Spectral Hong-Ou-Mandel Effect between a Heralded Single-Photon State and a Thermal Field

Multiphoton Contamination and the Nonclassicality Threshold

verfasst von

Anahita Khodadad Kashi, Lucia Caspani, Michael Kues

Abstract

The Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) effect is crucial for quantum information processing, and its visibility determines the system's quantum-classical characteristics. In an experimental and theoretical study of the spectral HOM effect between a thermal field and a heralded single-photon state, we demonstrate that the HOM visibility varies dependent on the relative photon statistics of the interacting fields. Our findings reveal that multiphoton components in a heralded state get engaged in quantum interference with a thermal field, resulting in improved visibilities at certain mean photon numbers. We derive a theoretical relationship for the HOM visibility as a function of the mean photon number of the thermal field and the thermal part of the heralded state. We show that the nonclassicality degree of a heralded state is reflected in its HOM visibility with a thermal field; our results establish a lower bound of 41.42% for the peak visibility, indicating the minimum assignable degree of nonclassicality to the heralded state. This research enhances our understanding of the HOM effect and its application to high-speed remote secret key sharing, addressing security concerns due to multiphoton contamination in heralded states.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Institut für Photonik
PhoenixD: Simulation, Fabrikation und Anwendung optischer Systeme

Externe Organisation(en)

University of Strathclyde

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Physical review letters

Band

131

Anzahl der Seiten

6

ISSN

0031-9007

Publikationsdatum

04.12.2023

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Physik und Astronomie (insg.)

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.233601 (Zugang: Geschlossen)