# Interferometric control of the photon-number distribution

## TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how interferometric techniques can deterministically control the photon-number distribution in a disordered photonic lattice, enabling dynamic tuning of photon statistics without altering the system's disorder.

## Contribution

The study introduces a method to control photon-number statistics interferometrically in a disordered lattice with chiral symmetry, without changing the disorder level.

## Key findings

- Photon-number distribution can be tuned between super-thermal and sub-thermal regimes.
- Photon-bunching level is controlled by phase interference, not disorder modification.
- Control achieved at fixed mean photon number through structured coherent illumination.

## Abstract

We demonstrate deterministic control over the photon-number distribution by interfering two coherent beams within a disordered photonic lattice. By sweeping a relative phase between two equal-amplitude coherent fields with Poissonian statistics that excite adjacent sites in a lattice endowed with disorder-immune chiral symmetry, we measure an output photon-number distribution that changes periodically between super-thermal and sub-thermal photon statistics upon ensemble averaging. Thus, the photon-bunching level is controlled interferometrically at a fixed mean photon-number by gradually activating the excitation symmetry of the chiral-mode pairs with structured coherent illumination and without modifying the disorder level of the random system itself.