Classical bound for Mach-Zehnder superresolution

Hong-Ou-Mandel Interference between Two Deterministic Collective Excitations in an Atomic Ensemble

We demonstrate deterministic generation of two distinct collective excitations in one atomic ensemble, and we realize the Hong-Ou-Mandel interference between them. Using Rydberg blockade we create single collective excitations in two different Zeeman levels, and we use stimulated Raman transitions to perform a beam-splitter operation between the excited atomic modes. By converting the atomic excitations into photons, the two-excitation interference is measured by photon coincidence detection with a visibility of 0.89(6). The Hong-Ou-Mandel interference witnesses an entangled NOON state of the collective atomic excitations, and we demonstrate its two times enhanced sensitivity to a magnetic field compared with a single excitation. Our work implements a minimal instance of boson sampling and paves the way for further multimode and multiexcitation studies with collective excitations of atomic ensembles.

Heisenberg limit superradiant superresolving metrology

We propose a superradiant metrology technique to achieve the Heisenberg limit superresolving displacement measurement by encoding multiple light momenta into a three-level atomic ensemble. We use 2N coherent pulses to prepare a single excitation superradiant state in a superposition of two timed Dicke states that are 4N light momenta apart in momentum space. The phase difference between these two states induced by a uniform displacement of the atomic ensemble has 1/4N sensitivity. Experiments are proposed in crystals and in ultracold atoms.

Quantum interferometry with three-dimensional geometry

Quantum interferometry uses quantum resources to improve phase estimation with respect to classical methods. Here we propose and theoretically investigate a new quantum interferometric scheme based on three-dimensional waveguide devices. These can be implemented by femtosecond laser waveguide writing, recently adopted for quantum applications. In particular, multiarm interferometers include “tritter” and “quarter” as basic elements, corresponding to the generalization of a beam splitter to a 3- and 4-port splitter, respectively. By injecting Fock states in the input ports of such interferometers, fringe patterns characterized by nonclassical visibilities are expected. This enables outperforming the quantum Fisher information obtained with classical fields in phase estimation. We also discuss the possibility of achieving the simultaneous estimation of more than one optical phase. This approach is expected to open new perspectives to quantum enhanced sensing and metrology performed in integrated photonics.

Two-photon path-entangled states in multimode waveguides

We experimentally show that two-photon path-entangled states can be coherently manipulated by multimode interference in multimode waveguides. By measuring the output two-photon spatial correlation function versus the phase of the input state, we show that multimode waveguides perform as nearly ideal multiport beam splitters at the quantum level, creating a large variety of entangled and separable multipath two-photon states.

Observation of Young's double-slit interference with the three-photon N00N state

Spatial interference of quantum mechanical particles exhibits a fundamental feature of quantum mechanics. A two-mode entangled state of N particles known as N00N state can give rise to non-classical interference. We report the first experimental observation of a three-photon N00N state exhibiting Young's double-slit type spatial quantum interference. Compared to a single-photon state, the three-photon entangled state generates interference fringes that are three times denser. Moreover, its interference visibility of 0.49 ± 0.09 is well above the limit of 0.1 for spatial super-resolution of classical origin.

Ultrafast three-photon counting in a photomultiplier tube

We demonstrate experimentally ultrafast three-photon counting by three-photon absorption in a GaAsP photomultiplier tube at the wavelength range of 1800-1900 nm, and analyze its sensitivity and time response. Pulse energy of ∼500 fJ is shown to be detectable for ultrafast 170 fs pulses. The presented three-photon counter may serve as a unique tool for ultrafast quantum state characterization as well as for ultrasensitive third-order temporal measurements.

Precision quantum metrology and nonclassicality in linear and nonlinear detection schemes

We examine whether metrological resolution beyond coherent states is a nonclassical effect. We show that this is true for linear detection schemes but false for nonlinear schemes, and propose a very simple experimental setup to test it. We find a nonclassicality criterion derived from quantum Fisher information.