SU(3) Quantum Interferometry with Single-Photon Input Pulses

We develop a framework for solving the action of a three-channel passive optical interferometer on single-photon pulse inputs to each channel using SU(3) group-theoretic methods, which can be readily generalized to higher-order photon-coincidence experiments. We show that features of the coincidence plots versus relative time delays of photons yield information about permanents, immanants, and determinants of the interferometer SU(3) matrix. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.113603