Observation of Hong-Ou-Mandel interference between photon and polariton

Abstract:Light-matter interactions underlie many quantum technologies, yet whether quasiparticles formed from such interactions preserve the full quantum state of light remains unresolved. Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), a class of polaritons formed by interacting photons with free-electron oscillations at metal-dielectric interfaces, are prime candidates to explore this question. Here we demonstrate quantum interference between single photons and SPPs using an Au-SiN$_{\mathrm{x}}$ integrated photonic-plasmonic device. Our results reveal that SPPs retain the indistinguishability of their excitation photons, establishing SPP as a viable quantum information carrier and opening a potential route toward photonic-plasmonic quantum circuitry.

Quantum Physics (quant-ph); Optics (physics.optics)

arXiv:2609.02200 [quant-ph]

(or arXiv:2609.02200v1 [quant-ph] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2609.02200 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

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