Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:quant-ph/0702142

Strong-field spatial intensity-intensity correlations of light scattered from regular structures of atoms

Mihai Macovei, Jörg Evers, Christoph H. Keitel

Published Feb 14, 2007• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Photon correlations and cross-correlations of light scattered by a regular structure of strongly driven atoms are investigated. At strong driving, the scattered light separates into distinct spectral bands, such that each band can be treated as independent, thus extending the set of observables. We focus on second-order intensity-intensity correlation functions in two- and multi-atom systems. We demonstrate that for a single two-photon detector as, e.g., in lithography, increasing the driving field intensity leads to an increased spatial resolution of the second-order two-atom interference pattern. We show that the cross-correlations between photons emitted in the spectral sidebands violate Cauchy-Schwartz inequalities, and that their emission ordering cannot be predicted. Finally, the results are generalized for multi-particle structures, where we find results different from those in a Dicke-type sample.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.quant-ph/0702142

Related papers

Strong-Field Spatial Interference in a Tailored Electromagnetic Bath

Mihai Macovei, Jörg Evers, Gao‐xiang Li +1 more

Light scattered by a regular structure of atoms can exhibit interference signatures, similar to the classical double-slit. These first-order interferences, however, vanish for strong light intensities, restricting potential applications. Here, we show how to overcome these limitations to quantum interference in strong fields. First, we recover the first-order interference in strong fields via a tailored electromagnetic bath with a suitable frequency dependence. At strong driving, the optical properties for different spectral bands are distinct, thus extending the set of observables. We further show that for a two-photon detector as, e.g., in lithography, increasing the field intensity leads to twice the spatial resolution of the second-order interference pattern compared to the weak-field case.

arXiv:quant-ph/0606151•Physical Review Letters•Jan 24, 2007•22 citations

Photon scattering from strongly driven atomic ensembles

Luling Jin, Jörg Evers, Mihai Macovei

The second-order correlation function for light emitted from a strongly and near-resonantly driven dilute cloud of atoms is discussed. Because of the strong driving, the fluorescence spectrum separates into distinct peaks, for which the spectral properties can be defined individually. It is shown that the second-order correlations for various combinations of photons from different spectral lines exhibit bunching together with super-Poissonian or sub-Poissonian photon statistics, tunable by the choice of the detector positions. Additionally, a Cauchy-Schwarz inequality is violated for photons emitted from particular spectral bands. The emitted light intensity is proportional to the square of the number of particles, and thus can potentially be intense. Three different averaging procedures to model ensemble disorder are compared.

arXiv:1108.4515•Physical Review A•Oct 5, 2011•7 citations

Quantum interference in light scattering and propagation

Jörg Evers, Mohammad Mahmoudi, Mihai Macovei

Light scattered by a regular structure of atoms exhibits spatial interference signatures, similar to Young's classical double-slit experiment. The first-order interferences, however, are known to vanish for strong light intensities, where the incoherently fluctuating part of the emitted light dominates. Here, we show how to overcome these limitations to quantum interference in stronger laser fields, and how to recover the first-order interference in strong fields by a tailored electromagnetic vacuum with a suitable frequency dependence. We also discuss higher-order correlation functions of the scattered light, with applications, e.g., to lithography. In the second part, we study light propagation of a probe field pulse in closed-loop atomic systems. The closed interaction loop induces a sensitivity to the relative driving field phase, but in general prohibits a stationary steady state. In particular, the finite frequency width of the short probe pulse requires a time-dependent analysis beyond the so-called multiphoton resonance assumption. Using a Floquet decomposition, we identify the different contributions to the medium response, and demonstrate sub- and superluminal light propagation with small absorption or even gain, where a coupling field Rabi frequency allows to switch between sub- and superluminal light propagation.

Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•Jun 7, 2007•0 citations

Multi-Photon Interferences of Independent Light Sources

Steffen Oppel

In this thesis we discuss an extension of the historical Hanbury Brown and Twiss experiment and investigate spatial intensity correlations of higher-orders in the radiation field of statistically independent light sources. The light sources can be non-classical like single-photon emitters or classical, obeying thermal or coherent statistics. Although the light sources are assumed to emit the photons in an incoherent manner, we find spatial photon correlations in the far field which can be explained by the quantum mechanical concept of multi-photon interferences. We demonstrate that spatial correlation measurements between indistinguishable photons based on linear optical detection techniques can be used to overcome the resolution limit of classical optics (Abbe/Rayleigh limit) and also to manipulate the spatial radiation characteristic of the light sources. Both remarkable properties of higher-order intensity correlations have been experimentally verified using statistically independent pseudothermal light sources. Due to the fact that the reported correlation measurements require neither special quantum tailoring of light nor N-photon absorbing media, they are of particular interest for the field of quantum imaging and quantum information processing. The thesis is divided into three main parts: In the first part (Chapter 2 and 3) we introduce a quantum path formalism which allows to describe multi-photon interferences arising in both classical and nonclassical light fields. This quantum path approach explains the origin of the underlying interference mechanism of the higher-order spatial intensity correlation functions in a transparent and simple manner. Moreover, it enables us to compare the multi-photon interferences obtained by nonclassical single-photon emitters with those generated by classical light sources. In the course of this discussion it appears that Dirac's famous statement “Each photon interferes only with itself. Interference between two different photons never occurs.” should better read “A multi-photon state of independent photons only interferes with itself. Interference between different multi-photon states never occurs.” This general statement summarizes the physics behind all multi-photon interference phenomena investigated in this thesis. In the second part of the thesis (Chapter 4) we investigate particular multi-photon interference measurements of independent light sources in the context of quantum imaging. We demonstrate that the Nth-order spatial intensity correlation functions display at specific ‘magic’ detector positions the ability to filter sub-wavelength information out of the light fields arising from N incoherently radiating light sources. These multi-photon interference patterns achieve a higher resolution for N>2 than the classical Abbe/Rayleigh limit for imaging the light source. In case of N single-photon emitters we theoretically show that the super-resolving interference patterns obtained for the ‘magic’ detector positions are identical to the ones generated by NOON states with N-1 photons. Quite unexpected, the same is true for N thermal light sources, except for a reduced visibility. Experimental results with up to eight independent thermal light sources confirm this approach to improve the spatial resolution in imaging. In the last part of this thesis (Chapter 5) we finally demonstrate that multi-photon detections can lead to a strong angular focussing of incoherent photons emitted again by either uncorrelated single-photon sources or statistically independent classical light sources. For this effect the sources can be far away from each other and do not interact. The mth-order intensity correlation measurement causes source correlations which produce a heralded peaked emission pattern for the initially uncorrelated light sources. In particular, we show that if m-1 photons have been detected in a particular direction, the conditional probability to detect the mth photon in the same direction can be as high as 100 %. Owing to the great flexibility of detector positions for the correlation measurement, a wide variety of additional detection schemes exists which produces similar directional photon emission patterns. This theoretically predicted measurement-induced focussing was experimentally confirmed with up to eight pseudothermal light sources for three particular detection schemes.

•Jan 1, 2012•0 citations

Light Statistics from Large Ensembles of Independent Two-level Emitters: Classical or Non-classical?

Manuel Bojer, A. Cidrim, P. P. Abrantes +2 more

We investigate the photon statistics of an ensemble of coherently driven non-interacting two-level atoms in the weak driving regime. As it turns out, the system displays unique emission characteristics that are strongly in contrast to the emission of classical oscillating dipoles. By deriving the second-order autocorrelation function, we show that extraordinary two-photon correlations are obtained, ranging from strong antibunching to superbunching. These features are enhanced by disorder in the emitter positions, and the control parameter is the number of excitations in the system. We observe the appearance of bunching and antibunching when the light is scattered by the atoms predominantly coherently, i.e., mimicking classical Rayleigh scattering, whereas thermal photon statistics is obtained when the light is scattered via spontaneous decay, a well-known quantum effect. The underlying mechanism is the interplay between coherent scattering, which exhibits spatial fluctuations due to interference, and dissipation in the form of isotropic spontaneous decay.

arXiv:2411.17377•Nov 26, 2024•0 citations

Photon correlations in the fluorescence from a bichromatically driven atom

Y. Ben-Aryeh, Helen S. Freedhoff, Terry Rudolph

We study the correlation between photons in the fluorescence light scattered from an atom driven by an intense bichromatic field having one strong and one weak component, with or without the use of frequency filters in front of the photodetectors. Depending on the filters used and on the spectral components selected, we predict signals corresponding either to bunching or to antibunching, and modulations at the driving field Rabi frequencies as well as at their sum and difference. In contrast with the case of monochromatic driving, the antibunching can occur between photons emitted into different (as well as the same) lines of the fluorescence spectrum.

Journal of Optics B Quantum and Semiclassical Optics•Oct 18, 1999•5 citations
Photon correlations and cross-correlations of light scattered by a regular structure of strongly driven atoms are investigated. At strong driving, the scattered light separates into distinct spectral bands, such that each band can be treated as independent, thus extending the set of observables. We focus on second-order intensity-intensity correlation functions in two- and multi-atom systems. We demonstrate that for a single two-photon detector as, e.g., in lithography, increasing the driving field intensity leads to an increased spatial resolution of the second-order two-atom interference pattern. We show that the cross-correlations between photons emitted in the spectral sidebands violate Cauchy-Schwartz inequalities, and that their emission ordering cannot be predicted. Finally, the results are generalized for multi-particle structures, where we find results different from those in a Dicke-type sample.
Light scattered by a regular structure of atoms can exhibit interference signatures, similar to the classical double-slit. These first-order interferences, however, vanish for strong light intensities, restricting potential applications. Here, we show how to overcome these limitations to quantum interference in strong fields. First, we recover the first-order interference in strong fields via a tailored electromagnetic bath with a suitable frequency dependence. At strong driving, the optical properties for different spectral bands are distinct, thus extending the set of observables. We further show that for a two-photon detector as, e.g., in lithography, increasing the field intensity leads to twice the spatial resolution of the second-order interference pattern compared to the weak-field case.
The second-order correlation function for light emitted from a strongly and near-resonantly driven dilute cloud of atoms is discussed. Because of the strong driving, the fluorescence spectrum separates into distinct peaks, for which the spectral properties can be defined individually. It is shown that the second-order correlations for various combinations of photons from different spectral lines exhibit bunching together with super-Poissonian or sub-Poissonian photon statistics, tunable by the choice of the detector positions. Additionally, a Cauchy-Schwarz inequality is violated for photons emitted from particular spectral bands. The emitted light intensity is proportional to the square of the number of particles, and thus can potentially be intense. Three different averaging procedures to model ensemble disorder are compared.
Light scattered by a regular structure of atoms exhibits spatial interference signatures, similar to Young's classical double-slit experiment. The first-order interferences, however, are known to vanish for strong light intensities, where the incoherently fluctuating part of the emitted light dominates. Here, we show how to overcome these limitations to quantum interference in stronger laser fields, and how to recover the first-order interference in strong fields by a tailored electromagnetic vacuum with a suitable frequency dependence. We also discuss higher-order correlation functions of the scattered light, with applications, e.g., to lithography. In the second part, we study light propagation of a probe field pulse in closed-loop atomic systems. The closed interaction loop induces a sensitivity to the relative driving field phase, but in general prohibits a stationary steady state. In particular, the finite frequency width of the short probe pulse requires a time-dependent analysis beyond the so-called multiphoton resonance assumption. Using a Floquet decomposition, we identify the different contributions to the medium response, and demonstrate sub- and superluminal light propagation with small absorption or even gain, where a coupling field Rabi frequency allows to switch between sub- and superluminal light propagation.
In this thesis we discuss an extension of the historical Hanbury Brown and Twiss experiment and investigate spatial intensity correlations of higher-orders in the radiation field of statistically independent light sources. The light sources can be non-classical like single-photon emitters or classical, obeying thermal or coherent statistics. Although the light sources are assumed to emit the photons in an incoherent manner, we find spatial photon correlations in the far field which can be explained by the quantum mechanical concept of multi-photon interferences. We demonstrate that spatial correlation measurements between indistinguishable photons based on linear optical detection techniques can be used to overcome the resolution limit of classical optics (Abbe/Rayleigh limit) and also to manipulate the spatial radiation characteristic of the light sources. Both remarkable properties of higher-order intensity correlations have been experimentally verified using statistically independent pseudothermal light sources. Due to the fact that the reported correlation measurements require neither special quantum tailoring of light nor N-photon absorbing media, they are of particular interest for the field of quantum imaging and quantum information processing. The thesis is divided into three main parts: In the first part (Chapter 2 and 3) we introduce a quantum path formalism which allows to describe multi-photon interferences arising in both classical and nonclassical light fields. This quantum path approach explains the origin of the underlying interference mechanism of the higher-order spatial intensity correlation functions in a transparent and simple manner. Moreover, it enables us to compare the multi-photon interferences obtained by nonclassical single-photon emitters with those generated by classical light sources. In the course of this discussion it appears that Dirac's famous statement “Each photon interferes only with itself. Interference between two different photons never occurs.” should better read “A multi-photon state of independent photons only interferes with itself. Interference between different multi-photon states never occurs.” This general statement summarizes the physics behind all multi-photon interference phenomena investigated in this thesis. In the second part of the thesis (Chapter 4) we investigate particular multi-photon interference measurements of independent light sources in the context of quantum imaging. We demonstrate that the Nth-order spatial intensity correlation functions display at specific ‘magic’ detector positions the ability to filter sub-wavelength information out of the light fields arising from N incoherently radiating light sources. These multi-photon interference patterns achieve a higher resolution for N>2 than the classical Abbe/Rayleigh limit for imaging the light source. In case of N single-photon emitters we theoretically show that the super-resolving interference patterns obtained for the ‘magic’ detector positions are identical to the ones generated by NOON states with N-1 photons. Quite unexpected, the same is true for N thermal light sources, except for a reduced visibility. Experimental results with up to eight independent thermal light sources confirm this approach to improve the spatial resolution in imaging. In the last part of this thesis (Chapter 5) we finally demonstrate that multi-photon detections can lead to a strong angular focussing of incoherent photons emitted again by either uncorrelated single-photon sources or statistically independent classical light sources. For this effect the sources can be far away from each other and do not interact. The mth-order intensity correlation measurement causes source correlations which produce a heralded peaked emission pattern for the initially uncorrelated light sources. In particular, we show that if m-1 photons have been detected in a particular direction, the conditional probability to detect the mth photon in the same direction can be as high as 100 %. Owing to the great flexibility of detector positions for the correlation measurement, a wide variety of additional detection schemes exists which produces similar directional photon emission patterns. This theoretically predicted measurement-induced focussing was experimentally confirmed with up to eight pseudothermal light sources for three particular detection schemes.
We investigate the photon statistics of an ensemble of coherently driven non-interacting two-level atoms in the weak driving regime. As it turns out, the system displays unique emission characteristics that are strongly in contrast to the emission of classical oscillating dipoles. By deriving the second-order autocorrelation function, we show that extraordinary two-photon correlations are obtained, ranging from strong antibunching to superbunching. These features are enhanced by disorder in the emitter positions, and the control parameter is the number of excitations in the system. We observe the appearance of bunching and antibunching when the light is scattered by the atoms predominantly coherently, i.e., mimicking classical Rayleigh scattering, whereas thermal photon statistics is obtained when the light is scattered via spontaneous decay, a well-known quantum effect. The underlying mechanism is the interplay between coherent scattering, which exhibits spatial fluctuations due to interference, and dissipation in the form of isotropic spontaneous decay.
We study the correlation between photons in the fluorescence light scattered from an atom driven by an intense bichromatic field having one strong and one weak component, with or without the use of frequency filters in front of the photodetectors. Depending on the filters used and on the spectral components selected, we predict signals corresponding either to bunching or to antibunching, and modulations at the driving field Rabi frequencies as well as at their sum and difference. In contrast with the case of monochromatic driving, the antibunching can occur between photons emitted into different (as well as the same) lines of the fluorescence spectrum.