Simultaneous measurement of HOM-like and N00N-like two-photon wavepackets in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a novel interferometric setup that simultaneously observes HOM-like and N00N-like two-photon interference effects, advancing understanding of quantum photonic states.

Contribution

It introduces an experimental method to generate and measure two distinct two-photon states simultaneously within a Mach-Zehnder interferometer.

Findings

Simultaneous observation of HOM and N00N-like interference fringes.

Effective preparation of two-photon states with temporal delays.

Enhanced insight into two-photon wavepacket properties.

Abstract

We propose and experimentally demonstrate two-photon interference effects in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer in which two different kinds of two-photon states are prepared by introducing a time delay between the two input photons. The two-photon states are simultaneously prepared in a symmetrically superposed state with two temporally separated photons in two different spatial modes or in the same spatial mode within the interferometer. We observe two-photon interference fringes involving both the Hong-Ou-Mandel interference effect and the interference of path-entangled two-photon states simultaneously in a single interferometric setup. The observed two-photon interference effect can provide a simultaneous observation of the interferometric properties of the single-photon and two-photon wavepackets