Correlated Multiphoton Holes

Abstract

We generate bipartite states of light which exhibit an absence of multiphoton coincidence events between two modes amid a constant background flux. These `correlated photon holes' are produced by mixing a coherent state and relatively weak spontaneous parametric down-conversion using a balanced beamsplitter. Correlated holes with arbitrarily high photon numbers may be obtained by adjusting the relative phase and amplitude of the inputs. We measure states of up to five photons and verify their nonclassicality. The scheme provides a route for observation of high-photon-number nonclassical correlations without requiring intense quantum resources.