Unveiling wave−particle duality via second-order photon correlations

Abstract

Wave-particle duality as a fundamental tenet of quantum mechanics is crucial for advancing comprehension of quantum theories and developing quantum technologies with practical applications. However, taking into account experimental impact factors to develop a feasible measurement for wave-like and particle-like properties of light fields is an ongoing challenge, and the non-classicality extraction and determination remains to be explored. In this work, feasibly measurable second-order photon correlations based on Hanbury Brown−Twiss and Hong−Ou−Mandel interferences are employed to analyze the evolution of wave−particle duality for various input states. The wave-particle dualities of chaotic, coherent and mixed classical states as functions of time delay and coherence time are investigated. The realistic impacts of background noise, detection efficiency, intensity ratio and phase differences on the wave−particle duality of non-classical (Fock and squeezed coherent) states are unveiled. In noisy backgrounds with low detection efficiencies, efficient enhancement and extraction of non-classicality and a continuous transition from classical to non-classical region are achieved in single photon state mixed with coherent state by adjusting the phase difference from 0 to \pi /2. The non-classicality of squeezed coherent state can be induced by the classical wave-like and particle-like properties. The research provides a practical precision measurement of wave−particle duality that is helpful for the improvement of high-resolution quantum imaging and sensing.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

second-order photon correlation / wave−particle duality / non-classicality / single photon detection

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Declarations

The authors declare that they have no competing interests and there are no conflicts.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2022YFA1404201), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 62175176, 62075154, 62475185, U23A20380, and 62305241), and the Natural Science Foundation of Shanxi Province (Nos. 202203021222107 and 202203021222113).

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