Photonic fusion operations transform partial distinguishability
Photonic fusion operations are a central primitive in photonic quantum information processing and are commonly characterized by their success probability and resource cost. Here, we identify an additional way in which different implementations of fusion operations differ, namely in how they transform partial distinguishability. We consider distinguishability originating both from imperfect entangled resource states and from imperfect single photons. We find that different successful fusion events can induce markedly different distinguishability transformations depending on the fusion protocol, heralding outcome, and error model. Under a collective resource-state error model, we identify a modification to an existing fusion protocol that improves the fidelity of the remaining state on average. Generally, however, these transformations adversely affect distinguishability, and many successful fusion outcomes are accompanied by distinguishability degradation. Our results show that partial distinguishability is dynamically shaped by interference and measurements and should be considered alongside overall fusion success probability when evaluating photonic fusion protocols.