Spatial antibunching of photons
Zofia Białynicka-Birula, Iwo Białynicki‐Birula, G. M. Salamone · Physical Review A · 1991
We study the angular correlations of photons emitted spontaneously by a set of sources placed at fixed positions with the use of a model of harmonic oscillators coupled to the electromagnetic field. In our previous study of angular correlations, in which the oscillators were treated as one dimensional and their Coulomb interactions were disregarded, we found only positive angular correlations over the whole range of interatomic separations for which the model was applicable. In this paper we use the model of three-dimensional oscillators interacting with the quantized electromagnetic field and also directly among themselves via the Coulomb forces. We solve this model analytically in the dipole approximation, and we calculate the angular correlation coefficient for different separations between the emitters. For separations less than half of the wavelength, we find negative angular correlations (spatial antibunching). This is a purely quantum effect that is not present in the corresponding classical stochastic model.