title: Experimental observation of N00N state Bloch oscillations.
abstract: Bloch oscillations of quantum particles manifest themselves as periodic spreading and relocalization of the associated wave functions when traversing lattice potentials subject to external gradient forces. Albeit this phenomenon is deeply rooted into the very foundations of quantum mechanics, all experimental observations so far have only contemplated dynamics of one and two particles initially prepared in separable local states. Evidently, a more general description of genuinely quantum Bloch oscillations will be achieved on excitation of a Bloch oscillator by nonlocal states. Here we report the observation of Bloch oscillations of two-particle N00N states, and discuss the nonlocality on the ground of Bell-like inequalities. The time evolution of two-photon N00N states in Bloch oscillators, whether symmetric, antisymmetric or partially symmetric, reveals transitions from particle antibunching to bunching. Consequently, the initial states can be tailored to produce spatial correlations akin to those of bosons, fermions and anyons, presenting potential applications in photonic quantum simulation.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Physics, Abbe Center of Photonics, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Maxime
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lebugle
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Physics, Abbe Center of Photonics, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gräfe
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Physics, Abbe Center of Photonics, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Heilmann
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Physics, Abbe Center of Photonics, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Armando
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Perez-Leija
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Physics, Abbe Center of Photonics, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nolte
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Physics, Abbe Center of Photonics, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Szameit