Interference of temporally shaped single photons

Abstract

We observe the single-photon interference by a single-photon source generated from a spontaneous four-wave mixing process in a cold 85Rb atomic ensemble. By adjusting the coupling and pump power, we obtain two distinguished temporal modes for single photons. Through an unbalance Mach–Zehnder interferometer, these temporally shaped single photons interfere with themselves and produce constructive or destructive interference according to the phase in the single-photon wave packet. The interferometric results of these temporally shaped single photons match well with the theoretical simulation.