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De Broglie wavelength of a non-local four-photon state

Nature volume 429, pages 158–161 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Superposition is one of the most distinctive features of quantum theory and has been demonstrated in numerous single-particle interference experiments1,2,3,4. Quantum entanglement5, the coherent superposition of states in multi-particle systems, yields more complex phenomena6,7. One important type of multi-particle experiment uses path-entangled number states, which exhibit pure higher-order interference and the potential for applications in metrology and imaging8; these include quantum interferometry and spectroscopy with phase sensitivity at the Heisenberg limit9,10,11,12, or quantum lithography beyond the classical diffraction limit13. It has been generally understood14 that in optical implementations of such schemes, lower-order interference effects always decrease the overall performance at higher particle numbers. Such experiments have therefore been limited to two photons15,16,17,18. Here we overcome this limitation, demonstrating a four-photon interferometer based on linear optics. We observe interference fringes with a periodicity of one-quarter of the single-photon wavelength, confirming the presence of a four-particle mode-entangled state. We anticipate that this scheme should be extendable to arbitrary photon numbers, holding promise for realizable applications with entanglement-enhanced performance.

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Figure 1: One-, two- and four-photon interferometry.
Figure 2: Experimental demonstration of pure one-, two- and four- photon interference.
Figure 3: Pure four-photon interference without any two-photon interference.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Č. Brukner and K. Resch for discussions, and V. Scarani for comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by the Austrian Science Foundation (FWF), the European Commission in the RAMBOQ project and by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

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  1. Jian-Wei Pan

    Present address: Physikalisches Institut, Universität Heidelberg, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Wien, Boltzmanngasse 5, 1090, Wien, Austria

    Philip Walther, Jian-Wei Pan, Markus Aspelmeyer, Rupert Ursin, Sara Gasparoni & Anton Zeilinger

  2. Institut für Quantenoptik und Quanteninformation, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Boltzmanngasse 3, 1090, Wien, Austria

    Anton Zeilinger

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  1. Philip Walther
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Correspondence to Anton Zeilinger.

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Walther, P., Pan, JW., Aspelmeyer, M. et al. De Broglie wavelength of a non-local four-photon state. Nature 429, 158–161 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02552

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