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Optics Express

Turbulence-free two-photon double-slit interference with coherent and incoherent light

Thomas A. Smith, Yanhua H. Shih

Published Oct 30, 2019• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This article reports a study on a turbulence-free Young's double-slit interferometer. When the environmental turbulence blurs out the classic Young's double-slit interference completely, a two-photon interference pattern is still observable from the measurement of intensity or photon number fluctuation correlation. This two-photon interferometer always produces a turbulence-free interference pattern, when the double-slit interferometer is utilizing both first-order spatially incoherent light and spatially coherent light. This type of two-photon interferometer establishes new capabilities in optical observations and sensing measurements that require high sensitivity and stability.

DOI
10.1364/oe.27.033282

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This article reports a study on a turbulence-free Young's double-slit interferometer. When the environmental turbulence blurs out the classic Young's double-slit interference completely, a two-photon interference pattern is still observable from the measurement of intensity or photon number fluctuation correlation. This two-photon interferometer always produces a turbulence-free interference pattern, when the double-slit interferometer is utilizing both first-order spatially incoherent light and spatially coherent light. This type of two-photon interferometer establishes new capabilities in optical observations and sensing measurements that require high sensitivity and stability.
When a laser beam is incident on a double-slit interferometer without turbulence, the classic Young’s double-slit interference is present in the first-order measurement of the mean photon number (or intensity), while the second-order measurement of photon number fluctuation correlation (or intensity fluctuation correlation) yields a trivial constant. When optical turbulence is introduced, it destroys the classic interference present in the measurement of the photon number; however, two-photon interference appears in the measurement of photon number fluctuation correlation. This interesting observation means that the observed two-photon interference is not only observable through turbulence, i.e., turbulence-free, but also induced by the turbulence itself. Turbulence-free two-photon interference induced by the turbulence itself allows for interferometric sensing through strong turbulence when coherent radiation, such as a laser, is applied.
Optical turbulence can be detrimental for optical observations. For instance, atmospheric turbulence may reduce the visibility or completely blur out the interference produced by an interferometer in open air. However, a simple two-photon interference theory based on Einstein's granularity picture of light makes a turbulence-free interferometer possible; i.e., any refraction index, length, or phase variations along the optical paths of the interferometer do not have any effect on its interference. Applying this mechanism, the reported experiment demonstrates a two-photon double-slit interference that is insensitive to atmospheric turbulence. The turbulence-free mechanism and especially the turbulence-free interferometer would be helpful in optical observations that require high sensitivity and stability such as for gravitational-wave detection.
In classical optics, Young's double-slit experiment with colored coherent light gives rise to individual interference fringes for each light frequency, referring to single-photon interference. However, two-photon double-slit interference has been widely studied only for wavelength-degenerate biphoton, known as subwavelength quantum lithography. In this work, we report double-slit interference experiments with two-color biphoton. Different from the degenerate case, the experimental results depend on the measurement methods. From a two-axis coincidence measurement pattern we can extract complete interference information about two colors. The conceptual model provides an intuitional picture of the in-phase and out-of-phase photon correlations and a complete quantum understanding about the which-path information of two colored photons.
In this paper, we report an interference experiment in which a spatially incoherent light source illuminates two spatially separated apertures, whose superposition at the same place forms a double-slit. The experimental result exhibits a well-defined interference fringe solely through intensity measurements, in agreement with the theoretical analysis by means of the first-order spatial interference of the incoherent light. Consequently, the nonlocal double-slit interference with thermal light should be attributed to the first-order spatial correlation of incoherent field.
The interference of single photons going through a double slit is a compelling demonstration of the wave and particle nature of light in the same experiment. Single photons produced by spontaneous parametric down-conversion can be used for this purpose. However, it is particularly challenging to implement this due to coherency and resolution challenges. In this article, we present a table-top laboratory arrangement suitable for the undergraduate instruction laboratory that overcomes these challenges. The apparatus scans a single detector to produce a plot showing the interference patterns of single photons. We include experimental data obtained using this setup, demonstrating double-slit and single-slit interference as well as quantum erasing through the use of sheet polarizers.