Coherence and Interference in Multiphoton Processes

Moshary, Zhang, Ahmed +1 more

Farhad H. M. Faisal

Geng Zhao, Yun Chen, Jiayuang Zhang +2 more

We propose an experimentally accessible scheme for realizing tunable nonclassical light in cavity-coupled reconfigurable atomic arrays. By coherently controlling the collective interference phase, the system switches from single-photon blockade to high-purity multiphoton bundle emission, unveiling a hierarchical structure of photon correlations dictated by atom-number parity and cavity detuning. The scaling of photon population identifies the transition between superradiant and subradiant regimes, while parity- and phase-dependent spin correlations elucidate the microscopic interference processes enabling coherent multiphoton generation. This work establishes a unified framework connecting cooperative atomic interactions to controllable nonclassical photon statistics and introduces a distinct interference-enabled mechanism that provides a practical route toward high-fidelity multiphoton sources in scalable cavity QEDs.

Ashat M. Basharov

Resonant interactions of a coherent field with an anharmonic oscillator are classified based on the established analogy with multiphoton interactions of light with atoms. It is shown that interference interactions in which the absorption of a single coherent field quantum induces a multiphoton transition in the anharmonic oscillator are superpositions of resonances of the “cascade” and “lambda-V” types, and a general description of these resonances is given. For the third- and fourth-order nonlinearities, the general expressions are applicable to a resonant process with the absorption of a single photon and the double excitation of the oscillator. Resonant processes of the second harmonic generation and “rectification” of radiation are predicted and described; experimental investigation of these processes will provide information about anharmonicity parameters in the proposed model.

Farhad H. M. Faisal, A. Dalgarno

Miller, Ashe, Chenglong You, Roberto de J. León‐Montiel +1 more

Recent progress on quantum state engineering has enabled the preparation of quantum photonic systems comprising multiple interacting particles. Interestingly, multiphoton quantum systems can host many complex forms of interference and scattering processes that are essential to perform operations that are intractable on classical systems. Unfortunately, the quantum coherence properties of multiphoton systems degrade upon propagation leading to undesired quantum-to-classical transitions. Furthermore, the manipulation of multiphoton quantum systems requires of nonlinear interactions at the few-photon level. Here, we introduce the quantum van Cittert-Zernike theorem to describe the scattering and interference effects of propagating multiphoton systems. This fundamental theorem demonstrates that the quantum statistical fluctuations, which define the nature of diverse light sources, can be modified upon propagation in the absence of light-matter interactions. The generality of our formalism unveils the conditions under which the evolution of multiphoton systems can lead to surprising classical-to-quantum transitions. Specifically, we show that the implementation of conditional measurements may enable the all-optical preparation of multiphoton systems with attenuated quantum statistics below the shot-noise limit. Remarkably, this effect had not been discussed before and cannot be explained through the classical theory of optical coherence. As such, our work opens new paradigms within the established field of quantum coherence.