We investigate the recent multiphoton extension [Alsing et al., Phys. Rev. A 105, 013712 (2022)] of the celebrated two-photon Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) effect [Hong, Ou, and Mandel, Phys. Rev. Lett. 59, 2044 (1987)] for the quantum interference of amplitudes that lead to complete destructive interference for coincident counts for the output of a balanced, lossless 50:50 beam splitter (BS). We examine the extended HOM (eHOM) effect by first investigating diagrammatically the multiphoton scattering of photons from the two input ports to the two output ports for Fock number basis states (FS) ${|n,m\ensuremath{\rangle}}_{12}$, and show that destructive interference occurs pairwise within the quantum amplitudes with many scattering components, generalizing the two-photon HOM effect. This analysis leads us to a general, simple analytical derivation of the eHOM effect for FS/FS inputs, which has profound implications for arbitrary bipartite photonic input states constructed from such basis states: if the input state to one input port of the BS is of odd parity, i.e., constructed only of odd numbers of photons, then regardless of the input state to the second 50:50 BS port, there will be a central nodal line (CNL) of zeros in the joint output probability distribution along the main diagonal for coincidence detection. We further examine the case of a single photon interacting with a coherent state (an idealized laser) and consider prospects for experimental detection by including additional effects such as imperfect detection efficiency and time delay between the detected output photons. This work highlights the importance of the nonclassicality of light, and in particular the interference effects stemming from the discreteness of photon quanta.
We examine multiphoton interference with a symmetric
SU(N) beam splitter
SN, an extension of features of the
SU(2) 50/50 beam splitter extended Hong-Ou-Mandel (eHOM) effect, whereby one obtains a zero amplitude (probability) for the output coincidence state (defined by equal number of photons
n/N in each output port), when a total number
n of photons impinges on the
N-port device. These are transitions of the form
∣n1,n2,…,nN⟩→SN∣n/N⟩⊗N, where
n=∑i=1Nni, which generalize the Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) effect $|1,1\rangle \overset{S_2}{\to}|1,1\rangle $, the eHOM effect $|n_1,n_2\rangle \overset{S_2}{\to}|\tfrac{n_1+n_2}{2},\tfrac{n_1+n_2}{2}\rangle $, and the generalized HOM effect (gHOM)
∣1⟩⊗N→SN∣1⟩⊗N, which have previously been studied in the literature. The emphasis of this work is on illuminating how the overall destructive interference occurs in separate groups of destructive interferences of sub-amplitudes of the total zero amplitude. We develop symmetry properties for the generalized eHOM effect (geHOM)
∣n1,n2,…,nN⟩→SN∣n/N⟩⊗N involving a zero amplitude governed by Perm(
Λ)=0, for an appropriately constructed matrix
Λ(SN) built from the matrix elements of
SN. We develop an analytical constraint equation for Perm
(Λ) for arbitrary
N that allows us to determine when it is zero. We generalize the SU(2) beam splitter feature of central nodal line (CNL), which has a zero diagonal along the output probability distribution when one of the input states is of odd parity (containing only odd number of photons), to the general case of
N=2∗N′ where
N′∈odd.
When quantum state amplitudes interfere, surprising non-classical features emerge which emphasis the roles of indistinguishability and discreteness in quantum mechanics. A famous example in quantum optics is the Hong Ou Mandel interference effect,a major ingredient in current quantum information processing using photonics. Traditionally the HOM features interference between amplitudes for two one-photon number states. Surprisingly, interference can be manifested when one amplitude represents that most classical of light field states, the coherent state, provided the partner state is non-classical (eg a single photon state or an odd photon number state). Imposing such nonclassical features on an otherwise classical state is the focus of this article. Recently, the HOM effect has been generalized to the multi-photon case, termed the extended HOM effect by the authors.The implication of the extended HOM effect is that if an odd parity state, comprising only odd numbers of photons, enters one input port of a 50:50 beam splitter, then regardless of the state entering the other input port, be it pure or mixed, there will no output coincident counts. In this work, we explain the extended HOM as arising from a sequence of pairwise HOM-like complete destructive interferences occurring simultaneously in the multicomponent amplitude for the output coincidence counts. We first demonstrate this diagrammatically in order to build physical intuition, before developing a general analytical proof. We then examine the case of a single photon interacting with a coherent state (and idealized laser), and consider prospects for experimental detection by including the effect of imperfect detection efficiency. This work highlights the importance of the non-classicality of light, and in particular the interference effects stemming from the discreteness of photon quanta.
In recent works we have explored a multi-photon extension of the celebrated two-photon Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) effect in which the quantum amplitudes for a two-photon input to a lossless, balanced 50:50 beamsplitter (BS) undergoes complete destructive interference. In the extended Hong-Ou-Mandel (eHOM) effect the multi-photon scattering of photons from the two input ports to the two output ports of the BS for Fock number basis input states (FS)
∣n,m⟩12 exhibit complete destructive interference pairwise within the quantum amplitudes containing many scattering components, generalizing the two-photon HOM effect. This has profound implications for arbitrary bipartite photonic input states constructed from such basis states: if the input state to one input port of the BS is of odd parity, i.e. constructed from only of odd numbers of photons, then regardless of the input state to the second 50:50 BS port, there will be a central nodal line (CNL) of zeros in the joint output probability distribution along the main diagonal for coincidence detection. The first goal of this present work is to show diagrammatically how the extended HOM effect can be seen as a succession of multi-photon HOM effects when the latter is viewed as a pairwise cancellation of mirror image scattering amplitudes. The second goal of this work is to explore considerations for the experimental realization of the extended Hong-Ou-Mandel effect. We examine the case of a single photon interfering with a coherent state (an idealized laser) on a balanced 50:50 beamsplitter and consider prospects for experimental detection of the output destructive interference by including additional effects such as imperfect detection efficiency, spatio-temporal mode functions, and time delay between the detected output photons.
We show that the parity (evenness or oddness) of a nonclassical state of light has a dominant influence on the interference effects at a balanced beam splitter, irrespective of the state initially occupying the other input mode. Specifically, the parity of the nonclassical state gives rise to destructive interference effects that result in deep valleys in the output joint number distribution of which the Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) effect is a limiting case. The counterintuitive influence of even a single photon to control the output of a beam splitter illuminated by any field, be it a coherent or even a noisy thermal field, demonstrates the extraordinary power of nonclassicality. The canonical example of total destructive interference of quantum amplitudes leading to the absence of coincidence counts from a 50:50 beam splitter (BS) is the celebrated HOM effect, characterized by the vanishing of the joint probability of detecting singe photons in each of the output beams. We show that this is a limiting case of more general input states upon which a 50:50 BS can create total, or near total, destructive interference of quantum amplitudes. For the case of an odd photon-number input Fock state of arbitrary value
n>0 we show that the joint photon-number probabilities vanish when detecting identical photon numbers in each output beams. We specifically examine the mixing of photon-number states of
n=1, 2, and 3 with a continuous-variable state, such as a coherent state of arbitrary amplitude, and a thermal state. These vanishing joint probabilities form what we call a central nodal line: A contiguous set of zeros representing complete destructive interference of quantum amplitudes. We further show that with odd or even photon-number Fock states
n, with
n>1, there will be additional off-diagonal curves along which the joint photon-number probabilities are either zero, or near zero, which we call pseudonodal curves, which constitute a near, but not complete, destructive interference pattern in the photon-number space. We interpret all of these interference effects as an extension of the HOM effect. We explain the origin of these effects and explore the experimental prospects for observing them with currently available number-resolving detectors in the presence of a small amount of noise.
Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) effect is known to be one of the main phenomena in quantum optics. The effect occurs when two identical single-photon waves enter a 1:1 beam splitter, one in each input port. When the photons are identical, they will extinguish each other. One of the main elements of the HOM interferometer is the beam splitter, which has its own coefficients of reflection
R=1/2 and transmission $ T = 1/2 $. In this work, the general mechanism of the interaction of two photons in a beam splitter is considered using an analytical solution, which shows that in the HOM theory of the effect it is necessary to know (including when planning the experiment) not only $ R = 1/2 $ and $ T = 1/2 $, but also their root-mean-square fluctuations $ ΔR ^ 2, ΔT ^ 2 $, which arise due to the dependence of $R = R(ω_1, ω_2) $ and $ T = T (ω_1, ω_2) $ on the frequencies where
ω1,ω2 are the frequencies of the first and second photons, respectively. Under certain conditions, specifically when the dependence of the fluctuations $ ΔR^2 $ and $ ΔT^2 $ can be neglected and $ R=T=1/2 $ is chosen, the developed theory coincides with previously known results.