Coherence and visibility in Fano interferometers

Abstract

Interferometry is an indispensable tool across all the natural sciences. Recently, a new type of interferometer based on phase-sensitive Fano resonances has been proposed and implemented. In these Fano interferometers, the two arms are formed by a spectrally broad continuum channel, and a spectrally narrow resonant bound state scattering channel, respectively. We show that the textbook relation between interference visibility and coherence known from double-slit- or Mach-Zehnder-interferometers does not apply to Fano interferometers, because the physical origin of the interference extrema is different. We then show how instead the asymmetry of Fano spectra can be exploited to quantify coherence in Fano interferometers.