2022/09/19 by Artem Kovalenko, D. Babjak, Kovalenko, A. +17
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #Quantum optics and atomic interactions
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2209.09059
openalex publication_date 2022/09/19 · openalex created_date 2022/09/23 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The optical interference constitutes a paramount resource in modern physics. At the scale of individual atoms and photons, it is a diverse concept that causes different coherent phenomena. We present the experimental characterization of both coherent and statistical properties of light emitted from ensembles of trapped ions increasing with a number of contributing phase-incoherent independent atomic particles ranging from a single to up to several hundreds. It conclusively demonstrates how super-Poissonian quantum statistics non-trivially arises purely from the finite number of indistinguishable single-photon emitters in the limit of a single detection mode. The achieved new optical emission regime in which these independent atoms contribute coherently to the super-Poissonian statistics provides a new perspective on the emergence of optical coherence at the atomic scale and constitutes a unique toolbox for its generation and control at the most microscopic level.