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Main Authors: Lantz, Eric, Devaux, Fabrice, Massar, Serge
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.01050
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author Lantz, Eric
Devaux, Fabrice
Massar, Serge
author_facet Lantz, Eric
Devaux, Fabrice
Massar, Serge
contents Subtracting accidental coincidences is a common practice quantum optics experiments. For zero mean Gaussian states, such as squeezed vacuum, we show that if one removes accidental coincidences the measurement results are quantitatively the same, both for photon coincidences at very low flux and for intensity covariances. Consequently, pure quantum effects at the photon level, like interference of photon wave functions or photon bunching, are reproduced in the correlation of fluctuations of macroscopic beams issued from spontaneous down conversion. This is true both in experiment if the detection resolution is smaller than the coherence cell (size of the mode), and in stochastic simulations based on sampling the Wigner function. We discuss the limitations of this correspondence, such as Bell inequalities (for which one cannot substract accidental coincidences), highly multimode situations such as quantum imaging, and higher order correlations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2405_01050
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Detecting single photons is not always necessary to evidence interference of photon probability amplitudes
Lantz, Eric
Devaux, Fabrice
Massar, Serge
Quantum Physics
Subtracting accidental coincidences is a common practice quantum optics experiments. For zero mean Gaussian states, such as squeezed vacuum, we show that if one removes accidental coincidences the measurement results are quantitatively the same, both for photon coincidences at very low flux and for intensity covariances. Consequently, pure quantum effects at the photon level, like interference of photon wave functions or photon bunching, are reproduced in the correlation of fluctuations of macroscopic beams issued from spontaneous down conversion. This is true both in experiment if the detection resolution is smaller than the coherence cell (size of the mode), and in stochastic simulations based on sampling the Wigner function. We discuss the limitations of this correspondence, such as Bell inequalities (for which one cannot substract accidental coincidences), highly multimode situations such as quantum imaging, and higher order correlations.
title Detecting single photons is not always necessary to evidence interference of photon probability amplitudes
topic Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.01050