Complete three photon Hong-Ou-Mandel interference at a three port device

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates complete three-photon Hong-Ou-Mandel interference in a three-port device using SU(3) transformations, revealing new quantum interference phenomena and entanglement generation beyond traditional two-port systems.

Contribution

It introduces a three-port device capable of full three-photon interference using SU(3) mathematical framework, expanding understanding of multi-photon quantum interference.

Findings

Achieved complete destructive three-photon interference over a range of parameters.

Generated higher-dimensional entangled states of qudits.

Identified physical origins of interference in quantum path contributions.

Abstract

We report the possibility of completely destructive interference of three indistinguishable photons on a three port device providing a generalisation of the well known Hong-Ou-Mandel interference of two indistinguishable photons on a two port device. Our analysis is based on the underlying mathematical framework of SU(3) transformations rather than SU(2) transformations. We show the completely destructive three photon interference for a large range of parameters of the three port device and point out the physical origin of such interference in terms of the contributions from different quantum paths. As each output port can deliver zero to three photons the device generates higher dimensional entanglement. In particular, different forms of entangled states of qudits can be generated depending on the device parameters. Our system is different from a symmetric three port beam splitter which does not exhibit a three photon Hong-Ou-Mandel interference.