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Exchange symmetry in multiphoton quantum interference

Shreya Kumar1,2,*, Alex E. Jones3,*, Daniel Bhatti4, and Stefanie Barz1,2,†

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: barz@fmq.uni-stuttgart.de
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Phys. Rev. A 114, 043702 – Published 2 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/4thx-c9s7

Abstract

Photons are bosons, and yet, when prepared in specific entangled states, they can exhibit nonbosonic behavior. While this phenomenon has so far been studied in two-photon systems, exchange symmetries and interference effects in multiphoton scenarios remain largely unexplored. In this work, we show that multiphoton states uncover a rich landscape of exchange symmetries. With three photons already, multiple pairwise combinations are possible, where each pair of photons can exhibit bosonic, fermionic, or anyonic exchange symmetry. This gives rise to mixed symmetry systems that are not possible to achieve with two photons alone. We experimentally investigate how these symmetry configurations manifest in the observed interference of three photons, whereby tuning the exchange symmetry with respect to a specific photon pair controls the complete three-photon interference behavior. We show that multiphoton interference can be effectively turned on and off by tuning the symmetry of the constituent pairs. The possibility of accessing and tuning new quantum statistics in a scalable photonic platform not only deepens our understanding of quantum systems but is also highly relevant for quantum technologies that rely on quantum interference.

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Phys. Rev. A 114, 043702– Published 2 October, 2026
  • Received 8 December 2025
  • Accepted 21 August 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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