Observing two-photon subwavelength interference of broadband chaotic light in polarization-selective Michelson interferometer

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the first observation of two-photon subwavelength interference of broadband chaotic light using a polarization-selective Michelson interferometer, combining experimental and theoretical analysis to advance quantum optics understanding.

Contribution

It introduces a novel experimental setup for observing two-photon subwavelength interference with broadband chaotic light and develops a theoretical framework based on polarization coherence matrices.

Findings

Successful demonstration of two-photon subwavelength interference with broadband chaotic light.

Theoretical explanation aligns well with experimental results.

Error analysis links visibility to polarization degree errors.

Abstract

Differing from the traditional method of achieving subwavelength interference, we have demonstrated the two-photon subwavelength interference effect of broadband chaotic light in a polarization-selective Michelson interferometer with an ultrafast two-photon absorption detector the first time, which is achieved by manipulating two-photon probability amplitudes involved in the interference. In theory, the two-photon polarization coherence matrix and probability amplitudes matrix are combined to develop polarized two-photon interference terms, which explains the experimental results well. In order to make better use of this interferometer to produce the subwavelength effect, we also make a series of error analyses to find out the relationship between the visibility and the degree of polarization error. Our experimental and theoretical results are helpful to understand the two-photon subwavelength interference, which sheds light on the development of the two-photon interference theory of vector light field based on quantum mechanics. These experimental results may help to develop future optical interferometry, optical polarimetry, and subwavelength lithography.