Spectral Hong-Ou-Mandel effect between a heralded single-photon state and a thermal field : multiphoton contamination and the nonclassicality threshold

Kashi, Anahita Khodadad and Caspani, Lucia and Kues, Michael (2023) Spectral Hong-Ou-Mandel effect between a heralded single-photon state and a thermal field : multiphoton contamination and the nonclassicality threshold. Physical Review Letters, 131. 233601. ISSN 1079-7114 (https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.233601)

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Abstract

The Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) effect is crucial for quantum information processing, and its visibility determines the system's quantum-classical characteristics. In an experimental and theoretical study of the spectral HOM effect between a thermal field and a heralded single-photon state, we demonstrate that the HOM visibility varies dependent on the relative photon statistics of the interacting fields. Our findings reveal that multiphoton components in a heralded state get engaged in quantum interference with a thermal field, resulting in improved visibilities at certain mean photon numbers. We derive a theoretical relationship for the HOM visibility as a function of the mean photon number of the thermal field and the thermal part of the heralded state. We show that the nonclassicality degree of a heralded state is reflected in its HOM visibility with a thermal field; our results establish a lower bound of 41.42% for the peak visibility, indicating the minimum assignable degree of nonclassicality to the heralded state. This research enhances our understanding of the HOM effect and its application to high-speed remote secret key sharing, addressing security concerns due to multiphoton contamination in heralded states.

ORCID iDs

Kashi, Anahita Khodadad, Caspani, Lucia ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2711-0448 and Kues, Michael;
  • Item type:Article
    ID code:88348
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    8 December 2023
    Published
    4 December 2023
    Published Online
    16 October 2023
    Accepted
    Subjects:Science > Physics
    Department:Faculty of Science > Physics > Institute of Photonics
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:05 Mar 2024 16:50
    Last modified:15 Nov 2024 01:17
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/88348
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