Comparison of the Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect for bosons and fermions

T. Jeltes; J.M. McNamara; W. Hogervorst; W. Vassen; V. Krachmalnicoff; M. Schellekens; A. Perrin; H. Chang; D. Boiron; A. Aspect; C.I. Westbrook

doi:10.1038/nature05513

Comparison of the Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect for bosons and fermions

T. Jeltes, J.M. McNamara, W. Hogervorst, W. Vassen, V. Krachmalnicoff, M. Schellekens, A. Perrin, H. Chang, D. Boiron, A. Aspect, C.I. Westbrook

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Fifty years ago, Hanbury Brown and Twiss (HBT) discovered photon bunching in light emitted by a chaotic source, highlighting the importance of two-photon correlations and stimulating the development of modern quantum optics. The quantum interpretation of bunching relies on the constructive interference between amplitudes involving two indistinguishable photons, and its additive character is intimately linked to the Bose nature of photons. Advances in atom cooling and detection have led to the observation and full characterization of the atomic analogue of the HBT effect with bosonic atoms. By contrast, fermions should reveal an antibunching effect (a tendency to avoid each other). Antibunching of fermions is associated with destructive two-particle interference, and is related to the Pauli principle forbidding more than one identical fermion to occupy the same quantum state. Here we report an experimental comparison of the fermionic and bosonic HBT effects in the same apparatus, using two different isotopes of helium:

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	402-405
Journal	Nature
Volume	445
Issue number	7126
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05513
Publication status	Published - 2007

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title = "Comparison of the Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect for bosons and fermions",

abstract = "Fifty years ago, Hanbury Brown and Twiss (HBT) discovered photon bunching in light emitted by a chaotic source, highlighting the importance of two-photon correlations and stimulating the development of modern quantum optics. The quantum interpretation of bunching relies on the constructive interference between amplitudes involving two indistinguishable photons, and its additive character is intimately linked to the Bose nature of photons. Advances in atom cooling and detection have led to the observation and full characterization of the atomic analogue of the HBT effect with bosonic atoms. By contrast, fermions should reveal an antibunching effect (a tendency to avoid each other). Antibunching of fermions is associated with destructive two-particle interference, and is related to the Pauli principle forbidding more than one identical fermion to occupy the same quantum state. Here we report an experimental comparison of the fermionic and bosonic HBT effects in the same apparatus, using two different isotopes of helium:",

author = "T. Jeltes and J.M. McNamara and W. Hogervorst and W. Vassen and V. Krachmalnicoff and M. Schellekens and A. Perrin and H. Chang and D. Boiron and A. Aspect and C.I. Westbrook",

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doi = "10.1038/nature05513",

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pages = "402--405",

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T1 - Comparison of the Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect for bosons and fermions

AU - Jeltes, T.

AU - McNamara, J.M.

AU - Hogervorst, W.

AU - Vassen, W.

AU - Krachmalnicoff, V.

AU - Schellekens, M.

AU - Perrin, A.

AU - Chang, H.

AU - Boiron, D.

AU - Aspect, A.

AU - Westbrook, C.I.

PY - 2007

Y1 - 2007

N2 - Fifty years ago, Hanbury Brown and Twiss (HBT) discovered photon bunching in light emitted by a chaotic source, highlighting the importance of two-photon correlations and stimulating the development of modern quantum optics. The quantum interpretation of bunching relies on the constructive interference between amplitudes involving two indistinguishable photons, and its additive character is intimately linked to the Bose nature of photons. Advances in atom cooling and detection have led to the observation and full characterization of the atomic analogue of the HBT effect with bosonic atoms. By contrast, fermions should reveal an antibunching effect (a tendency to avoid each other). Antibunching of fermions is associated with destructive two-particle interference, and is related to the Pauli principle forbidding more than one identical fermion to occupy the same quantum state. Here we report an experimental comparison of the fermionic and bosonic HBT effects in the same apparatus, using two different isotopes of helium:

AB - Fifty years ago, Hanbury Brown and Twiss (HBT) discovered photon bunching in light emitted by a chaotic source, highlighting the importance of two-photon correlations and stimulating the development of modern quantum optics. The quantum interpretation of bunching relies on the constructive interference between amplitudes involving two indistinguishable photons, and its additive character is intimately linked to the Bose nature of photons. Advances in atom cooling and detection have led to the observation and full characterization of the atomic analogue of the HBT effect with bosonic atoms. By contrast, fermions should reveal an antibunching effect (a tendency to avoid each other). Antibunching of fermions is associated with destructive two-particle interference, and is related to the Pauli principle forbidding more than one identical fermion to occupy the same quantum state. Here we report an experimental comparison of the fermionic and bosonic HBT effects in the same apparatus, using two different isotopes of helium:

U2 - 10.1038/nature05513

DO - 10.1038/nature05513

M3 - Article

VL - 445

SP - 402

EP - 405

JO - Nature

JF - Nature

SN - 0028-0836

IS - 7126

ER -

Comparison of the Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect for bosons and fermions

Abstract

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