Fluctuation-Driven Nonlinear Amplification of Quantum Statistics

Photon statistics have moved to the forefront of modern optics, as intensity fluctuations and correlations shape multiphoton interactions and reveal information beyond mean-intensity measurements. Developing high-quality photon sources with pronounced correlations is a fundamental necessity in these fields. Here we demonstrate fluctuation-driven nonlinear statistical amplification of quantum light in spontaneous four-wave mixing using filtered amplified spontaneous emission (ASE). Extending the coherent-pump framework to fluctuating fields, we show how nonlinear weighting of pump intensity combines with bosonic bunching to amplify quantum statistics and reshape temporal correlations. In a SiN microring, ASE pumping increases the zero-delay unconditional second-order correlation from 2.01 to 7.58 and extends the Hanbury Brown--Twiss correlation time by a factor of approximately 2.4. The super-bunched quantum source nevertheless retains heralded single-photon behaviour with $g_H^{(2)}(0)\simeq0.04$, while the same ASE pump supports time--energy entanglement in a silicon waveguide with a raw Franson visibility of 89.84%. These results establish driving-field statistics as a design dimension for quantum light, broadening the horizons for research into higher-order correlations and nonlinear physics.

Source: arXiv:2609.26674v1 - http://arxiv.org/abs/2609.26674v1 PDF: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.26674v1 Original Link: http://arxiv.org/abs/2609.26674v1