Free access article

Eur. Phys. J. D 35, 561-565 (2005)
DOI: 10.1140/epjd/e2005-00201-y

Single-photon wavefront-splitting interference

An illustration of the light quantum in action

V. Jacques¹, E. Wu^{1, 2}, T. Toury^{1, 3}, F. Treussart¹, A. Aspect⁴, P. Grangier⁴ and J.-F. Roch<sup>1

1</sup>  Laboratoire de Photonique Quantique et Moléculaire, ENS Cachan, UMR CNRS 8537, 94235 Cachan Cedex, France
²  Key Laboratory of Optical and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, East China Normal University, Shanghai, P.R. China
³  Palais de la Découverte, avenue Franklin Roosevelt, 75008 Paris, France
⁴  Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique, UMR CNRS 8501, Centre scientifique d'Orsay, Bâtiment 503, 91403 Orsay Cedex, France

roch@physique.ens-cachan.fr

(Received 3 May 2005 / Published online 26 July 2005)

Abstract
We present a new realization of the textbook experiment consisting in single-photon interference based on the pulsed, optically excited photoluminescence of a single colour centre in a diamond nanocrystal. Interferences are created by wavefront-splitting with a Fresnel's biprism and observed by registering the "single-photon clicks" with an intensified CCD camera. This imaging detector provides also a real-time movie of the build-up of the single-photon fringes. We perform a second experiment with two detectors sensitive to photons that follow either one or the other interference path. Evidence for single photon behaviour is then obtained from the absence of time coincidence between detections in these two paths.

PACS
03.65.Ta - Foundations of quantum mechanics; measurement theory.
42.50.Dv - Nonclassical states of the electromagnetic field, including entangled photon states; quantum state engineering and measurements.
42.50.St - Nonclassical interferometry, subwavelength lithography.

© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag 2005

The OpenURL standard is a protocol for transmission of metadata describing the resource that you wish to access. An OpenURL link contains article metadata and directs it to the OpenURL server of your choice. The OpenURL server can provide access to the resource and also offer complementary services (specific search engine, export of references...). The OpenURL link can be generated by different means.

• If your librarian has set up your subscription with an OpenURL resolver, OpenURL links appear automatically on the abstract pages.
• You can define your own OpenURL resolver with your EDPS Account. In this case your choice will be given priority over that of your library.
• You can use an add-on for your browser (Firefox or I.E.) to display OpenURL links on a page (see http://www.openly.com/openurlref/). You should disable this module if you wish to use the OpenURL server that you or your library have defined.