Observation of multiphoton entanglement in resonance fluoresce
Abstract
Resonance fluorescence, the process in which a single two-level quantum emitter interacts with a near-resonant coherent light, is a cornerstone of quantum optics as a paradigmatic light-matter interaction. Quantum phenomena in resonance fluorescence have been accounted for in terms of one- and two-photon processes; however, the physical processes arising from the interaction of a single two-level atom with higher photon numbers remain unexplored experimentally. Here we experimentally reveal the multiphoton scattering nature of resonance fluorescence, which intrinsically gives rise to multiphoton entanglement. By accessing quantum fluctuations in the field emitted from a cavity-quantum electrodynamics system, we resolve third- and fourth-order photon scattering events from a single two-level atom. In the three-photon component, the scattered photons are shown to be genuinely energy-time entangled, as verified by a violation of Svetlichny's inequality. As a demonstration of an application, a quantum secret sharing protocol (QSS) is implemented using this entangled photon source. Our study refines the descriptive framework of resonance fluorescence and broadens the scope of its investigation. It also establishes a fundamentally simple route for generating multiphoton entangled states for quantum information processing and quantum metrology.
Versions
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BibTeX
@misc{zhou2026observation,
title = {{Observation of multiphoton entanglement in resonance fluoresce}},
author = {Xiao-Long Zhou and Jian Wang and Ze-Min Shen and Dong-Yu Huang and Si-Jian He and Qi-Yang Huang and Yi-Jia Liu and Yu-Shu Chen and Quan Jiang and Chuan-Feng Li and Guang-Can Guo},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.19808},
eprint = {2609.19808},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.19808},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Observation of multiphoton entanglement in resonance fluoresce
AU - Xiao-Long Zhou
AU - Jian Wang
AU - Ze-Min Shen
AU - Dong-Yu Huang
AU - Si-Jian He
AU - Qi-Yang Huang
AU - Yi-Jia Liu
AU - Yu-Shu Chen
AU - Quan Jiang
AU - Chuan-Feng Li
AU - Guang-Can Guo
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/17
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.19808
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.19808
AB - Resonance fluorescence, the process in which a single two-level quantum emitter interacts with a near-resonant coherent light, is a cornerstone of quantum optics as a paradigmatic light-matter interaction. Quantum phenomena in resonance fluorescence have been accounted for in terms of one- and two-photon processes; however, the physical processes arising from the interaction of a single two-level atom with higher photon numbers remain unexplored experimentally. Here we experimentally reveal the multiphoton scattering nature of resonance fluorescence, which intrinsically gives rise to multiphoton entanglement. By accessing quantum fluctuations in the field emitted from a cavity-quantum electrodynamics system, we resolve third- and fourth-order photon scattering events from a single two-level atom. In the three-photon component, the scattered photons are shown to be genuinely energy-time entangled, as verified by a violation of Svetlichny's inequality. As a demonstration of an application, a quantum secret sharing protocol (QSS) is implemented using this entangled photon source. Our study refines the descriptive framework of resonance fluorescence and broadens the scope of its investigation. It also establishes a fundamentally simple route for generating multiphoton entangled states for quantum information processing and quantum metrology.
ER -