The process of two-photon absorption from two beams of light is treated theoretically. Expressions are derived for the time dependences of the joint photon probability distribution of the beams, their photon-number factorial moments and the photon-number correlation between the beams. These expressions are illustrated by numerical results for special cases and their significance is discussed in physical terms. Simpler approximate expressions are also derived for the case where one beam is much more intense than the other.
Abstract Inspired by results of interfering signal and idler from a nondegenerate parametric amplifier we investigate the photon statistics of the resulting field after interference of two components subjected to double‐mode two‐photon absorption. This absorption process leads to a strong correlation of the participating modes, which can be used to generate fields with photon antibunching in interference experiments. In addition the photon number can be made small, which produces enhanced antibunching.