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arXiv:2601.18870

Experimental Demonstration of Commutation Relations Using Intensity Correlations

Hans Dang, Sebastian Luff, Martin Fischer, Markus Sondermann, Mojdeh. S. Najafabadi, Luis L. Sanchez-Soto, Gerd Leuchs

quant-phSubmitted Jan 26, 2026• Announced Jan 28, 2026• 1 citation
v1 · Jan 26, 2026v2 · Aug 23, 2026
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Abstract

The canonical commutation relation is a cornerstone of quantum theory and underlies the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Although uncertainty relations have been extensively tested, direct verifications of the underlying commutation relation itself have remained elusive. We report an experimental demonstration of the bosonic commutation relation for optical field operators based on measurements of two distinct intensity correlation functions. From these measurements, we extract the expectation value of the field-operator commutator for both a single-photon state and coherent state. In both cases, the measured values are consistent with unity, in quantitative agreement with quantum theory.

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The canonical commutation relation is a cornerstone of quantum theory and underlies the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Although uncertainty relations have been extensively tested, direct verifications of the underlying commutation relation itself have remained elusive. We report an experimental demonstration of the bosonic commutation relation for optical field operators based on measurements of two distinct intensity correlation functions. From these measurements, we extract the expectation value of the field-operator commutator for both a single-photon state and coherent state. In both cases, the measured values are consistent with unity, in quantitative agreement with quantum theory.
We present the experimental realization of a scheme, based on single-photon interference, for implementing superpositions of distinct quantum operations. Its application to a thermal light field (a well-categorized classical entity) illustrates quantum superposition from a new standpoint and provides a direct and quantitative verification of the bosonic commutation relation between creation and annihilation operators. By shifting the focus towards operator superpositions, this result opens interesting alternative perspectives for manipulating quantum states.
We have experimentally determined all of the quantities involved in the uncertainty relation for the phase and photon number of a mode of the electromagnetic field when the field mode is in a coherent state of small average photon number. This is accomplished by determining the quantum state of the field using optical homodyne tomography, which uses measured distributions of electric-field quadrature amplitude to determine the Wigner function and hence the density matrix. The measured state is then used to calculate the uncertainty product for the number and phase, as well as the expectation value of the commutator of the number and phase operators. The experimental results agree with the quantum-mechanical predictions. We also present measured phase- and photon-number distributions for these weak coherent states, as well as their measured complex wave functions.
Uncertainty relations are one of the most important foundations of quantum physics. In the textbook literatures, uncertainty relations usually refer to the preparation uncertainty. Its original formulation based on variances of two observables limits on the ability to prepare an ensemble of quantum systems for which non-commuting observables will have arbitrary uncertainty. The preparation uncertainty relation has been widely investigated. On the other hand, a unitary operator is a fundamental tenet of quantum theory. Every evolution of a closed quantum system is governed by acting unitary operators on the state of the system and the evolution of an open system can be represented by acting unitary operators on an enlarged system consisting of the quantum system as a subsystem. Therefore, naturally, to understand and quantitatively capture the essence of uncertainty relations for unitary operators is important and timely. Here we report an experimental investigation of a set of uncertainty relations for two unitary operators, which are theoretically derived by using a sequence of fine-grained inequalities. We test these uncertainty relations with single photons and interferometric networks. The unitary uncertainty relation is saturated by any pure qubit state. For higher-dimensional states, it is stronger than the best known bound introduced in the previous literatures. The lower bounds of the unitary uncertainty relations can be even further strengthened by the symmetry of permutation. The experimental findings agree with the predictions of quantum theory and respect the new uncertainty relations.
It is shown that the Heisenberg uncertainty relation (or soft uncertainty relation) determined by the commutation properties of operators of electromagnetic field quadratures differs significantly from the Robertson–Schrödinger uncertainty relation (or rigorous uncertainty relation) determined by the quantum correlation properties of field quadratures. In the case of field quantum states, for which mutually noncommuting field operators are quantum-statistically independent or their quantum central correlation moment is zero, the rigorous uncertainty relation makes it possible to measure simultaneously and exactly the observables corresponding to both operators or measure exactly the observable of one of the operators at a finite measurement uncertainty for the other observable. The significant difference between the rigorous and soft uncertainty relations for quantum superpositions of coherent states and the two-photon coherent state of electromagnetic field (which is a state with minimum uncertainty, according to the rigorous uncertainty relation) is analyzed.
We show that the quantum mechanical interpretation of the diffraction of light on a slit, when a wave function is assigned to a photon, can be used for a direct experimental study of Heisenberg’s position-momentum and equivalent positionwave vector uncertainty relation for the photon. Results of an experimental test of the position-wave vector uncertainty relation, where the wavelength is used as the input parameter, are given and they very well confirm our approach. The same experimental results can also be used for a test of the position-momentum uncertainty relation when the momentum p0 of a photon is known as the input parameter. We show that a measurement of p0, independent of the knowledge of the value of the Planck’s constant, is possible. Using that value of p0, a test of the position-momentum uncertainty relation could be regarded as a method for a direct measurement of the Planck’s constant. This is discussed, since the diffraction pattern is also well described by classical electrodynamics in the considered experimental conditions. This approach for testing the Heisenberg’s uncertainty relations is very simple and consequently suitable as a quantitative exercise in undergraduate experimental courses, as well as a visual and attractive demonstration of the Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle in courses of quantum mechanics.
We propose and demonstrate scheme for direct experimental testing of quantum commutation relations for Pauli operators. The implemented device is an advanced quantum processor that involves two programmable quantum gates. Depending on a state of two-qubit program register, we can test either commutation or anti-commutation relations. Very good agreement between theory and experiment is observed, indicating high-quality performance of the implemented quantum processor and reliable verification of commutation relations for Pauli operators.