Spectral characterization of weak coherent state sources based on two-photon interference

Abstract

We demonstrate a method for characterizing the coherence function of coherent states based on two-photon interference. Two states from frequency mismatched faint laser sources are fed into a Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometer and the interference pattern is fitted with the presented theoretical model for the quantum beat. The fitting parameters are compared to the classical optical beat when bright versions of the sources are used. The results show the equivalence between both techniques.