• Photonics Research
  • Vol. 9, Issue 1, 49 (2021)
Jiho Park, Heonoh Kim, and Han Seb Moon*
Author Affiliations
  • Department of Physics, Pusan National University, Geumjeong-Gu, Busan 46241, Republic of Korea
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    DOI: 10.1364/PRJ.402574 Cite this Article Set citation alerts
    Jiho Park, Heonoh Kim, Han Seb Moon. Second-order interference of true thermal light from a warm atomic ensemble in two independent unbalanced interferometers[J]. Photonics Research, 2021, 9(1): 49 Copy Citation Text show less

    Abstract

    We report the demonstration of a second-order interference experiment by use of thermal light emitted from a warm atomic ensemble in two spatially separated unbalanced Michelson interferometers (UMIs). This novel multipath correlation interference with thermal light has been theoretically proposed by Tamma [New J. Phys.18, 032002 (2016)NJOPFM1367-263010.1088/1367-2630/18/3/032002]. In our experiment, the bright thermal light used for second-order interference is superradiantly emitted via collective two-photon coherence in Doppler-broadened cascade-type Rb87 atoms. Owing to the long coherence time of the thermal light from the atomic ensemble, we observe its second-order interference in the two independent UMIs by means of time-resolved coincidence detection. The temporal waveforms of the interfering thermal light in the two spatially separated UMIs exhibit similarities with the temporal two-photon waveform of time–energy entangled photon pairs in Franson interferometry. Our results can contribute toward a better understanding of the relation between first- and second-order interferences that are at the heart of photonics-based quantum information science.
    G(2)(t1,t2)=G(1)(t1,t1)G(1)(t2,t2)+η|G(1)(t1,t2)|2,(1)

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    g(2)(0)=1+η2{1+cos[ω0c(L1S1)(L2S2)]}.(2)

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    Jiho Park, Heonoh Kim, Han Seb Moon. Second-order interference of true thermal light from a warm atomic ensemble in two independent unbalanced interferometers[J]. Photonics Research, 2021, 9(1): 49
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