Delayed single-photon self-interference
(1998) In Physical Review A (Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics) 58(6).- Abstract
- It has been suggested that a single photon can interfere with itself even if the difference between the two paths in the interferometer is larger than the “length” of the photon [Kessel’ and Moiseev, JETP Lett. 58, 81 (1993)]. The interference is regained by detecting the photons using a photon-echo process, where the absorbing atoms will, effectively, act as narrow-band filters. Such an experiment has several unique features. For example, single photons are used to carry out what is generally regarded as a multiphoton process; the absorption of a single photon can be regarded as separated into two different moments in time; the fact that the single-photon interference is regained using atoms acting as narrow-band filters as the detector... (More)
- It has been suggested that a single photon can interfere with itself even if the difference between the two paths in the interferometer is larger than the “length” of the photon [Kessel’ and Moiseev, JETP Lett. 58, 81 (1993)]. The interference is regained by detecting the photons using a photon-echo process, where the absorbing atoms will, effectively, act as narrow-band filters. Such an experiment has several unique features. For example, single photons are used to carry out what is generally regarded as a multiphoton process; the absorption of a single photon can be regarded as separated into two different moments in time; the fact that the single-photon interference is regained using atoms acting as narrow-band filters as the detector means that the control of the detection process is quite different from cases where electronic (or possibly photographic) detection is used to register the interference etc. In general, interference and absorption are combined and intertwined in the experiment, which is discussed in this paper, in a way that has not been done before. In the present paper the possibility to carry out such an experiment in practice is investigated in some detail. The signal strength is explicitly calculated and the results are compared with our experimental data for the case of many interfering photons. We imply that this result can readily be extrapolated to the single-photon situation. We analyze the material parameters that are important for carrying out the experiment and give specific examples of some suitable materials. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/541434
- author
- Mohan, R. K. ; Luo, B. and Kröll, Stefan LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 1998
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- DATA-STORAGE, TIME-DOMAIN, MOMENTS
- in
- Physical Review A (Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics)
- volume
- 58
- issue
- 6
- article number
- 4348
- publisher
- American Physical Society
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:1142291089
- ISSN
- 1050-2947
- DOI
- 10.1103/PhysRevA.58.4348
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- eaa818e8-8bdc-4b39-be29-80c0dab92342 (old id 541434)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 12:21:40
- date last changed
- 2023-02-24 11:29:47
@article{eaa818e8-8bdc-4b39-be29-80c0dab92342,
abstract = {{It has been suggested that a single photon can interfere with itself even if the difference between the two paths in the interferometer is larger than the “length” of the photon [Kessel’ and Moiseev, JETP Lett. 58, 81 (1993)]. The interference is regained by detecting the photons using a photon-echo process, where the absorbing atoms will, effectively, act as narrow-band filters. Such an experiment has several unique features. For example, single photons are used to carry out what is generally regarded as a multiphoton process; the absorption of a single photon can be regarded as separated into two different moments in time; the fact that the single-photon interference is regained using atoms acting as narrow-band filters as the detector means that the control of the detection process is quite different from cases where electronic (or possibly photographic) detection is used to register the interference etc. In general, interference and absorption are combined and intertwined in the experiment, which is discussed in this paper, in a way that has not been done before. In the present paper the possibility to carry out such an experiment in practice is investigated in some detail. The signal strength is explicitly calculated and the results are compared with our experimental data for the case of many interfering photons. We imply that this result can readily be extrapolated to the single-photon situation. We analyze the material parameters that are important for carrying out the experiment and give specific examples of some suitable materials.}},
author = {{Mohan, R. K. and Luo, B. and Kröll, Stefan}},
issn = {{1050-2947}},
keywords = {{DATA-STORAGE; TIME-DOMAIN; MOMENTS}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{6}},
publisher = {{American Physical Society}},
series = {{Physical Review A (Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics)}},
title = {{Delayed single-photon self-interference}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/2891764/2370418.pdf}},
doi = {{10.1103/PhysRevA.58.4348}},
volume = {{58}},
year = {{1998}},
}