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Quantum Optics and Photon Counting

Frequency-resolved observation of the Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect

Sergei Kulkov, ANDREI NOMEROTSKI, Lada Radmacherova, P. Švihra, Ermanno Bernasconi, Tommaso Milanese, Claudio E. Bruschini, Edoardo Charbon A

Published Jun 6, 2025• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Fast and precise spectrometers have numerous applications in quantum sciences, astronomy, and other fields. Thanks to the recent advances in the technology of single-photon detectors, their timing and spectral resolution approach fundamental limits dictated by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle (HUP) allowing new measurements, which were not possible before. In this work, we present a simple and fast spectrometer based on the LinoSPAD2 detector. With an array of 512 SPADs with a pixel size of 26 um2, we can achieve 0.1 nm/pixel spectral resolution with off-the-shelf optical components. Thanks to the 40 ps rms timing resolution of each SPAD, we can operate a factor of 10 above the HUP. We present measurements of the Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect at multiple frequencies using both the discrete spectral lines of a noble gas source and a broadband source of light (LED).

DOI
10.1117/12.3057416

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Fast and precise spectrometers have numerous applications in quantum sciences, astronomy, and other fields. Thanks to the recent advances in the technology of single-photon detectors, their timing and spectral resolution approach fundamental limits dictated by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle (HUP) allowing new measurements, which were not possible before. In this work, we present a simple and fast spectrometer based on the LinoSPAD2 detector. With an array of 512 SPADs with a pixel size of 26 um2, we can achieve 0.1 nm/pixel spectral resolution with off-the-shelf optical components. Thanks to the 40 ps rms timing resolution of each SPAD, we can operate a factor of 10 above the HUP. We present measurements of the Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect at multiple frequencies using both the discrete spectral lines of a noble gas source and a broadband source of light (LED).
The Hanbury Brown–Twiss (HBT) effect holds a pivotal place in intensity interferometry and gave a seminal contribution to the development of quantum optics. To observe such an effect, both good spectral and timing resolutions are necessary. Most often, the HBT effect is observed for a single frequency at a time due to its limitations in dealing with multifrequencies simultaneously, halting and limiting some applications. Here, we report a fast and data-driven spectrometer built with a one-dimensional array of single-photon-sensitive avalanche diodes. We report observing the HBT effect for multiple frequencies at the same time. In particular, we observe the HBT effect for up to five lines of the Ne spectrum, but this can be improved upon to include more lines. Our work represents a major step in making spectral binning and multifrequency HBT more widely available. The technology we present can benefit both classical and quantum applications.
Two-photon interference is a fundamental resource for quantum technologies and optical quantum computing, underpinning precision measurements, scalable entanglement distribution, and the operation of photonic circuits and quantum network protocols. Here, we report the first demonstration of massively parallel, wavelength-resolved photon bunching, revealing Hanbury Brown–Twiss correlations across 70 independent spectral channels. These observations are enabled by a fast, data-driven single-photon spectrometer that achieves 48 pm spectral and 48 ps temporal resolution over a 10 nm bandwidth, providing simultaneous access to spectro-temporal photon correlations without the need for narrowband filtering. This approach enables high-dimensional quantum interference measurements across a broad spectrum. Our results establish frequency-multiplexed two-photon interference as a scalable and throughput-efficient platform for quantum-enhanced photonic technologies, offering a practical route toward room-temperature architectures that overcome loss limitations and advance the scalability for a variety of applications.
The idea of exploiting quantum features of light to perform more precise astrophysical measurements is a long-desired goal of both the optics and astrophysics communities, but only recently have theoretical proposals started to be experimentally implemented. One important goal is to increase the baseline distance between telescopes in interferometry, and thus improve the angular resolution of the celestial object. Some of the earlier proposals rely on the use of quantum repeaters to connect the two baseline stations. However, another proposal employs other quantum optical approaches to circumvent the need for quantum repeaters, while still providing a quantum advantage. I will discuss the on-going project for building quantum-enhanced telescopes for precision astrometry, i.e., measurements of position and velocity of celestial objects. I will present a proof-of-principle experimental demonstration of a two-photon interferometer for such goal. Moreover, I will present a single-photon-sensitive spectrometer, based on a linear array of 512 single-photon avalanche diode detectors, with 0.04 nm spectral and 40 ps temporal resolutions. This device enables us to implement a spectral binning technique, essentially allowing us to perform multiple measurements together, because each frequency can be treated as an independent measurement. Such device could also be used in other applications. Lastly, I will report on our frequency-resolved Hanbury Brown-Twiss experiments. Our work represents an important step towards quantum telescopes.
The Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect is one of the celebrated phenomenologies of modern physics that accommodates equally well classical (interferences of waves) and quantum (correlations between indistinguishable particles) interpretations. The effect was discovered in the late thirties with a basic observation of Hanbury Brown that radio-pulses from two distinct antennas generate signals on the oscilloscope that wiggle similarly to the naked eye. When Hanbury Brown and his mathematician colleague Twiss took the obvious step to propose bringing the effect in the optical range, they met with considerable opposition as single-photon interferences were deemed impossible. The Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect is nowadays universally accepted and, being so fundamental, embodies many subtleties of our understanding of the wave/particle dual nature of light. Thanks to a novel experimental technique, we report here a generalized version of the Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect to include the frequency of the detected light, or, from the particle point of view, the energy of the detected photons. Our source of light is a polariton condensate, that allows high-resolution filtering of a spectrally broad source with a high degree of coherence. In addition to the known tendencies of indistinguishable photons to arrive together on the detector, we find that photons of different colors present the opposite characteristic of avoiding each others. We postulate that fermions can be similarly brought to exhibit positive (boson-like) correlations by frequency filtering.
The Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect is one of the celebrated phenomenologies of modern physics that accommodates equally well classical (interferences of waves) and quantum (correlations between indistinguishable particles) interpretations.The effect was discovered in the late thirties with a basic observation of Hanbury Brown that radio-pulses from two distinct antennas generate signals on the oscilloscope that wiggle similarly to the naked eye.When Hanbury Brown and his mathematician colleague Twiss took the obvious step to propose bringing the effect in the optical range, they met with considerable opposition as single-photon interferences were deemed impossible.The Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect is nowadays universally accepted and, being so fundamental, embodies many subtleties of our understanding of the wave/particle dual nature of light.Thanks to a novel experimental technique, we report here a generalized version of the Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect to include the frequency of the detected light, or, from the particle point of view, the energy of the detected photons.Our source of light is a polariton condensate, that allows high-resolution filtering of a spectrally broad source with a high degree of coherence.In addition to the known tendencies of indistinguishable photons to arrive together on the detector, we find that photons of different colors present the opposite characteristic of avoiding each others.We postulate that fermions can be similarly brought to exhibit positive (bosonlike) correlations by frequency filtering.