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Updated: Nov 26, 2025

Measurement of Quantum Interference in a Silicon Ring Resonator Photon Source
Published on: April 4, 2017
Two-boson quantum interference in time
Nicolas J Cerf1, Michael G Jabbour2
1Centre for Quantum Information and Communication, Ecole polytechnique de Bruxelles, Université libre de Bruxelles, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium.
Abstract:
The celebrated Hong-Ou-Mandel effect is the paradigm of two-particle quantum interference. It has its roots in the symmetry of identical quantum particles, as dictated by the Pauli principle. Two identical bosons impinging on a beam splitter (of transmittance 1/2) cannot be detected in coincidence at both output ports, as confirmed in numerous experiments with light or even matter. Here, we establish that partial time reversal transforms the beam splitter linear coupling into amplification. We infer from this duality the existence of an unsuspected two-boson interferometric effect in a quantum amplifier (of gain 2) and identify the underlying mechanism as time-like indistinguishability. This fundamental mechanism is generic to any bosonic Bogoliubov transformation, so we anticipate wide implications in quantum physics.
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