Visibility-Based Hypothesis Testing Using Higher-Order Optical Interference
Michał Jachura, Marcin Jarzyna, Michał Lipka, Wojciech Wasilewski, Konrad Banaszek · Physical Review Letters · 2018
Many quantum information protocols rely on optical interference to compare data sets with efficiency or security unattainable by classical means. Standard implementations exploit first-order coherence between signals whose preparation requires a shared phase reference. Here, we analyze and experimentally demonstrate the binary discrimination of visibility hypotheses based on higher-order interference for optical signals with a random relative phase. This provides a robust protocol implementation primitive when a phase lock is unavailable or impractical. With the primitive cost quantified by the total detected optical energy, optimal operation is typically reached in the few-photon regime.