Quantum interference of two independent particles in pure quantum states is fully described by the particles' distinguishability: the closer the particles are to being identical, the higher the degree of quantum interference. When more than two particles are involved, the situation becomes more complex and interference capability extends beyond pairwise distinguishability, taking on a surprisingly rich character. Here, we study many-particle interference using three photons. We show that the distinguishability between pairs of photons is not sufficient to fully describe the photons' behavior in a scattering process, but that a collective phase, the triad phase, plays a role. We are able to explore the full parameter space of threephoton interference by generating heralded single photons and interfering them in a fiber tritter. Using multiple degrees of freedom-temporal delays and polarization-we isolate three-photon interference from two-photon interference. Our experiment disproves the view that pairwise two-photon distinguishability uniquely determines the degree of nonclassical many-particle interference. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.153603 The famous Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) experiment in 1987 provided the first important example of nonclassical two-photon interference [1]. Two independent photons impinging on a beam splitter exhibit bunching behavior at the output ports that cannot be explained by a classical field model. The degree of bunching depends on how similar the two photons are in all degrees of freedom, for example, time, frequency, polarization, and spatial mode. Extending the study of interference to many particles is of interest from a fundamental as well as from a technological viewpoint [2][3][4][5][6][7]. The scattering of multiple photons in linear networks is related to solving problems in quantum information processing, metrology, and quantum state engineering [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. Thus, understanding multiphoton interference is also of great relevance for practical applications.Here, we demonstrate how many-particle interference is fundamentally richer than two-particle interference [17]. Two situations with the same pairwise distinguishability can lead to a different output distribution. This is due to a phase, the triad phase, that occurs only when more than two photons interfere.We use independent photons and a tritter, a three-port symmetric beam splitter to investigate many-particle interference. We isolate the triad phase for the first time by interfering three photons in a tritter and exploiting multiple degrees of freedom, here time and polarization. We show that interfering three identical photons and varying time delays between them, as demonstrated in previous work [5,18,19], is not sufficient to study three-photon interference in full generality [20,21]. Our experiment allows us to isolate and tune the three-photon interference term as distinct from two-photon interference. In particular, manipulation of the triad phase goes beyond what is possible using temporal...

We demonstrate how boson sampling with photons of partial distinguishability can be expressed in terms of interference of fewer photons. We use this observation to propose a classical algorithm to simulate the output of a boson sampler fed with photons of partial distinguishability. We find conditions for which this algorithm is efficient, which gives a lower limit on the required indistinguishability to demonstrate a quantum advantage. Under these conditions, adding more photons only polynomially increases the computational cost to simulate a boson sampling experiment.

Recent advances in photonic integrated circuits have enabled a new generation of programmable Mach–Zehnder meshes (MZMs) realized by using cascaded Mach–Zehnder interferometers capable of universal linear-optical transformations on N input/output optical modes. MZMs serve critical functions in photonic quantum information processing, quantum-enhanced sensor networks, machine learning and other applications. However, MZM implementations reported to date rely on thermo-optic phase shifters, which limit applications due to slow response times and high power consumption. Here we introduce a large-scale MZM platform made in a 200 mm complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor foundry, which uses aluminium nitride piezo-optomechanical actuators coupled to silicon nitride waveguides, enabling low-loss propagation with phase modulation at greater than 100 MHz in the visible–near-infrared wavelengths. Moreover, the vanishingly low hold-power consumption of the piezo-actuators enables these photonic integrated circuits to operate at cryogenic temperatures, paving the way for a fully integrated device architecture for a range of quantum applications.

We demonstrate the use of Cold Target Recoil Ion Momentum Spectroscopy (COLTRIMS) to perform state-selective measurements of the dissociative channels following the single-photon double ionization (PDI) of H2O. The two dominant dissociation channels observed lead to two-body (OH + + H + + 2e −) and three-body (2H + + O + 2e −) ionic fragmentation channels. In the two-body case we observe the presence of an autoionization process with a double differential cross section that is similar to the PDI of helium well above threshold. In the three-body case, momentum and energy correlation maps in conjunction with new classical trajectory calculations in the companion theory paper by Streeter et al. [1] lead to the determination of the eight populated dication states and their associated fragmentation geometry. For the latter case, state-specific relative cross sections, median kinetic energy releases, and median angles between asymptotic proton momenta are presented. This benchmark level experiment demonstrates that, in principle, state-selective fixed-frame tripledifferential cross sections can be measured for some dication states of the water molecule.

We report on the observation of discrete structures in the electron energy distribution for strong field double ionization of argon at 394 nm. The experimental conditions were chosen in order to ensure a nonsequential ejection of both electrons with an intermediate rescattering step. We have found discrete above-threshold ionization like peaks in the sum energy of both electrons, as predicted by all quantum mechanical calculations. More surprisingly, however, is the observation of two above-threshold ionization combs in the energy distribution of the individual electrons.

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Topological photonics sheds light on some of the surprising phenomena seen in condensed matter physics that arise with the appearance of topological invariants 1,2 . Optical waveguides provide a well-controlled platform to investigate effects that relate to different topological phases of matter, providing insight into phenomena such as topological insulators and superconductors by direct simulation of the states that are protected by the topology of the system. Here, we observe a mode associated with a topological defect 3 in the bulk of a 2D photonic material by introducing a vortex distortion to an hexagonal lattice and analogous to graphene 4,5 . These observations are made possible by advances in our experimental methods. We were able to manufacture uniform large twodimensional photonic crystal structures, containing thousands of identical waveguides arranged in two dimensions 21 , and we developed a new method to excite multiples of these waveguides with a well-defined light field. This allows us to probe the detailed spatial features of topological defect modes for the first time. The observed modes lie mid-gap at zero energy and are closely related to Majorana bound states in superconducting vortices 3,6 . This is the first experimental demonstration of a mode that is a solution to the Dirac equation in the presence of a vortex, as proposed by Jackiw and Rossi 7,8 .

A dramatic symmetry breaking in K-shell photoionization of the CF 4 molecule in which a core-hole vacancy is created in one of four equivalent fluorine atoms is displayed in the molecular frame angular distribution of the photoelectrons. Observing the photoejected electron in coincidence with an F + atomic ion after Auger decay is shown to select the dissociation path where the core hole was localized almost exclusively on that atom. A combination of measurements and ab initio calculations of the photoelectron angular distribution in the frame of the recoiling CF 3 + and F + atoms elucidates the underlying physics that derives from the Ne-like valence structure of the F(1s −1 ) core-excited atom.