arXiv · 2508.15352
Deterministic Control of Photon-Number Probabilities via Phase-Controlled Quantum Interference
Abstract
Deterministically tailoring optical Fock states beyond the single-photon level is crucial for boson sampling, loss-tolerant photonic qubits, and quantum-enhanced sensing, however has yet remained elusive. Here, we report an all-linear-optical protocol that converts a resonantly driven single-photon emitter into a deterministic generator of vacuum--single-photon--two-photon states. A phase-stabilized, path-unbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometer combines vacuum--single-photon interference and Hong-Ou-Mandel effect, providing two knobs to shape photon-number probabilities. By tuning these knobs, we observe a dynamic transition from antibunching to strong bunching in correlation measurements. A fully quantum-mechanical, discrete time-bin model maps these results onto the tailored photon statistics. The same framework predicts that two indistinguishable emitters would extend the accessible space to deterministic NOON states and single-photon filtering. This protocol relying on linear optics and available single-photon sources provides a scalable, chip-compatible, and platform-independent route to on-demand and deterministic few-photon resources for quantum metrology, photonic computing, as well as long-distance quantum networks.
Explore related subjects
Keep this discovery
Sang Kyu Kim, Eduardo Zubizarreta Casalengua, Yeji Sim, Friedrich Sbresny, Carolin Calcagno, Hubert Riedl, Jonathan J. Finley, Elena del Valle, Carlos Antón-Solanas, Kai Müller, Lukas Hanschke. 2025-08-21. Deterministic Control of Photon-Number Probabilities via Phase-Controlled Quantum Interference. https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.15352
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.