Second-order superposition operations via Hong-Ou-Mandel interference
Su-Yong Lee, Hyunchul Nha · Physical Review A · 2012
We propose an experimental scheme to implement a second-order nonlocal superposition operation ${\stackrel{\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}{a}}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}2}+{e}^{i\ensuremath{\varphi}}{\stackrel{\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}{b}}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}2}$ and its variants by way of Hong-Ou-Mandel interference. The second-order coherent operations enable us to generate a NOON state with high particle number in a heralded fashion and also can be used to enhance the entanglement properties of continuous variable states. We discuss the feasibility of our proposed scheme considering realistic experimental conditions such as on-off photodetectors with nonideal efficiency and imperfect single-photon sources.