PT-symmetry in honeycomb photonic lattices

We apply gain/loss to honeycomb photonic lattices and show that the dispersion relation is identical to tachyons - particles with imaginary mass that travel faster than the speed of light. This is accompanied by PT-symmetry breaking in this structure. We further show that the PT-symmetry can be restored by deforming the lattice

Generalized multi-photon quantum interference

Non-classical interference of photons lies at the heart of optical quantum information processing. This effect is exploited in universal quantum gates as well as in purpose-built quantum computers that solve the BosonSampling problem. Although non-classical interference is often associated with perfectly indistinguishable photons this only represents the degenerate case, hard to achieve under realistic experimental conditions. Here we exploit tunable distinguishability to reveal the full spectrum of multi-photon non-classical interference. This we investigate in theory and experiment by controlling the delay times of three photons injected into an integrated interferometric network. We derive the entire coincidence landscape and identify transition matrix immanants as ideally suited functions to describe the generalized case of input photons with arbitrary distinguishability. We introduce a compact description by utilizing a natural basis which decouples the input state from the interferometric network, thereby providing a useful tool for even larger photon numbers

Sparsity based sub-wavelength imaging with partially incoherent light via quadratic compressed sensing

We demonstrate that sub-wavelength optical images borne on partially-spatially-incoherent light can be recovered, from their far-field or from the blurred image, given the prior knowledge that the image is sparse, and only that. The reconstruction method relies on the recently demonstrated sparsity-based sub-wavelength imaging. However, for partially-spatially-incoherent light, the relation between the measurements and the image is quadratic, yielding non-convex measurement equations that do not conform to previously used techniques. Consequently, we demonstrate new algorithmic methodology, referred to as quadratic compressed sensing, which can be applied to a range of other problems involving information recovery from partial correlation measurements, including when the correlation function has local dependencies. Specifically for microscopy, this method can be readily extended to white light microscopes with the additional knowledge of the light source spectrum.Comment: 16 page

Quantum walks of correlated photon pairs in two-dimensional waveguide arrays

We demonstrate quantum walks of correlated photons in a 2D network of directly laser written waveguides coupled in a 'swiss cross' arrangement. The correlated detection events show high-visibility quantum interference and unique composite behaviour: strong correlation and independence of the quantum walkers, between and within the planes of the cross. Violations of a classically defined inequality, for photons injected in the same plane and in orthogonal planes, reveal non-classical behaviour in a non-planar structure.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Generating photon-encoded W states in multiport waveguide-array systems

We propose a versatile approach for generating multipartite W states in predesigned on-chip multiport photonic lattices. It is shown that is possible to produce photon-encoded W states where exactly one photon is coherently shared among N optical modes by judiciously adjusting the coupling coefficients involved in one-dimensional arrays of evanescently coupled single-mode waveguides. Two-dimensional waveguide configurations are also investigated as possible avenues to produce W states with equal probability amplitudes and equal relative phases