Work

Revealing bosonic exchange symmetry in a two-photon temporal wave function

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The wavefunction of two identical bosons remains invariant under particle exchange - a fundamental quantum symmetry that underlies Bose-Einstein statistics. We report the direct experimental observation of bosonic exchange symmetry in the temporal wavefunction of photon pairs generated via spontaneous four-wave mixing in a three-level cold atomic ensemble. The measured two-photon temporal correlations show excellent agreement with theoretical predictions based on symmetrized bosonic wavefunctions. In addition, we perform time-resolved two-photon interference to reconstruct the complex temporal wavefunction. Both the amplitude and phase profiles exhibit clear symmetry under photon exchange, providing a direct confirmation of bosonic exchange symmetry in the time domain.

Source: Physical Review A

DOI: 10.1103/sq4j-53jr

Authors: Yefeng Mei, Yue Jiang, Shengwang Du

Institutions: Washington State University, University of Pittsburgh, Purdue University West Lafayette

Language: English

Topic: Quantum optics and atomic interactions

Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy

Awards: ExpandQISE: Track 2: Neutral Atom Based Quantum Information Processing, Collaborative Research: CNS Core: Small: Model, Design, and Implement Entanglement Routing Protocols for Quantum Networks, HYBRID QUANTUM NETWORKS WITH DISCRETE POLARIZATIONS AND CONTINUOUS QUADRATURE VARIABLES