Heralded path-entangled NOON states generation from a reconfigurable photonic chip

Abstract

Maximal multi-photon entangled states, known as NOON states, play an essential role in quantum metrology. With the number of photons growing, NOON states are becoming increasingly powerful and advantageous for obtaining supersensitive and super-resolved measurements. In this paper, we propose a universal scheme for generating three- and four-photon path-entangled NOON states on a reconfigurable photonic chip via photons subtracted from pairs and detected by heralding counters. Our method is postselection free, enabling phase supersensitive measurements and sensing at the Heisenberg limit. Our NOON-state generator allows for integration of quantum light sources as well as practical and portable precision phase-related measurements.