Nonclassical light from a large number of independent single-photon emitters

Abstract

Nonclassical quantum effects gradually reach domains of physics of large systems previously considered as purely classical. We derive a hierarchy of operational criteria suitable for a reliable detection of nonclassicality of light from an arbitrarily large ensemble of independent single-photon emitters. We show, that such large ensemble can always emit nonclassical light without any phase reference and under realistic experimental conditions including incoherent background noise. The nonclassical light from the large ensemble of the emitters can be witnessed much better than light coming from a single or a few emitters.