Steffen Oppel, Thomas Büttner, Pieter Kok, Joachim von Zanthier
Multi-photon interferences with indistinguishable photons from independent
light sources are at the focus of current research owing to their potential in
optical quantum computing, creating remote entanglement for quantum computation
and communication, and quantum metrology. The paradigmatic states for
multi-photon interference are the highly entangled NOON states, which can be
used to achieve increased resolution in spectroscopy, interferometry,
lithography, and microscopy. Multi-photon interferences from independent,
uncorrelated emitters can also lead to enhanced resolution in metrology and
imaging. So far, such interferences have been observed with maximally two
independent emitters. Here, we report multi-photon interferences with up to
five independent emitters, displaying interference patterns equivalent to those
of NOON states. Experimental results with independent thermal light sources
confirm this NOON-like modulation. The experiment is an extension of the
landmark measurement by Hanbury Brown and Twiss who investigated intensity
correlations of second order. Here we go beyond this level by measuring spatial
intensity correlations up to fifth order to further increase the resolution.
The inherent simplicity of our scheme opens up the possibility of improved
imaging in astronomy and biology.
View original:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1202.2294
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