Multiphoton tunneling in a nonlinear interferometer

Abstract

Photonic de Broglie wave interferometers display interesting, qualitatively nonclassical effects. We present theory and simulations demonstrating a photonic de Broglie interferometer based on nonlinear directional couplers. The Kerr nonlinearity in the couplers allows an N-photon pulse to tunnel between waveguides. Our calculations show the characteristic $\ensuremath{\lambda}/N$ fringes of this device even in the presence of photon number uncertainty, albeit with reduced contrast.