Correlations, indistinguishability and entanglement in Hong-Ou-Mandel experiments at microwave frequencies

Lang C, Steffen L, Fink JM, Woolley MJ, Blais A, Wallraff AJ, Eichler C (2013)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2013

Journal

Nature Physics Nature Research

Book Volume: 9

Pages Range: 345-348

Journal Issue: 6

DOI: 10.1038/nphys2612

Abstract

When two indistinguishable single photons impinge at the two inputs of a beam splitter they coalesce into a pair of photons appearing in either one of its two outputs. This effect is due to the bosonic nature of photons and was first experimentally observed by Hong, Ou and Mandel. Here, we present the observation of the Hong-Ou-Mandel effect with two independent single-photon sources in the microwave frequency domain. We probe the indistinguishability of single photons, created with a controllable delay, in time-resolved second-order cross- and auto-correlation function measurements. Using quadrature amplitude detection we are able to resolve different photon numbers and detect coherence in and between the output arms. This scheme allows us to fully characterize the two-mode entanglement of the spatially separated beam-splitter output modes. Our experiments constitute a first step towards using two-photon interference at microwave frequencies for quantum communication and information processing. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

Authors with CRIS profile

Christopher Eichler

Involved external institutions

Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETHZ) / Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich CH Switzerland (CH) Université de Sherbrooke CA Canada (CA)

How to cite

APA:

Lang, C., Steffen, L., Fink, J.M., Woolley, M.J., Blais, A., Wallraff, A.J., & Eichler, C. (2013). Correlations, indistinguishability and entanglement in Hong-Ou-Mandel experiments at microwave frequencies. Nature Physics, 9(6), 345-348. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nphys2612

MLA:

Lang, C., et al. "Correlations, indistinguishability and entanglement in Hong-Ou-Mandel experiments at microwave frequencies." Nature Physics 9.6 (2013): 345-348.

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