Coherently excited Hong-Ou-Mandel effects using frequency-path correlation

TL;DR

This paper proposes a coherence-based version of the Hong-Ou-Mandel effect using frequency-path correlation in photon pairs, advancing understanding of quantum entanglement and nonlocal correlations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel coherence version of the HOM effect with frequency-correlated photons in independent interferometers, providing new insights into quantum anticorrelation and entanglement.

Findings

Demonstrates the importance of phase relations in frequency-correlated photons for HOM effects

Analyzes the impact of symmetrically modulated interferometers on photon correlations

Discusses classical intensity measurements in the context of quantum HOM phenomena

Abstract

Nonlocal quantum correlation has been the main issue of quantum mechanics over the last century. The Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) effect relates to the two-photon intensity correlation on a beam splitter, resulting in a nonclassical photon-bunching phenomenon. The HOM effect has been used to verify the quantum feature via Bell measurements for quantum technologies such as quantum repeaters and photonics quantum computing. Here, a coherence version of the HOM effect is proposed and analyzed to understand the fundamental physics of the anticorrelation and entanglement. For this, frequency-correlated coherent photon pairs are prepared in an independent set of Mach-Zhender interferometers (MZI) using a synchronized pair of modulators from an attenuated laser. For the HOM effect, the phase relation between frequency-correlated photons plays an essential role. For the product-basis randomness, the symmetrically modulated two independent MZIs are combined together incoherently. A classical intensity product between two independent photodetectors is also discussed for the same HOM effect in a selective macroscopic measurement scheme.