SearcharxivSearch

arXiv subjects

G. Khoury

Publications and source records attributed to G. Khoury.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Phase detection at the quantum limit with multi-photon Mach-Zehnder interferometry

We study a Mach-Zehnder interferometer fed by a coherent state in one input port and vacuum in the other. We explore a Bayesian phase estimation strategy to demonstrate that it is possible to achieve the standard quantum limit independently from the true value of the phase shift and specific assumptions on the noise of the interferometer. We have been able to implement the protocol using parallel operation of two photon-number-resolving detectors and multiphoton coincidence logic electronics at the output ports of a weakly-illuminated Mach-Zehnder interferometer. This protocol is unbiased and saturates the Cramer-Rao phase uncertainty bound and, therefore, is an optimal phase estimation strategy.

quant-ph

Nonlinear Interferometry via Fock State Projection

We use a photon-number resolving detector to monitor the photon number distribution of the output of an interferometer, as a function of phase delay. As inputs we use coherent states with mean photon number up to seven. The postselection of a specific Fock (photon-number) state effectively induces high-order optical non-linearities. Following a scheme by Bentley and Boyd [S.J. Bentley and R.W. Boyd, Optics Express 12, 5735 (2004)] we explore this effect to demonstrate interference patterns a factor of five smaller than the Rayleigh limit.

quant-ph

Bunching of Bell states

The bunching of two single photons on a beam-splitter is a fundamental quantum effect, first observed by Hong, Ou and Mandel. It is a unique interference effect that relies only on the photons' indistinguishability and not on their relative phase. We generalize this effect by demonstrating the bunching of two Bell states, created in two passes of a nonlinear crystal, each composed of two photons. When the two Bell states are indistinguishable, phase insensitive destructive interference prevents the outcome of four-fold coincidence between the four spatial-polarization modes. For certain combinations of the two Bell states, we demonstrate the opposite effect of anti-bunching. We relate this result to the number of distinguishable modes in parametric down-conversion.

quant-ph

Multiphoton path entanglement by non-local bunching

Multiphoton path entanglement is created without applying post-selection, by manipulating the state of stimulated parametric down-conversion. A specific measurement on one of the two output spatial modes leads to the non-local bunching of the photons of the other mode, forming the desired multiphoton path entangled state. We present experimental results for the case of a heralded two-photon path entangled state and show how to extend this scheme to higher photon numbers.

quant-ph

Quantum entanglement of a large number of photons

A bipartite multiphoton entangled state is created through stimulated parametric down-conversion of strong laser pulses in a nonlinear crystal. It is shown how detectors that do not resolve photon number can be used to analyze such multiphoton states. Entanglement of up to 12 photons is detected using both the positivity of the partially transposed density matrix and a newly derived criteria. Furthermore, evidence is provided for entanglement of up to 100 photons. The multi-particle quantum state is such that even in the case of an overall photon collection and detection efficiency as low as a few percent, entanglement remains and can be detected.

quant-ph