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  • Open Access

Scattering zones in quantum speckle propagation

Shaurya Aarav*, S. A. Wadood, and Jason W. Fleischer†

  • Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA

  • *Present address: Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Institut des NanoSciences de Paris, INSP, F-75005 Paris, France.
  • †Contact author: jasonf@princeton.edu
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 043113 – Published 30 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/ymwh-j65z

Abstract

Quantum speckles exhibit significantly richer behavior than their classical counterparts due to their higher dimensionality. A simple example is the far-field speckle pattern in one-dimensional (1D) light scattering: Classical light forms 1D speckles defined by the numerical aperture, whereas biphoton scattering depends in addition on the photon correlation length, forming two-dimensional elliptical speckles. To date, the behavior of quantum speckles for shorter propagation distances has not been considered. We remedy this here by considering the paraxial evolution of two-photon entanglement at arbitrary propagation distances from a scatterer. We show, theoretically, numerically, and experimentally, that the two length scales of the biphoton introduce a new Fresnel regime between the conventional near and far fields. Further, we show that the quantum near field is characterized by speckles with a square shape that remain constant during propagation. In contrast, the intermediate regime can be engineered to have a constant speckle size along the sum coordinate but a linearly expanding speckle size along the difference coordinate, with a speckle shape that transitions from square to elliptical. The results merge quantum coherence with scattering statistics and suggest new regimes of operation for correlation-based quantum sensing and imaging.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 043113– Published 30 October, 2026
  • Received 11 July 2025
  • Revised 11 June 2026
  • Accepted 14 September 2026
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