Photon Propagation in a Discrete Fiber Network: An Interplay of Coherence and Losses

Regensburger A, Bersch C, Hinrichs B, Onishchukov G, Schreiber A, Silberhorn C, Peschel U (2011)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2011

Journal

Physical Review Letters American Physical Society

Book Volume: 107

Journal Issue: 23

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.233902

Abstract

We study light propagation in a photonic system that shows stepwise evolution in a discretized environment. It resembles a discrete-time version of photonic waveguide arrays or quantum walks. By introducing controlled photon losses to our experimental setup, we observe unexpected effects like subexponential energy decay and formation of complex fractal patterns. This demonstrates that the interplay of linear losses, discreteness and energy gradients leads to genuinely new coherent phenomena in classical and quantum optical experiments. Moreover, the influence of decoherence is investigated.

Authors with CRIS profile

Alois Regensburger Institut für Optik, Information und Photonik Christoph Bersch Professur für Experimentalphysik Georgy Onishchukov Institut für Optik, Information und Photonik Ulf Peschel Professur für Experimentalphysik

Additional Organisation(s)

Exzellenz-Cluster Engineering of Advanced Materials

Involved external institutions

Max-Planck-Institut für die Physik des Lichts (MPL) / Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Regensburger, A., Bersch, C., Hinrichs, B., Onishchukov, G., Schreiber, A., Silberhorn, C., & Peschel, U. (2011). Photon Propagation in a Discrete Fiber Network: An Interplay of Coherence and Losses. Physical Review Letters, 107(23). https://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.233902

MLA:

Regensburger, Alois, et al. "Photon Propagation in a Discrete Fiber Network: An Interplay of Coherence and Losses." Physical Review Letters 107.23 (2011).

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