• Accepted Paper

Four-photon interference with a high-efficiency quantum dot source

Alistair J. Brash, Luke Brunswick, Mark R. Hogg, Catherine L. Phillips, Malwina A. Marczak, Timon L. Baltisberger, Sascha R. Valentin, Arne Ludwig, and Richard J. Warburton

Phys. Rev. Applied - Accepted 27 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/kb91-8zd1

Abstract

Multi-photon interference is a cornerstone of photonic quantum technologies including quantum simulation, communication, and metrology. While four-photon interference has been demonstrated using probabilistic parametric down-conversion sources, the intrinsic trade-off between photon generation rate and photon number purity leads to low signal-to-noise ratios, obscuring important interference phenomena. Here, we overcome this limitation by employing a high-efficiency, on-demand quantum dot single-photon source, achieving order-of-magnitude rate enhancements to reveal complex structure within four-photon interference fringes. By combining experiments with theoretical modelling, we identify “deep fringes” where interference minima are insensitive to photon distinguishability, and fringe contrast is instead highly sensitive to multi-photon emission. A Fisher information analysis further demonstrates that these fringes can exhibit phase sensitivity beyond the standard quantum limit, illustrating potential applications in quantum metrology. By resolving features previously masked by noise, our results establish solid-state emitters as a robust platform for precision quantum optical measurements in the multi-photon regime.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation

If the author has provided any supplemental materials with this article they will be available upon publication of the version of record.

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation