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Chinese Physics Letters

Manipulating the Spatial Structure of Second-Order Quantum Coherence Using Entangled Photons

Shuang‐Yin Huang, Jing 菁 Gao 高, Zhi‐Cheng Ren, Zi-Mo Cheng, Wen-Zheng Zhu, Shu-Tian Xue, Yan-Chao Lou, Zhi-Feng 志峰 Liu 刘, Chao Chen, Fei 飞 Zhu 朱, Li‐Ping Yang, Xi‐Lin Wang, Hui‐Tian Wang

Published Jun 21, 2024• 8 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract High-order quantum coherence reveals the statistical correlation of quantum particles. Manipulation of quantum coherence of light in the temporal domain enables the production of the single-photon source, which has become one of the most important quantum resources. High-order quantum coherence in the spatial domain plays a crucial role in a variety of applications, such as quantum imaging, holography, and microscopy. However, the active control of second-order spatial quantum coherence remains a challenging task. Here we predict theoretically and demonstrate experimentally the first active manipulation of second-order spatial quantum coherence, which exhibits the capability of switching between bunching and anti-bunching, by mapping the entanglement of spatially structured photons. We also show that signal processing based on quantum coherence exhibits robust resistance to intensity disturbance. Our findings not only enhance existing applications but also pave the way for broader utilization of higher-order spatial quantum coherence.

DOI
10.1088/0256-307x/41/7/074205

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Abstract High-order quantum coherence reveals the statistical correlation of quantum particles. Manipulation of quantum coherence of light in the temporal domain enables the production of the single-photon source, which has become one of the most important quantum resources. High-order quantum coherence in the spatial domain plays a crucial role in a variety of applications, such as quantum imaging, holography, and microscopy. However, the active control of second-order spatial quantum coherence remains a challenging task. Here we predict theoretically and demonstrate experimentally the first active manipulation of second-order spatial quantum coherence, which exhibits the capability of switching between bunching and anti-bunching, by mapping the entanglement of spatially structured photons. We also show that signal processing based on quantum coherence exhibits robust resistance to intensity disturbance. Our findings not only enhance existing applications but also pave the way for broader utilization of higher-order spatial quantum coherence.
High-order quantum coherence reveals the statistical correlation of quantum particles. Manipulation of quantum coherence of light in temporal domain enables to produce single-photon source, which has become one of the most important quantum resources. High-order quantum coherence in spatial domain plays a crucial role in a variety of applications, such as quantum imaging, holography and microscopy. However, the active control of high-order spatial quantum coherence remains a challenging task. Here we predict theoretically and demonstrate experimentally the first active manipulation of high-order spatial quantum coherence by mapping the entanglement of spatially structured photons. Our results not only enable to inject new strength into current applications, but also provide new possibilities towards more wide applications of high-order quantum coherence.
Accurately controlling the quantum coherence of photons is pivotal for their applications in quantum sensing and quantum imaging. Here, we propose the utilization of quantum entanglement and local phase manipulation techniques to control the higher-order quantum coherence of photons. By engineering the spatially varying phases in the transverse plane, we can precisely manipulate the spatial structure of the second-order coherence function of entangled photon pairs without changing the photon intensity distribution of each photon. Our approach can readily be extended to higher-order quantum coherence control. These results could potentially stimulate experimental research and applications of optical quantum coherence.
Quantum correlation of two-photon states has been utilized to suppress the environmental noise in imaging down to the single-photon level. However, the size of the coherence area of photon pairs limits the applications of quantum imaging based on spatial correlations. Here, we propose a quantum imaging scheme exploiting twisted photon pairs with tunable spatial-correlation regions to circumvent this limitation. We employ a bulk-density coincidence to enhance the imaging signal. Specifically, we introduce a re-scaled image signal, which is immune to the background intensity distribution profile of the photon pulse. We reveal a destructive interference between the anti-bunched photon pair and bunched photon pair in the imaging process. Our work could pave a way for twisted-photon-based quantum holography and quantum microscopy.
Unlike one-photon (first order) intensity correlation, two-photon (second order) intensity correlation is known to be impossible to achieve by any classical means. Over the last several decades, such quantum features have been intensively demonstrated for anti-correlation in the Hong-Ou-Mandel effects and nonlocal correlation in Bell inequality violation. Here, we present coherence manipulations of attenuated laser light to achieve such a quantum feature using pure coherence optics. Unlike the common understanding of the two-photon intensity correlations, the present coherence approach gives an equivalent classical version to the known quantum approach. To excite the coherence quantum features between paired coherent photons, a selective measurement process plays an essential role in creating the inseparable joint phase relation between independent local parameters. The local randomness is also satisfied in both parties using orthonormal polarization bases of a single photon.
Resonance fluorescence arises from the coherent interaction of laser light with a two-level system and constitutes a quantum light source exhibiting single-photon emission and antibunching, making it a fundamental building block for future quantum networks. Our recent work [Nat. Commun.16, 6453 (2025)10.1038/s41467-025-61884-x] demonstrates that under continuous-wave excitation and in the absence of pure dephasing, the single-time joint state of resonance fluorescence and the two-level system can be described by a pure entangled state. Here, we analyze the cross-correlation and auto-correlation properties of the quantum optical field generated by the interference of resonance fluorescence with laser light at the resonance excitation frequency. Simulation results indicate that by varying the intensity or phase of the interfering laser light, the higher-order coherence of the post-interference quantum optical field transitions from anti-bunching to super-bunching behavior, consistent with recent theoretical and experimental advances by mean-field engineering. This approach offers a complementary framework to characterize and manipulate the multiphoton quantum optical fields.
Structured optical fields have led to several ground-breaking techniques in classical imaging and microscopy. At the same time, in the quantum domain, position-momentum entangled photon fields have been shown to have several unique features that can lead to beyond-classical imaging and microscopy capabilities. Therefore, it is natural to expect that position-momentum entangled two-photon fields that are structured can push the boundaries of quantum imaging and microscopy even further beyond. Nonetheless, the existing experimental schemes are able to produce either structured two-photon fields without position-momentum entanglement, or position-momentum entangled two-photon fields without structured correlations. In this article, by manipulating the phase-matching condition of the spontaneous parametric down-conversion process, we report experimental generation of two-photon fields with various structures in their spatial correlations. We experimentally measure the minimum bound on the entanglement of formation and thereby verify the position-momentum entanglement of the structured two-photon field. We expect this work to have important implications for quantum technologies related to imaging and sensing.