequency. Therefore, in this scheme, a true Bell state can be prepared without any post-selection methods. As we shall show later in this section, the thickness of the nonlinear crystals and the spectral filtering of the entangled photon flux do not affect the visibility in principle, even with a femtosecond pulse pump.

In this configuration, e-polarized photons are always detected by $`D_2`$ and o-polarized photons are always detected by $`D_1`$. This is of great importance when femtosecond laser is used as a pump. The biphoton amplitude for each coincidence detection event is shown in Fig.5. Note that only two biphoton amplitudes are involved in the quantum interference. If the MZI is balanced, 100% quantum interference can be observed. This provides a good method of preparing Bell states. If cw pump is used instead , it is not absolutely necessary to have the optic axes of the crystals orthogonally oriented. Suppose that the optic axis of the crystal in Fig.5(b) is now oriented vertically ($``$), then the corresponding biphoton amplitude will appear flipped about $`t_{}=0`$, thus appearing from 0 to $`DL`$. Clearly, there cannot be any overlap between two amplitudes even with the balanced MZI ($`T_p=0`$), just as the case considered in Fig.1(b) and Fig.2(b). However, in cw pump case, the biphoton amplitudes are independent of $`t_+`$. Therefore, by making appropriate compensation in $`t_{}`$ direction, the two amplitudes can be overlapped: i.e., by setting the e-o delay $`\tau =DL/2`$. Note that if the coherence length of the cw pump laser is not long enough, then perfect overlap cannot be obtained for the same reason as in femtosecond pulse pumped case.

So far, we have pictorially shown that a true Bell state can be obtained in femtosecond pulse pumped type-II SPDC by using an interferometric technique. The picture we have presented is based on the biphoton amplitude calculated earlier in this section. The space-time and polarization interference effects are calculated as follows. We use the right-hand coordinate system assuming the direction of propagation as $`z`$-axis. Then the sum of biphoton amplitudes in the experimental scheme Fig.4 is,

$`𝒜(t_+,T_p,t_{})=(\widehat{e}_1\widehat{e}_H)(\widehat{e}_2\widehat{e}_V)e^{i\mathrm{\Omega }_pt_+}\mathrm{\Pi }(t_+,t_{})+`$ (16)
$`(\widehat{e}_1\widehat{e}_V)(\widehat{e}_2\widehat{e}_H)e^{i\mathrm{\Omega }_p(t_++T_p)}\mathrm{\Pi }(t_++T_p,t_{}),`$ (17)
where $`\widehat{e}`$ represents the unit vector in a certain direction, for example, $`\widehat{e}_1`$ represents the direction of the analyzer $`A_1`$. The coincidence counting rate is then calculated as

$`R_c`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle 𝑑t_+𝑑t_{}|𝒜(t_+,T_p,t_{})|^2}`$ (18)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle 𝑑t_+𝑑t_{}}|\mathrm{sin}\theta _1\mathrm{cos}\theta _2\mathrm{\Pi }(t_+,t_{})+`$ (20)
$`\mathrm{cos}\theta _1\mathrm{sin}\theta _2e^{i\mathrm{\Omega }_pT_p}\mathrm{\Pi }(t_++T_p,t_{})|^2`$
$``$ $`\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _1\mathrm{cos}^2\theta _2+\mathrm{cos}^2\theta _1\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _2+`$ (22)
$`2V(T_p)\mathrm{cos}(\mathrm{\Omega }_pT_p)\mathrm{sin}\theta _1\mathrm{cos}\theta _2\mathrm{cos}\theta _1\mathrm{sin}\theta _2,`$
where

$`V(T_p)`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{𝑑t_+𝑑t_{}\mathrm{\Pi }(t_+,t_{})\mathrm{\Pi }(t_++T_p,t_{})}{𝑑t_+𝑑t_{}\mathrm{\Pi }^2(t_+,t_{})}}`$ (23)
$`=`$ $`e^{[\sigma _pT_p]^2/8}.`$ (24)
Therefore, the space-time interference at $`\theta _1=\theta _2=45^{}`$ will show

$$R_c=1+V(T_p)\mathrm{cos}(\mathrm{\Omega }_pT_p),$$
(25)
and the polarization interference will show

$$R_c=\mathrm{sin}^2(\theta _1+\theta _2)\mathrm{for}\mathrm{\Omega }_pT_p=0.$$
(26)
It is important to note that the envelope of the space-time interference when no spectral filters are used, $`V(T_p)`$ function, is exactly equal to that of the self-convolution of the pump pulse. No crystal parameters affect the envelope of the space-time interference pattern. As we shall show in section IV, this is a special feature of type-II SPDC. If any spectral filtering is used, naturally, the envelope will be broadened.

## III Bell state preparation using type-II SPDC: Experiment

As mentioned before, the goal of this section is to experimentally demonstrate that high-visibility quantum interference, which can be used to prepare a two-photon polarization Bell state, can be observed in the experimental scheme shown in Fig.4 and the envelope of this interference fringes is exactly the same as the pump pulse envelope.

Let us first discuss the experimental setup, see Fig.4. As briefly discussed in section II, a type-II BBO crystal is placed in each arm of the MZI and the optic axes of the crystals are oriented orthogonally, one vertically ($``$) and the other horizontally ($``$). The thickness of the crystals is 3.4mm each. The crystals are pumped by frequency-doubled (by using a 700 $`\mu `$m type-I BBO) radiation of Ti:Sa laser oscillating at 90MHz. The pump has the central wavelength of 400nm. The average power of the laser beam in each arm of the MZI is approximately 10mW. The residual pump laser beam is blocked by two mirrors $`M_3`$ and $`M_4`$ and the relative phase $`\phi =\mathrm{\Omega }_pT_p`$ between the two amplitudes can be varied by adjusting one of the mirrors $`M_2`$. Collinear degenerate down-conversion is selected by a set of pinholes.

We first measure the envelope of the pump pulse itself by blocking the SPDC photons while detecting a small fraction of the pump light that passed through the mirrors $`M_3`$ and $`M_4`$. This is done by simply using another set of interference filters that transmit 400nm radiation. Fig.6 shows the measured envelope of the pump pulse interference patters. The measured FWHM is 170fsec and this will be compared with the envelope of the two-photon quantum interference patterns.

The space-time quantum interference is observed at $`\theta _1=\theta _2=45^{}`$ by varying $`T_p`$. Two sets of experimental data are collected by using two different sets of interference filters, FWHM bandwidths of 10nm and 40nm with 800nm central wavelength, to demonstrate the effect of spectral filtering on the biphoton wave-function. 3nsec coincidence window is used and single counting rates of the detectors are recorded as well.

Fig.7 shows the data for these two measurements. In Fig.7(a), the FWHM of the interference envelope is 310 fsec. This shows that 10nm filter has some effect on the shape of the biphoton wave-function. This is not so surprising since the FWHM bandwidth of the SPDC spectrum for 3.4mm BBO is 3nm. However, when 40nm filters are used, see Fig.7(b), the FWHM of the envelope (170 fsec) is equal to the FWHM of the pump pulse interference patterns, see Fig.6. The effects of the spectral filters are not present and Eq.(25) is confirmed experimentally. The average visibility is 76% which is higher than in any femtosecond-pulse pumped type-II SPDC experiments with a thick crystal and no spectral filters. No interference is observed in the single detector counting rates.

The visibility loss is mostly due to the imperfect alignment of the system. Due to the anisotropy of the BBO crystal, e-ray walks off from the beam path of o-ray. Although both e-rays from the two different crystals are collected at the same detector, the walk-off is in different directions: one walks off horizontally, the other walks off vertically. When thick crystals are used, 3.4mm in our case, such effect is not negligible . Since we are not interested in making any filtering, spectral or spatial, spatial filtering using a single mode fiber is not desirable. Instead of using spatial filtering, such a walk-off can be removed in another way: the two crystals are oriented in the same direction and then insert a $`\lambda /2`$ plate after one of the crystals .

The interferometry using the MZI, however, has one disadvantage: keeping the phase coherence between the two arms of the interferometer over a long time can be difficult. Although we have shown here that the visibility can be improved and in principle reach 100%, if the phase coherence is not kept for a long time, such a method is not useful as a source of Bell states for other experiments. We now turn our attention to type-I SPDC and investigate whether it offers a good solution to this problem. As we shall show, type-I SPDC offers a better way of preparing Bell states in femtosecond pulse pumped SPDC.

## IV Bell state preparation using type-I SPDC: Theory

In this section, we discuss how one can prepare a polarization Bell state in an interferometric way using *degenerate* type-I SPDC pumped by a femtosecond pulse pump.

In general, the difference between type-II SPDC and type-I SPDC stems from calculating the phase mismatch term $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ in Eq.(7). In type-II SPDC, due to the fact that the signal and the idler photons have orthogonal polarization, only the first-order Taylor expansion of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is necessary, even in degenerate case. In degenerate type-I SPDC, however, one has to go to the second-order expansion since the first-order terms cancel if the frequencies are degenerate. Therefore, non-degenerate type-I SPDC formalism is basically the same as that of degenerate type-II SPDC and we will not discuss it here again. On the other hand, as we shall show, degenerate type-I SPDC differs quite a lot from type-II SPDC or non-degenerate type-I SPDC.

Let us first consider the experimental situation shown in Fig.8. Type-I SPDC occurs in the crystal and the photon pairs are detected by two detectors $`D_1`$ and $`D_2`$. The state of type-I SPDC is the same as Eq.(7) except that both photons are now $`o`$-polarized. For type-I degenerate SPDC, the phase mismatch term $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ becomes

$$\mathrm{\Delta }=\left(\nu _pD_++\frac{1}{4}\nu _{}^2D^{\prime \prime }\right),$$
(27)
where $`\nu _{}=\nu _i\nu _s`$ and subscripts $`p`$, $`i`$, and $`s`$ refer to the pump, idler, and the signal, respectively. $`D_+=1/u_o(\mathrm{\Omega }_p/2)1/u_p(\mathrm{\Omega }_p)`$ where $`u_o`$ ($`u_p`$) are the group velocities of the $`o`$-polarized photon (the pump photon) inside the crystal and $`D^{^{\prime \prime }}=d^2K_o/d\mathrm{\Omega }^2|_{\mathrm{\Omega }=\mathrm{\Omega }_p/2}`$ where the wavevector $`K_o=\mathrm{\Omega }n_o(\mathrm{\Omega })/c`$. $`n_o(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ is the index of refraction of the crystal for a given frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. Note that $`D_+`$ is defined differently from the type-II SPDC case.

Therefore, the biphoton amplitude $`A(t_+,t_{})`$ for type-I SPDC now becomes

$`A(t_+,t_{})`$ $`=`$ $`e^{i\mathrm{\Omega }_pt_+}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑\nu _p{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑\nu _{}{\displaystyle _0^L}𝑑z`$ (28)
$`\times `$ $`e^{[\nu _p/\sigma _p]^2}e^{i\left[\nu _pD_++\nu _{}^2D^{\prime \prime }/4\right]z}`$ (29)
$`\times `$ $`e^{i\nu _pt_+}e^{i[\nu _{}/2]t_{}},`$ (30)
$``$ $`e^{i\mathrm{\Omega }_pt_+}\mathrm{\Pi }(t_+,t_{}),`$ (31)
where

$$\mathrm{\Pi }(t_+,t_{})=_0^L𝑑z\frac{1}{\sqrt{z}}e^{\sigma _p^2[t_++D_+z]^2/4}e^{it_{}^2/[4D^{^{\prime \prime }}z]}.$$
(32)
Unlike the pulse pumped type-II SPDC, the $`\mathrm{\Pi }(t_+,t_{})`$ function is symmetric in $`t_{}`$. To simplify the calculation, no spectral filters are assumed.

Having calculated the effective biphoton wave-function of type-I SPDC, let us now consider the experimental scheme shown in Fig.9 and calculate the coincidence counting rate in detail. Two interfering amplitudes are created from the two crystals similar to Fig.5 except that the biphoton amplitudes now look different in type-I SPDC. In the single-mode approximation, the quantum state prepared in the experimental setup of Fig.9 is given by

$$|\psi =|V_1,V_2+e^{i\phi }|H_1,H_2,$$
(33)
where $`\phi `$ is the relative phase similar to Eq.(33). When the phase $`\phi `$ is correctly chosen, the Bell states $`|\mathrm{\Phi }^\pm `$ can be prepared. (Note also that by inserting a $`\lambda /2`$ plate in one output port of the NPBS, the other two Bell states $`|\mathrm{\Psi }^\pm `$ can also be prepared.) As we shall show below, there is no need for any spectral post-selection in this case, however, amplitude post-selection is assumed because there are possibilities that the signal and the idler exit at the same output port of the beamsplitter. This event, however, is not detected since we only consider the coincidence contributing events. Such amplitude post-selection is not desirable in principle. Luckily, there is a way to get around this problem which we shall briefly discuss in section V.

Let us now calculate the coincidence counting rates for the experimental setup shown in Fig.9 using the biphoton amplitude calculated in Eq.(31). By using the right-hand coordinate system as in type-II SPDC case, the coincidence counting rate is given by

$`R_c`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle 𝑑t_+𝑑t_{}}|\mathrm{sin}\theta _1\mathrm{sin}\theta _2\mathrm{\Pi }(t_+,t_{})+`$ (35)
$`\mathrm{cos}\theta _1\mathrm{cos}\theta _2e^{i\mathrm{\Omega }_pT_p}\mathrm{\Pi }(t_++T_p,t_{})|^2`$
$`=`$ $`\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _1\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _2+\mathrm{cos}^2\theta _1\mathrm{cos}^2\theta _2`$ (37)
$`2G(T_p)\mathrm{cos}(\mathrm{\Omega }_pT_p)\mathrm{sin}\theta _1\mathrm{sin}\theta _2\mathrm{cos}\theta _1\mathrm{cos}\theta _2,`$
where $`G(t)=g(t)/g(0)`$ with

$$g(t)=𝑑t_+𝑑t_{}\mathrm{\Pi }(t_+,t_{})\mathrm{\Pi }^{}(t_++t,t_{}).$$

The $`G(t)`$ function gives the envelope of the quantum interference pattern as a function of $`t`$.

Therefore, the space-time interference at $`\theta _1=\theta _2=45^{}`$ will show

$$R_c=1G(T_p)\mathrm{cos}(\mathrm{\Omega }_pT_p),$$
(38)
and the polarization interference will show

$$R_c=\mathrm{cos}^2(\theta _1+\theta _2)\mathrm{for}\mathrm{\Omega }_pT_p=0.$$
(39)
The envelope function of type-I SPDC, $`G(T_p)`$, differs a lot from that of the type-II SPDC, $`V(T_p)`$. $`g(T_p)`$ is calculated to be

$`g(T_p)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑t_+{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑t_{}\mathrm{\Pi }(t_+,t_{})\mathrm{\Pi }^{}(t_++T_p,t_{})`$ (40)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _0^1}𝑑u_1{\displaystyle _0^1}𝑑u_2{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑t_+{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑t_{}`$ (41)
$`\times `$ $`e^{\sigma _p^2[t_++D_+Lu_1^2]^2/4}e^{it_{}^2/[4D^{\prime \prime }Lu_1^2]}`$ (42)
$`\times `$ $`e^{\sigma _p^2[t_++T_p+D_+Lu_2^2]^2/4}e^{it_{}^2/[4D^{\prime \prime }Lu_2^2]}`$ (43)
$`=`$ $`C{\displaystyle _0^1}𝑑u_1{\displaystyle _0^1}𝑑u_2{\displaystyle \frac{u_1u_2}{\sqrt{|u_1^2u_2^2|}}}`$ (44)
$`\times `$ $`e^{\sigma _p^2\{D_+L[u_1^2u_2^2]T_p\}^2/8},`$ (45)
where $`C`$ is a constant and the change of variable, $`z_i=u_i^2L`$ ($`i=1,2`$), has been made.

It is interesting to find that the envelope function $`G(T_p)`$ *does not* explicitly contain the second-order expansion of the phase mismatch term $`D^{\prime \prime }`$ at all. This result is quite surprising since the presence of $`D^{\prime \prime }`$ is the principal difference between type-II SPDC and degenerate type-I SPDC. (This is due to the fact that $`D=0`$ for degenerate type-I SPDC.) Note also that the envelope of the space-time interference is not simply that of the convolution of the pump pulse as in type-II SPDC shown in Eq.(25): it is a complicated function of $`D_+L`$ and $`\sigma _p`$. Fig.10 shows $`G(T_p)`$ when realistic experimental parameters are substituted in Eq.(45).

## V Bell state preparation using type-I SPDC: Experiment

In the experiment, we use two pieces of type-I BBO crystal cut for collinear degenerate SPDC. The thickness of the crystals is 3.4 mm each. The pump pulse central wavelength is 400nm and the average power of the pump beam in each arm of the MZI is approximately 10mW as in the type-II experiment. The repetition rate of the pump pulse is approximately 82MHz.

We first measured the pump pulse envelope. The BBO crystals are not removed from the MZI for the pump pulse envelope measurement. This data is shown in Fig.11. Gaussian fitting of the data gives the FWHM equal to 200 fsec. This is to be compared with the envelope of the quantum interference pattern measured in coincidence counting rate between the two detectors $`D_1`$ and $`D_2`$.

To observe the quantum interference, we first block all the residual pump radiation using additional absorption filters. Analyzer angles are set at $`\theta _1=\theta _2=45^{}`$. The interference filters used in this measurement have 10nm bandwidth. As expected, high-visibility quantum interference is observed, see Fig.12. The FWHM of the interference envelope is much bigger than that of the pump pulse itself, see Fig.11. Unfortunately, due to rather large fluctuations in the data, long tails of the interference envelope predicted by Eq.(45), see Fig.10 are washed out.

With 40nm filters, the shape of the envelope remained almost the same, while the width of the envelope and the visibility is slightly reduced. The reduction of the visibility with 40nm filters is mainly due to the difficulty in aligning both crystals with broadband filters.

There are two problems with this method: (i) amplitude post-selection is assumed, and (ii) the MZI cannot be made very stable for a long term. In a recently published paper , the second problem was solved by using the “collinear interferometer” method in which two type-I crystals are placed collinearly with the optic axes orthogonally oriented. The first problem, amplitude post-selection, was also removed by employing *non-degenerate* type-I SPDC in the collinear scheme . Also with collinear method, aligning the crystals is much easier and the visibility as high as 92% was easily obtained with 40nm filters . Although the collinear method and the MZI method look different, the theoretical description we have presented in the previous sections applies with no modifications. The theory described in section IV explains all the experimental results of Ref. in detail and the experimental results shown in Ref. can be explained by using the theory described in section II by exchanging the polarization label with frequency label.

## VI Conclusion

We have shown that high-visibility quantum interference can be observed without using narrow-band filters for both type-II and type-I SPDC pumped by femtosecond laser pulses. In these methods, a Mach-Zehnder interferometer is used to coherently add two biphoton amplitudes from two different nonlinear crystals pumped by coherent laser pulses. Using this method, maximally entangled two-photon polarization states, or Bell states, can be successfully prepared.

It is important to note that biphoton or two-photon amplitudes generated from coherent pump laser remain coherent even though they may originate from different spatial  or temporal  domains . As long as the distinguishing information present in the interfering amplitudes are erased, high-visibility quantum interference should be observed.

There is, however, one problem with the method using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer: keeping the phase coherence is difficult. This is a rather serious problem especially when one is interested in using such a method to prepare a Bell state and use it as a source. The collinear two-photon interferometer solves this problem. In this method, two type-I crystals are placed collinearly in the pump beam path . Although different geometry is used, the theory presented in section IV applies equally for both Mach-Zehnder interferometer and collinear case.

For the two-crystal scheme using pulse pumped type-II SPDC, the envelope of the space-time interference pattern is determined only by the bandwidth of the pump pulse $`\sigma _p`$, as shown in section II and section III. Crystal parameters do not affect the envelope of the interference pattern at all. On the other hand, for the two-crystal scheme using pulse pumped type-I SPDC, the envelope of the interference pattern strongly depends on the crystal parameters, especially on $`D_+=1/u_o(\mathrm{\Omega }_p/2)1/u_p(\mathrm{\Omega }_p)`$ and the crystal thickness $`L`$ as well as the pump bandwidth $`\sigma _p`$, as shown in section IV and section V. It is also interesting to note that the envelope of the interference pattern does not have explicit dependence on $`D^{\prime \prime }`$.

It is important to note the following. To observe the space-time interference, one can introduce the delay in two ways: (i) in $`t_{}`$ or (ii) in $`t_+`$. In the single-crystal SPDC scheme, quantum interference is observed by introducing the delay $`\tau `$ in $`t_{}`$. But in two-crystal SPDC scheme, one can introduce either in $`t_{}`$ or in $`t_+`$. In this paper, we have demonstrated high-visibility quantum interference in femtosecond pulse pumped SPDC by introducing a delay $`T_p`$ in $`t_+`$.

In conclusion, we have demonstrated Bell states preparation schemes using femtosecond pulse pumped SPDC. In type-II SPDC, the envelope of the interference pattern is exactly equal to the envelope of the pump pulse convolution. On the other hand, the envelope of interference pattern from type-I SPDC is much broader than that of the pump interference. This may be useful if one needs to use femtosecond pulse pumped SPDC, yet requires that two-photon amplitudes are distributed in time more than the pump pulse itself. Type-I SPDC has an advantage over type-II SPDC: two crystals can be easily used collinearly. As demonstrated in , such a method will serve as a good source of entangled photon pairs for experiments which require accurate timing to overlap biphotons from different domains.

## Acknowledgement

We would like to thank V. Berardi and L.-A. Wu for their help during the last part of the experiment. This research was supported, in part, by the Office of Naval Research, ARDA and the National Security Agency.

This paper is dedicated to the memory of our colleague and teacher D.N. Klyshko.


format: text

text:
# Phase-resolved HST/STIS spectroscopy of the exposed white dwarf in the high-field polar AR UMa Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.

## 1 Introduction

AR UMa is a magnetic cataclysmic variable (CV) of the extreme kind. It was discovered as a very luminous soft X-ray source during the EINSTEIN slew survey and optically identified as a nearby ($`d=88`$ pc), short-period ($`P_{\mathrm{orb}}=1.932`$ hr, near the lower edge of the period gap), and possibly magnetic CV by Remillard et al. (1994). An analysis of the Harvard and Sonneberg plate material showed that AR UMa spends most of the time in a state of low accretion activity, $`V16.5`$, with sporadic high states reaching up to $`V13.5`$ (Remillard et al., 1994; Wenzel, 1993). Schmidt et al. (1996) confirmed AR UMa as a strongly magnetic CV (polar) with unprecedented properties: in contrast to all other known polars, AR UMa shows practically no circular polarization during the high accretion state. Moderate circular polarization is, however, observed during the low state, and, if interpreted as dichroism in the photosphere of the white dwarf, indicates a magnetic field $`B200`$ MG. Confirmation of an extremely high field ($`B230`$ MG) was provided by the detection of the $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ $`\sigma ^+`$ Zeeman component in the IUE low state spectrum of AR UMa (Schmidt et al., 1996). Additional optical (Schmidt et al., 1999) and EUV/X-ray observations (Szkody et al., 1999) constrained the binary parameters and highlighted the central role of the strong magnetic field in the accretion process. Summing up, AR UMa is the first polar than can compete in magnetic field strength with the known single high-field white dwarfs, permitting tests of current theories of magnetically-funneled accretion onto white dwarfs under extreme conditions. Two additional systems were recently identified to bridge the magnetic field strength distribution down to the bulk of the polars; V884 Her with $`B150`$ MG (Schmidt et al., 2001) and RX J1007.5$``$2016 with $`B90`$ MG (Reinsch et al., 1999).

We report in this paper the results of high-quality HST/STIS observations of AR UMa which were aimed at an analysis of the properties of the accreting white dwarf. The new data clearly confirm a field strength of $`200`$ MG, though a detailed modeling of the spectra fails for yet unknown reasons. The STIS spectra of AR UMa show some evidence for low-level accretion activity during the low state and such a low interstellar absorption column that the object is an ideal target for future EUV observations.

## 2 HST/STIS observations

STIS observations of AR UMa were carried out on 1998 December 9 during five consecutive HST orbits. The optical monitoring of AR UMa reported by Schmidt et al. (1999) shows that the HST data were obtained during a low state ($`V16.5`$). The last active phase of AR UMa prior to the HST observations was detected in October/November 1998 at an intermediate magnitude of $`V15.5`$. Considering that AR UMa was faint in June 1998, this active state might have lasted for a maximum of $`5`$ months. Unfortunately, during July–September, AR UMa is too close to the sun, preventing continuous monitoring. The bulk of the STIS data were obtained with the G140L far-ultraviolet (FUV, 1130$``$1710 Å) grating; only a single short G230L near-ultraviolet (NUV, 1660$``$3150 Å) exposure was obtained during the last orbit of the visit (Table 1). All data were taken through the $`52\mathrm{}\times 0.2\mathrm{}`$ slit in order to optimize both throughput and spectral resolution ($`R1000`$ and $`R500`$ for the G140L and the G230L data, respectively).

### 2.1 The average STIS spectrum

The strongest features detected in the average STIS spectrum of AR UMa (Fig. FIGURES) are the broad absorption troughs of the $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ $`\pi `$ and $`\sigma ^+`$ Zeeman components. This confirms the identification of the absorption line observed at $`1300`$ Å in the IUE low state spectrum as $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ $`\sigma ^+`$ split in a field of $`230`$ MG (Schmidt et al., 1996). At such field strengths, the $`\sigma ^{}`$ component falls shortwards of the wavelength range covered by STIS, and the strong decrease in flux observed below 1145 Å is due to the rapid drop of the STIS sensitivity toward shortest wavelengths.

The high-quality STIS data ($`\text{signal-to-noise ratio}30`$ at $`1150\text{Å}<\lambda <1450\text{Å}`$ and $`20`$ at $`1450\text{Å}<\lambda <1750\text{Å}`$ in the average FUV spectrum) reveals two additional absorption-like structures centered at $`1180`$ Å and $`1415`$ Å, as well as a number of weak, narrow absorption lines which are most likely of interstellar origin (Fig. FIGURES). Note that the average spectrum contains two narrow $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ absorption lines, centered at velocities zero and $`700`$$`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$. Finally, the weakness of the detected emission lines, $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$, C IV$`\lambda `$ 1550, and Mg II$`\lambda `$ 2800, confirms that AR UMa was in a state of very low accretion activity at the time of the HST observations.

### 2.2 Phase-resolved ultraviolet spectroscopy

The G140L data were obtained over 1.7 binary orbits with strong phase overlap between the five exposures. We used the inttag and calstis commands of STSDAS to split the G140L datasets (Table 1) into 4, 5, 5, 5, and 3 subexposures, respectively, with individual exposure times ranging from 440 s to 592.5 s (corresponding to orbital phase resolutions $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi 0.060.09`$). The phases of mid-exposure of the 22 spectra were computed using the ephemeris of Schmidt et al. (1999), where $`\varphi =0`$ corresponds to the inferior conjunction of the secondary star. Finally, the sub-exposures were summed up in five phase bins to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (Figure FIGURES). The spectral features that noticeably change around the orbit are (1) the $`1180`$ Å absorption, being strongest at $`\varphi 0.5`$, (2) the $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ emission, being strongest at $`\varphi 0.3`$ and absent shortly before the inferior conjunction of the secondary star at $`\varphi 0.9`$, and (3) a very broad ($`200`$ Å) and weak emission centered at $`1650`$ Å that appears between $`\varphi 0.91.1`$

## 3 The photospheric white dwarf spectrum

During a low state, the ultraviolet/optical emission of a polar is dominated by the photospheric spectra of the white dwarf and of the secondary star, allowing a direct measurement of quantities such as the magnetic field strength and the effective temperature of the white dwarf and the spectral type of the secondary (e.g. Schmidt et al., 1981; Schwope et al., 1993). In AR UMa, Remillard et al. (1994) clearly showed that the red end of the optical spectrum reveals the emission of an M6 dwarf, and derived a distance of 88 pc. For the present analysis, we supplement our HST/STIS spectra with an optical low-state spectrum obtained on 1998 May 22 with the CCD Spectropolarimeter (Schmidt et al., 1992) and 2.3 m Bok telescope on Kitt Peak. The latter data cover the region 4000-8000 A at a resolution of $`12`$ Å, and result from a 300 s exposure ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi 0.04`$) centered at $`\varphi =0.79`$. The use of these non-simultaneous data is justified by the fact that the low-state brightness of AR UMa has historically shown very little evidence for change once the system cools from an active phase (Remillard et al., 1994; Schmidt et al., 1996, 1999), and because the continuum ($`V=16.9`$) in the May 1998 data is within 0.1 mag of a $`V`$-band measurement obtained 1998 Nov 14, just 3 weeks prior to the HST observations.

### 3.1 White dwarf temperature

Schmidt et al. (1996) fitted the combined IUE/optical low state spectrum of AR UMa using a grid of solar abundance non-magnetic white dwarf model spectra from Hubeny (1988). They found that no satisfying fit can be achieved with a single-temperature model, but that a 15 000 K white dwarf with a 35 000 K spot covering 2 % of the white dwarf surface provides a rough match for the data. It is clear that any analysis based on non-magnetic models is necessarily prone to large uncertainties, as the strong magnetic field has a major impact on the bound-free and bound-bound opacities in the white dwarf atmosphere (e.g. Merani et al., 1995).

Figure FIGURES illustrates the discrepancy between the observed overall spectrum of AR UMa and non-magnetic pure hydrogen white dwarf model spectra. The optical spectrum of AR UMa is very blue, almost Rayleigh-Jeans, and can be described well with a 50 000 K non-magnetic white dwarf model spectrum111The extremely steep low-state spectrum of AR UMa was already noted by Remillard et al. (1994) who compared it in their Fig. 1 with the low-state spectrum of AM Her, which has $`T_{\mathrm{wd}}\mathrm{20\hspace{0.17em}000}`$ K (Heise & Verbunt, 1988; Gänsicke et al., 1995).. In contrast to this, the STIS FUV/NUV spectrum is relatively flat, suggesting $`T_{\mathrm{wd}}\mathrm{15\hspace{0.17em}000}`$ K. If we assume a distance of 88 pc (Remillard et al., 1994), fitting the flux of the ultraviolet data with the 15 000 K model yields a white dwarf radius of $`R_{\mathrm{wd}}=10^9`$ cm, which corresponds to emission from the entire white dwarf. In contrast, the 50 000 K fit to the optical data can only be interpreted as emission from a small spot on the white dwarf. This mismatch of the ultraviolet and the optical continuum is actually the opposite of what is expected from a white dwarf plus hot spot model. In such a configuration, the ultraviolet range is dominated by the hot spot and has a steeper slope than the optical range which reveals the cooler underlying white dwarf (e.g. Gänsicke et al., 2000).

Very similar problems were encountered by Schmidt et al. (1986) when interpreting the ultraviolet and optical spectrum of the single magnetic white dwarf PG 1031+234 ($`B500`$ MG). Also in this star, which certainly has no accretion-heated pole cap, the ultraviolet continuum is relatively flat, corresponding to $`T_{\mathrm{wd}}\mathrm{15\hspace{0.17em}000}`$ K, while the optical continuum is steeper, indicating $`T_{\mathrm{wd}}\mathrm{25\hspace{0.17em}000}`$ K.

We attempted a better description of the observed ultraviolet plus optical low state spectrum of AR UMa using the magnetic white dwarf model spectra of Jordan (1992) (see also Putney & Jordan, 1995; Burleigh et al., 1999), assuming a magnetic field of $`B=200`$ MG (Schmidt et al., 1996). We computed the spectra for an angle of $`20^{}`$ between the line-of-sight and the magnetic axis, which corresponds to the closest approach of the magnetic pole to the observer (Schmidt et al., 1999). The positions of the $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ components are well reproduced, confirming the field strength derived by Schmidt et al. (1996). Figure FIGURES shows the low state data of AR UMa along with magnetic white dwarf model spectra for $`T_{\mathrm{wd}}=\mathrm{15\hspace{0.17em}000}`$, 20 000, and 25 000 K. The mismatch between the optical and the ultraviolet continuum is somewhat alleviated compared to the fit with non-magnetic models, but, again, no single-temperature model provides a satisfactory fit to the overall spectrum of AR UMa. The scaling applied to the magnetic model spectra in Fig. FIGURES implies white dwarf radii of $`5.1\times 10^8`$ cm and $`4.3\times 10^8`$ cm for the 20 000 K and the 25 000 K models, respectively, for a distance of 88 pc (Remillard et al., 1994). These values are compatible with the assumption that the low state spectrum of AR UMa is dominated by emission from the magnetic white dwarf.

We also attempted to model the STIS FUV data alone with our magnetic white dwarf spectra, again with only limited success: Fig. FIGURES shows the best match with $`T_{\mathrm{wd}}=\mathrm{17\hspace{0.17em}000}`$ K and $`R_{\mathrm{wd}}=8.2\times 10^8`$ cm (for $`d=88`$ pc). While the FUV continuum is well described, the model over-predicts the optical flux in the $`V`$ band by a factor of $`2`$. Interestingly, the Zeeman lines of the model spectra are more deeply modulated and have, hence, larger equivalent widths than the observed lines. Again, this is very similar to the observations of PG 1031+234, where the $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ $`\sigma ^+`$ component is modulated only to $``$50 % of the continuum flux. Schmidt et al. (1986) argued that the Zeeman transitions can only absorb one of two orthogonal polarization modes of the outgoing flux and, hence, the depth of a saturated line will reach maximally 50 % of the continuum level.

A quantitative prediction of the line depth and strength is complicated, as magneto-optical effects (Faraday rotation and Voigt effect) change the polarization properties of the absorption coefficients throughout the atmosphere. In addition, there is at present no reliable theory for the Stark broadening of the individual Zeeman components in the presence of a strong magnetic field. We carried out two exploratory model atmosphere calculations for $`T_{\mathrm{wd}}=\mathrm{20\hspace{0.17em}000}`$ K, $`B=200`$ MG, once including and once excluding the magneto-optical effects. The strongest transition, the $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ $`\pi `$ component, is modulated to $`50`$ % in the spectrum that was computed without magneto-optical effects, just as expected according to Schmidt et al. (1986). However, the $`\pi `$ component is almost 100 % modulated in the spectrum that was computed including the magneto-optical effects. Similar variations are observed in the $`\sigma ^+`$ and $`\sigma ^{}`$ components. We have, thus, to conclude that at present it is not possible to self-consistently model the spectrum of the magnetic white dwarf in AR UMa (or that of PG 1031+234).

Just for completeness, we note that AR UMa as an interacting binary offers two other possibilities to explain the low depth of the $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ lines: either another component in the binary contributes significantly to the FUV flux, or the white dwarf atmosphere is heated by accretion, resulting in a flatter vertical temperature gradient and weaker absorption lines (as observed e.g. in AM Her during a high state; Gänsicke et al. 1998). However, neither hypothesis is very appealing, as AR UMa was observed with HST during a state of very low accretion activity.

### 3.2  The 1180 Å absorption line: a forbidden $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ $`\mathrm{𝟏}𝐬_\mathrm{𝟎}\mathrm{𝟐}𝐬_\mathrm{𝟎}`$ component in the atmosphere of the white dwarf?

In addition to the $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ $`\pi `$ and $`\sigma ^+`$ components, a relatively broad (FWHM$``$11Å) absorption feature centered at $`1180`$ Å appears during $`\varphi =0.30.7`$ without noticeable variation in wavelength (Fig. FIGURES). Comparison with the phase-resolved HST/GHRS spectra of the single magnetic white dwarf RE J0317–853 suggests that the 1180 Å absorption is due to the normally forbidden dipole transition of hydrogen $`1s_02s_0`$, which becomes increasingly more probable in the presence of both strong magnetic and electric fields, a situation encountered in the high-density atmospheres of magnetic white dwarfs (Burleigh et al., 1999). In RE J0317–853, the $`1s_02s_0`$ absorption is attributed to the weaker pole with $`B200`$ MG. In AR UMa, the 1180 Å is strongest at $`\varphi =0.30.5`$ when the northern magnetic pole $`B240`$ is best visible (see Sect. 3.3.3).

Both the wavelength and the oscillator strength of the $`1s_02s_0`$ component depend on the choice of the electric field. The oscillator strength of this “forbidden” feature increases with the electric field at the expense of the normal $`\pi `$ ($`1s_02p_0`$) component. Since we have at present the necessary atomic data only for a limited range of electric field strengths we assumed in our model spectrum calculation (Fig. FIGURES) the same electric field of $`10^8`$ V/m as for RE 0317–853 (Burleigh et al., 1999). A detailed modeling of the $`1s_02s_0`$ feature, especially of its phase-dependence, will be possible only once the necessary atomic data for a large range of fields are available.

The observed $`1s_02s_0`$ in AR UMa is stronger than in the model, in fact of similar strength as the observed $`\pi `$ ($`1s_02p_0`$) component! Therefore, the electric field in the atmosphere of AR UMa should be even higher than in that of RE0317–853, which could also explain the slight difference in wavelength between model and observation. Unfortunately, we have no good physical explanation for the origin of such a strong electric field in the atmosphere of AR UMa: The strength of the electric micro field expected from the disturbing particles, ions and electrons, scales with the electron density as $`N_e^{2/3}`$, which implies that the electric field increases with the effective temperature because of a higher degree of ionization. From this simple assumption, the electric field strength in AR UMa should be a factor of $`3`$ lower than in RE 0317–853. A similar conclusion holds for the thermally induced motional Stark effect or the generation of electric fields from a rotating dynamo.

Finally, we add as a cautionary remark that, as the white dwarf in AR UMa is accreting metal-rich material from its secondary, we cannot rule out that heavy elements could contribute to the observed line spectrum. Schmidt et al. (1996) already argued that a number of absorption lines in the optical spectrum could be from elements other then hydrogen. In fact, a broad (FWHM$``$8 Å) absorption is observed in the STIS spectrum at $`1335`$ Å, as well as a few narrow features that cannot be explained with interstellar absorption (see Sect. 4), e.g. 1227.7 Å and 1325.6 Å. We note that the 1180/1335 Å features coincide with C III$`\lambda `$ 1176 and C II$`\lambda `$ 1335, which are very strong in $`\mathrm{20\hspace{0.17em}000}\mathrm{30\hspace{0.17em}000}`$ K metal-rich atmospheres. However, in the absence of theoretical descriptions of metal transitions in strong magnetic fields and as no other typically strong absorption, e.g. near Si II$`\lambda `$ 1260,65 or Si III$`\lambda `$ 1300, is observed, we consider the hydrogen $`1s_02s_0`$ transition to be the most likely explanation of the $`1180`$ Å feature.

### 3.3 The broad 1415 Å absorption

The average spectrum (Fig. FIGURES) contains a strong and broad ($`70`$ Å) absorption-like feature centered at $`1415`$ Å. From Fig. FIGURES it appears that this absorption does not significantly depend on the orbital phase. We envision several possible mechanisms that could be the source of this feature.

#### 3.3.1 Quasi-molecular $`\mathrm{H}_2^+`$ absorption.

In non-magnetic DA white dwarfs with effective temperatures below $`\mathrm{20\hspace{0.17em}000}`$ K, absorption by quasi-molecular hydrogen causes a broad line centered at $`1400`$ Å (Koester et al., 1985). Schmidt et al. (1996) fitted the combined IUE/optical low state spectrum of AR UMa with a 15 000 K white dwarf with a small 35 000 K spot (see also the discussion in Sect. 3.1). Such a low temperature of the white dwarf makes the $`\mathrm{H}_2^+`$ hypothesis appear viable. However, present theory can not predict the position/shape of the $`\mathrm{H}_2^+`$ absorption in a strong magnetic field. Also on observational grounds, the evidence for $`\mathrm{H}_2^+`$ absorption in magnetic white dwarfs is meagre: Gänsicke et al. (2000) detected $`H_2^+`$ absorption in only two out of 12 single magnetic white dwarfs that were observed with IUE, and in none of the accreting magnetic white dwarfs in polars observed so far in the ultraviolet.

#### 3.3.2 Zeeman absorption by Balmer lines

In extremely strong magnetic fields several transitions of the Balmer line series are shifted by up to thousands of Å into the ultraviolet (e.g. Henry & O’Connell, 1985). It may, hence, be also possible that the observed absorption near 1415 Å, the phase-dependent flux variation around 1650 Å, and other structures in the long-wavelength portion of the STIS spectrum, are related to Balmer absorption. Indeed, our model spectra (Fig. FIGURES) qualitatively reproduce the undulations observed in the NUV spectrum of AR UMa, however they do not contain significant structure in the FUV range (apart from $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$).

#### 3.3.3 Cyclotron emission – ongoing accretion

Another possible interpretation arises if the structure near $`1415`$ Å is not due to absorption, but if there is a rather broad emission bump redward of it, peaking at $`1445`$ Å. In the context of accreting magnetic white dwarfs, cyclotron emission is an immediate candidate for the origin of such a broad emission line. As the shape of the feature does not change significantly around the orbit we would have to assume that it originates in a hot accretion plasma near the northern magnetic pole, which remains constantly in view (Schmidt et al., 1999; Szkody et al., 1999). The cyclotron hypothesis finds some support in the fact that an additional bump centered at $`1650`$ Å appears in the FUV spectrum near $`\varphi 0`$. The spectral shape of this bump is most clearly seen in the flux difference $`(\varphi =0.5)(\varphi =0.0)`$, see Fig. FIGURES, right panel, bottom curve. The appearance of the 1650 Å bump coincides with the phase when the southern accretion region rotates into view (Schmidt et al., 1999; Szkody et al., 1999), and might be related to accretion onto the southern magnetic pole. We recall here that the southern pole is the more active one during the high state.

We model the hypothetical cyclotron features with the emission of an isothermal plasma slab in a strong magnetic field. The intensity spectrum is simply given as $`I_\lambda =B_\lambda (1e^{\tau _\lambda })`$, with $`B_\lambda `$ the Planck function and $`\tau _\lambda `$ the wavelength-dependent optical depth. We follow the general approach (see e.g. Wickramasinghe, 1988) and express $`\tau _\lambda =\mathrm{\Lambda }\phi _\lambda `$ with the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ the dimensionless size parameter and $`\phi _\lambda `$ the dimensionless absorption coefficient (computed according to Chanmugam & Dulk, 1981; Thompson & Cawthorne, 1987). Free parameters of this model are the angle $`\vartheta `$ between the line of sight and the magnetic field line threading the emitting plasma, the magnetic field strength $`B`$, the plasma temperature $`kT`$, and the size parameter $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. The detection of a single cyclotron harmonic does not allow an independent estimate of the magnetic field strength. We computed, therefore, the cyclotron model spectra for a range of field strengths that are compatible with $`B200`$ MG, as derived from the Zeeman-split $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ line (Sect. 3.1).

In a first step, we modeled the 1445 Å emission bump in the FUV spectrum obtained at $`\varphi =0.5`$, as it is least contaminated by the emission bump at 1650 Å. We obtain a satisfactory fit for $`B=240`$ MG, $`kT=0.45`$ keV, $`\vartheta =35^{}`$, and $`\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{\Lambda })=7.0`$ (bottom curve of Fig. FIGURES, left panel). For these parameters, the 1445 Å bump corresponds to the third harmonic of the cyclotron emission. The model spectrum predicts some emission in the second harmonic at $`2230`$ Å, and very little flux (a few $`10^{17}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1\text{Å}^1`$) in the fundamental frequency at $`4470`$ Å. The NUV spectrum shows a small change in slope at $`2100`$ Å, which might be related to flux from the second harmonic. Subtracting the cyclotron model from the observed FUV spectrum results in an almost smooth continuum (Fig. FIGURES, left panel). The remaining structure is not too surprising, as the accretion region will be characterized by a temperature and density structure which can not fully be described by our simple model.

Subsequently, we modeled the 1650 Å emission bump which appears at $`\varphi 0.0`$ with a second cyclotron spectrum for $`B=160`$ MG, $`kT=0.45`$ keV, $`\vartheta =35^{}`$, and $`\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{\Lambda })=9.9`$ (Fig. FIGURES, bottom panel). This time, the FUV cyclotron bump corresponds to the fourth harmonic. Some emission is predicted in the third ($`2230`$ Å) and second ($`3350`$ Å) harmonics, and practically no power is expected in the fundamental frequency ($`6700`$ Å).

For both emission regions, the derived model parameters imply an emitting area $`A_{\mathrm{cyc}}10^{14}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ and a luminosity $`L_{\mathrm{cyc}}10^{30}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$. For a canonical white dwarf mass and radius (0.6 $`M_{}`$, $`8.4\times 10^8`$ cm), the cyclotron luminosity corresponds to an accretion rate of $`10^{13}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{s}^1`$, or $`1.7\times 10^{13}`$$`M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$.

In summary, if the 1445 Å/1650 Å bumps are really due to cyclotron emission, the implication is that a very low inflow of material feeds both the northern and the southern pole during the low state. The low cyclotron flux that both poles emit in the fundamental harmonics is consistent with the non-detection of low-state cyclotron emission (both in polarization and in flux) in the optical range (Schmidt et al., 1996). The derived cyclotron luminosity is somewhat larger than the limit on the low state hard X-ray luminosity obtained from ASCA data (Szkody et al., 1999). The plasma temperature that we derive is extremely low, but compatible with the combination of a low accretion rate and the efficient cyclotron cooling of the post shock flow in a strong field (e.g. Beuermann & Woelk, 1996). Fischer & Beuermann (2000) present updated model temperature structures for accretion columns in polars and predict indeed low-temperature ($`kT1`$ keV) bremsstrahlung from the accretion region for such a combination.

The field strengths derived from the cyclotron emission may be considered an indication that the field geometry is not that of a simple dipole. Such conclusions are not unusual in the studies of single and accreting magnetic white dwarfs (e.g. Wickramasinghe & Martin, 1979; Burleigh et al., 1999; Schwope et al., 1993). However, the derived 160 MG should be considered as a lower limit on the field strength of the southern pole, as the magnetic south pole remains eclipsed by the white dwarf throughout the entire binary orbit (Schmidt et al., 1999). The detection of cyclotron radiation from the southern accretion region implies that this region is rather extended – which is not too surprising: because of the high magnetic field strength in AR UMa material is already magnetically threaded near the secondary star and may, consequently, be distributed over large areas near the magnetic poles of the white dwarf. The observed weak orbital dependence of the 1445 Å bump requires that the northern cyclotron emitting region must be located very close ($`5^{}10^{}`$) to the rotation axis of the white dwarf to minimize the orbital variation of $`\vartheta `$. Schmidt et al. (1999) derived from a number of observational constraints a colatitude of the magnetic pole $`10^{}\delta _\mathrm{B}35^{}`$. Keeping in mind that the actual accretion region(s) in polars are usually offset by some degree from the magnetic pole(s), these conclusions are consistent.

## 4 Narrow absorption lines of low ionization species: ISM

Besides the broad $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ Zeeman components, the mean spectrum of AR UMa displays a number of narrow absorption lines of various strengths. An enlargement of the FUV average spectrum (Fig. FIGURES) shows that some of the more pronounced narrow absorption features coincide with the strongest interstellar absorption lines that are expected in the spectrum of a nearby galactic ultraviolet-bright source (e.g. Gänsicke et al., 1998; Holberg et al., 1999; Mauche et al., 1988). The most convincing detections are $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$, Si II$`\lambda `$ 1260.4, and C II$`\lambda `$ 1334.5 (the latter being embedded in a much broader – FWHM$``$8 Å – absorption trough that can not be of interstellar origin, see Sect. 3.2). The interstellar origin of these narrow features is supported by the fact that only the blue component of the Si II$`\lambda \lambda `$ 1260.4, 1264.7 doublet is present in the spectrum of AR UMa. The red component corresponds to a transition from an excited level which is not populated in the interstellar medium. The interstellar lines of Si II$`\lambda `$ 1260.4 and C II$`\lambda `$ 1334.5 have equivalent widths of $`3050`$ mÅ, about half of what is observed in AM Her (Gänsicke et al., 1998). For completeness, we show in Fig. FIGURES the positions of other interstellar transitions of somewhat lower strength than the observed Si II and C II lines, i.e. Si II$`\lambda \lambda `$ 1190.70,1193.29, N I$`\lambda `$ 1200, O I$`\lambda `$ 1302.2, and Si II$`\lambda `$ 1304.4. We can not claim a significant detection of any of these lines, but we note that all transitions coincide with absorption dips at the noise level.

The observed interstellar $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ absorption can be used to derive an estimate of the column density of neutral hydrogen along the line of sight to AR UMa. We use for this purpose the FUV spectrum obtained shortly before inferior conjunction of the secondary ($`\varphi =0.9`$), where the interstellar $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ profile is least contaminated by the phase-dependent $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ emission (Fig. FIGURES). We fitted a pure damping profile (Bohlin, 1975) folded with a 1.2 Å FWHM Gaussian to the observed $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ absorption line (Fig. FIGURES, top panel). The resulting column density of neutral hydrogen is $`N_\mathrm{H}=(1.1\pm 1.0)\times 10^{18}\mathrm{cm}^2`$. This value is even lower than that derived by Szkody et al. (1999) from EUVE observations, $`N_\mathrm{H}=(610)\times 10^{18}\mathrm{cm}^2`$. The higher column density determined from X-ray data indicates the presence of material along the line of sight, presumably within the binary system, in which hydrogen is ionized to a high degree while the other elements are only partially ionized and still contribute to the soft X-ray absorption. We note in passing that AR UMa is the polar with the lowest column density identified so far. As it is also a very bright EUV source, it is the candidate for future EUV/soft X-ray observations, e.g. searching for spectroscopic evidence of metals in the footpoint of the accretion column.

## 5 Evidence for a wind in AR UMa?

The FUV spectrum of AR UMa (Fig. FIGURES) displays phase-dependent $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ emission, as well as a weak absorption centered at $`1213`$ Å (in addition to the interstellar $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ absorption). Figure FIGURES, bottom panel, shows the $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ region of the FUV spectra, corrected for an interstellar absorption of $`N_\mathrm{H}=1.1\times 10^{18}\mathrm{cm}^2`$.

We fitted the $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ emission in all 22 short subexposures (Sect. 2.2) with Gaussians in order to derive the variation of the flux and the velocity of the line (Fig. FIGURES). The parameters derived for the spectra covering $`\varphi =0.51.0`$ are very uncertain, as the $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ emission almost vanishes during these phases. A sine fit to the emission line velocities results in a half-amplitude $`K=367\pm 58`$$`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, a mean velocity $`\gamma =222\pm 43`$$`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, and maximum redshift occurring at $`\varphi =0.31\pm 0.03`$. These parameters are, apart from the higher $`\gamma `$ velocity in the ultraviolet data, very similar to those derived from the radial velocities of $`\mathrm{H}\alpha `$ and $`\mathrm{H}\beta `$ observed in the low state. Every case of strong $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ emission occurs with a significant redshift, suggesting that the emitting region is moving away from us at $`\varphi 0.3`$. The only component in the binary which is doing this at the given orbital phase is the secondary star (a weak stream would still be expected to show a blueshift or no net velocity near this phase). It seems, therefore, plausible to identify the secondary star as the origin of the $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ emission. The width of the $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ emission ($`\mathrm{FWHM}570`$$`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$) is, however, significantly larger than the rotational broadening on the tidally locked secondary star, indicating that the emission region is not stationary on or near the surface of the secondary.

The phase of maximum $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ flux is $`\varphi 0.3`$, which corresponds to the best view onto the trailing hemisphere of the irradiated secondary star. The EUVE spectrum of AR UMa shows strong He II$`\lambda `$ 304 emission at $`\varphi 0.4`$, indicating that the secondary star is, at least during the high state, not irradiated uniformly, i.e. the leading hemisphere is probably shielded by the accretion stream (Szkody et al., 1999). The $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ emission appears to become increasingly double peaked between $`\varphi 0.30.5`$, with the “dip” in the line core centered at $`1216.5`$ Å. This could indicate either additional absorbing neutral hydrogen in the line of sight with a velocity of $`250`$$`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, or that the $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ emission consists of two components, which would also be an explanation for the relatively large width of the $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ emission (see above).

The absorption component at $`1213`$ Å is also strongest at $`\varphi 0.3`$, favoring a common origin of both, the emission and the absorption feature. Identifying the absorption with $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ yields a velocity of $`700`$$`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$. The width of the absorption feature is, in contrast to the $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ emission, relatively narrow and indicates a low velocity gradient in the absorbing material. In addition, the wavelength of the absorption component does not vary significantly with the orbital phase. The general shape of the $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ absorption/emission compound is reminiscent of a P Cygni profile, and, hence, very suggestive of the existence of a moderately fast wind. In a somewhat speculative way, we attribute this $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ feature to a wind originating from the asymmetrically irradiated secondary star. The narrow, almost stationary absorption corresponds in this case not to the absorption of light from wind source – the secondary star (as it does not contribute at all to the ultraviolet flux), but could be related to absorption of light from the white dwarf by the intervening wind material.

One may be prone to suggest the accretion stream as an alternative origin of the $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ absorption/emission compound. This possibility seems, however, rather unlikely: around $`\varphi 0.3`$, only the footpoint of the accretion stream feeding the northern pole could absorb light from the white dwarf surface, but has at this point a receding velocity of several 1000 $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$.

## 6 Ultraviolet light curves

All the STIS data (Table 1) were obtained using the MAMA detectors in the time-tagged mode. The prime data product of the detectors are photon event tables which list the arrival time $`t`$ and the detector coordinates ($`x,y`$) for each registered photon. The time resolution of the MAMA’s is $`125\mu \mathrm{s}`$. This data format permits the extraction of light curves in arbitrary wavelength bands and with any desired time resolution.

### 6.1 Orbital flux modulation

We chose to produce light curves from the G140L observations in the four wavelengths listed in Table 2. The bands were selected to avoid the geocoronal $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ emission222which is strong in the raw data, but successfully subtracted in the calibrated spectrum produced by the STSDAS calibration pipeline and to provide roughly even sampling over the observed FUV range.

The first step in extracting the light curves is to select appropriate ($`x,y`$) regions in the raw two-dimensional detector image which contain the desired wavelength range of the object spectrum, as well as empty background regions above and below the spectrum. We used boxes 35 pixels wide in the cross-dispersion direction to extract the source photons. Care was taken to exclude the area of the detector shadowed by the repeller wire when selecting the background regions. In a second step, two new event tables were created for each wavelength band from all the photon arrival times included in the previously defined source and background ($`x,y`$) region(s), respectively. Finally, these two event tables were sampled in equally spaced time bins, i.e. light curves, and the background light curves were subtracted from the source light curves, scaled appropriately for the detector areas used in the extraction process. The light curves were converted from $`\mathrm{cts}\mathrm{s}^1`$ to fluxes by scaling to the average flux in the selected wavelength band. Figure FIGURES shows the background subtracted phase-folded light curves in the wavelength bands a–d, sampled in 120 s.

In order to derive amplitudes and phases of the modulations we fitted simple sine functions of the form $`A\mathrm{sin}[(\varphi \varphi _0)2\pi ]+O`$ to the FUV light curves, with $`A`$ the half-amplitude of the sine wave, $`\varphi _0`$ the phase offset, and $`O`$ the mean flux. The best-fit parameters are reported in Table 2.

At first glance, the sinusoidal FUV modulation in AR UMa is reminiscent of the FUV light curves observed in a number of polars during both high and low states and interpreted by rather large “warm” spots near the accretion regions on the white dwarfs (e.g. de Martino et al., 1998; Gänsicke et al., 1998; Stockman et al., 1994). In AR UMa, the phases of maximum flux ($`\varphi _{\mathrm{max}}=\varphi _0+0.25`$) vary between 0.95–1.06, which is only slightly later than the phase of maximum EUV flux during the high state. Szkody et al. (1999) convincingly argued that the EUV flux maximum is due to the appearance of the main accreting (southern) pole during the phase interval $`0.70.1`$.

It seems, hence, very tempting to attribute the observed FUV modulation to a hot spot near the southern accretion region, which is either deeply heated from the previous high state (the cooling time scale of the accretion regions is $``$months, Schmidt et al., 1996) or heated by ongoing low level accretion (Sect. 3.3.3). However, two points argue against this interpretation:

(1) a spot near the southern magnetic pole would be eclipsed by the body of the white dwarf for a large part of the orbital phase, resulting in a flat-bottomed light curve (similar to the EUVE light curve, Szkody et al. 1999), which contrasts with the observed sinusoidal shape of the FUV modulation. To match the observed shape of the FUV light curve, a southern spot would have to be ridiculously large, covering $`7090\%`$ of the white dwarf, in which case it would be more appropriate to speak of a cold northern polar cap. Thus, if due to a temperature variation over the white dwarf surface, the observed FUV modulation would have to be ascribed to a hot polar cap on the northern pole. But a northern pole cap cannot reproduce the observed modulation, as its aspect changes only little with the orbital phase.

(2) the amplitude of the flux modulation is apparently not a simple function of wavelength, but shows a minimum in the 1323.2–1520.3 Å band (Table 2). This is in strong contrast to the FUV modulation observed in other polars, where the amplitude of the FUV modulation has always been found to monotonically increase toward shorter wavelengths. To investigate the wavelength dependence of the FUV modulation in AR UMa, we extracted from the time-tagged photon lists a total of 18 phase-folded light each one covering $`30`$ Å. The signal-to-noise ratio of these light curves is of course lower than that of the four broad-band light curves, and we computed the relative modulation of a given light curve as the ratio of the standard deviation of count rate to the mean count rate in the corresponding wavelength band (Fig. FIGURES).

As already suggested by the broad-band light curves described above, a strong modulation is observed only for $`\lambda <1300`$ Å and $`\lambda >1600`$ Å. The maximum modulation ($`10`$%) coincides with the $`\pi `$ component of $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$, the minimum with the “1415 Å” absorption feature. Thus, cyclotron emission from the northern pole may dilute the modulation somewhat (Sect. 3.3.3). However, the cyclotron flux predicted from our model alone is too low to explain the observed decrease of the FUV modulation by a factor $`4`$.

Summing up, the interpretation of the FUV modulation observed with STIS cannot follow in a straightforward way the results obtained for other polars. Even though a hot spot may be present in AR UMa, and may contribute to the observed flux modulation, it appears likely that different phenomena cause the observed modulation at the blue and the red ends of the STIS bandpass. At short wavelengths the strong modulation coincides with the $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ Zeeman absorption structure which sensitively depends on the field dependent photospheric opacities. A slight orbital variation of the projected magnetic field may thus result in a variation of the flux in this band. At long wavelengths, the broad emission bump which appears at $`\varphi =0.91.1`$ and which we interpreted as cyclotron emission best explains the observed flux modulation.

### 6.2 Probing for blobby accretion

In Sect. 3.3.3 we suggested that the bumps observed in the FUV spectrum of AR UMa are due to cyclotron emission, implying that the white dwarf is accreting at a tiny rate even during the low state. We used the STIS time-tagged photon stream to probe for evidence of “blobby accretion”, i.e. for stochastic variability in excess to pure Poisson noise. For this analysis, we extracted a count rate light curve from the STIS photon stream in an analogous fashion as described above, using the entire G140L wavelength range except for a narrow range around the geocoronal $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ emission. The background subtracted light curve, sampled in 10s bins, shows a sinusoidal modulation with an half-amplitude of 3.6 %. We computed the discrete power spectrum of this light curve using the MIDAS Time Series Analysis context (Fig. FIGURES). Clearly present is the orbital period plus a number of aliases caused by the uneven sampling of the orbital flux modulation. In order to probe for additional non-Poissonian power, we composed synthetic time-tagged data sets with the same mean count rate and the same coverage as the STIS data. The synthetic count rates were modulated by a sine wave with the parameters derived from the best sine-fit to the STIS count rate light curve. The synthetic data sets were sampled in 10s bins and, finally, we computed discrete power spectra from the synthetic count rate light curves. The power spectra for the synthetic data sets reproduce very well the power spectrum obtained from the real data, both the various spikes corresponding to aliases of the orbital period and the noise level at the high frequency end frequencies (Fig. FIGURES). From this comparison, we conclude that the ultraviolet data provide no significant evidence for short-term fluctuations of the count rate due to individual accretion events down to a count rate of $`0.4`$$`\mathrm{cts}\mathrm{s}^1`$, corresponding to 0.1 % of the mean count rate.

## 7 Summary

Our analysis of the HST/STIS observations of AR UMa lead to the following results in our understanding of this unique accretion physics and plasma laboratory.

1. We clearly confirm the earlier IUE detection of the photospheric $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ $`\sigma ^+`$ absorption, and with an implied magnetic field strength of $`200`$ MG AR UMa may well be called “the king of the polars”. Alas, our state-of-the-art magnetic white dwarf model spectra fail to provide a satisfactory description of either the detailed $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ Zeeman profiles or the ultraviolet/optical spectral energy distribution, resulting in only a rough temperature estimate, $`T_{\mathrm{wd}}=\mathrm{20\hspace{0.17em}000}\pm 5000`$ K.
2. The uncooperative (pole-on) viewing geometry prevents a detailed mapping of either the magnetic field topology or a potential temperature variation over the white dwarf surface. Additional information can probably be obtained from the phase-dependency of the “forbidden” hydrogen $`1s_02s_0`$ transition. However, detailed modeling must await the necessary atomic data.
3. As a consequence of the high field strength, the fundamental cyclotron frequency falls in the optical wavelength band. However, there is some evidence in the ultraviolet for low-harmonic cyclotron emission originating from near the magnetic pole and corresponding to a low-state accretion rate of $`10^{13}`$$`M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$. Remnant activity in the system during the low state is also indicated by the presence of $`\mathrm{Ly}\alpha `$ emission. The observed orbital variation of flux and velocity leads us to attribute this emission to the secondary star, possibly to a wind emanating from its trailing hemisphere.
4. The brightness and extremely low interstellar column mark AR UMa as the best polar for future FUV/EUV observations.

Support was provided through NASA grant GO-7397 from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555, by the DLR grants 50 OR 99 036 and DLR 50 OR 96 173, and by the DFG grant KO 738/7-1. We thank Andreas Fischer for providing us the cyclotron emission model.

## FIGURES