Generation of N00N-like interferences with two thermal light sources

Abstract

Abstract: Measuring the Mth-order intensity correlation function of light emitted by two statistically independent thermal light sources may display N00N-like interferences of arbitrary order N = M∕2. We show that via a particular choice of detector positions one can isolate M-photon quantum paths where either all M photons are emitted from the same source or M∕2 photons are collectively emitted by both sources. The latter superposition displays N00N-like oscillations with N = M∕2 which may serve, e.g., in astronomy, for imaging two distant thermal sources with M∕2-fold increased resolution. We also discuss slightly modified detection schemes improving the visibility of the N00N-like interference pattern and present measurements verifying the theoretical predictions. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]