Visibility bound caused by a distinguishable noise particle

Journal Article · Fri Apr 15 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.83.042320· OSTI ID:21544587

Gavenda, Miroslav; Celechovska, Lucie; Dusek, Miloslav; Filip, Radim ^[1]; Soubusta, Jan ^[2]

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1. Department of Optics, Faculty of Science, Palacky University, 17. listopadu 12, CZ-771 46 Olomouc (Czech Republic)
2. Joint Laboratory of Optics of Palacky University and Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 17. listopadu 50A, CZ-779 07 Olomouc (Czech Republic)

We investigate how the distinguishability of a 'noise' particle degrades interference of the 'signal' particle. The signal, represented by an equatorial state of a photonic qubit, is mixed with noise, represented by another photonic qubit, via linear coupling on a beam splitter. We report on the degradation of the signal photon interference depending on the degree of indistinguishability between the signal and noise photons. When the photons are completely distinguishable in principle but technically indistinguishable, the visibility drops to the value 1/{radical}(2). As the photons become more indistinguishable, the maximal visibility increases and reaches the unit value for completely indistinguishable photons. We have examined this effect experimentally using a setup with a fiber-optics two-photon Mach-Zehnder interferometer.

• OSTI ID: 21544587
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Vol. 83, Issue 4; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.83.042320; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 1050-2947
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
BEAM SPLITTING
COUPLING
FIBER OPTICS
INTERFERENCE
MACH-ZEHNDER INTERFEROMETER
NOISE
PHOTONS
SIGNALS
BOSONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
INTERFEROMETERS
MASSLESS PARTICLES
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
OPTICS