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arXiv · 2212.07693

Spatiotemporal single-photon Airy bullets

Jianmin Wang·Ying Zuo·Xingchang Wang·Demetrios N. Christodoulides·Georgios A. Siviloglou·J. F. Chen
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Abstract

Uninhibited control of the complex spatiotemporal quantum wavefunction of a single photon has so far remained elusive even though it can dramatically increase the encoding flexibility and thus the information capacity of a photonic quantum link. By fusing temporal waveform generation in a cold atomic ensemble and spatial single-photon shaping, we hereby demonstrate for the first time complete spatiotemporal control of a propagation invariant (2+1)D Airy single-photon optical bullet. These correlated photons are not only self-accelerating and impervious to spreading as their classical counterparts, but can be concealed and revealed in the presence of strong classical light noise. Our methodology allows one to synthesize in a robust and versatile manner arbitrary quantum nonspreading spatiotemporal light bullets and in this respect could have ramifications in a broad range of applications such as quantum imaging, long-distance quantum communications, and multidimensional information encoding.

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Jianmin Wang, Ying Zuo, Xingchang Wang, Demetrios N. Christodoulides, Georgios A. Siviloglou, J. F. Chen. 2022-12-15. Spatiotemporal single-photon Airy bullets. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.132.143601

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