Time-resolved two-photon interference of weak coherent pulses

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates time-resolved two-photon interference of phase-randomized weak coherent pulses, analyzing how coherence time affects interference visibility, advancing understanding of quantum photonic interference phenomena.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental demonstration of HOM-type TPI with phase-randomized weak coherent pulses using time-resolved detection.

Findings

Interference visibility depends on the ratio of coherence time to pulse duration.

Mutual coherence time can be controlled via frequency noise.

Results enhance understanding of quantum interference with weak coherent states.

Abstract

The observation of the Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM)-type two-photon interference (TPI) has played an important role in the development of photonic quantum technologies. The time-resolved coincidence-detection technique has been effectively used to identify and characterize the TPI phenomena of long-coherence optical fields. Here, we report on the experimental demonstration of the TPI of two phase-randomized weak coherent pulses with time-resolved coincidence detection. The mutual coherence time between the two weak coherent lights is determined by applying a frequency noise to one of the two interfering lights. We analyze the HOM-type TPI-fringe visibility according to the ratio of the coherence time to the pulse duration.