Direct observation of bosonic quantum interference of surface plasmon polaritons using photon-number-resolving detectors

Quantum plasmonics is a field of research combining plasmonics with quantum optics and investigates interactions between photons and metallic nanostructures. So far, it has been proven that quantum properties of single photons to excite single surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are preserved in the process of photon-SPP-photon mode conversion in plasmonic nanostructures, which suggests the potential application of SPPs to the quantum information processing (QIP). Recently the Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interference of single SPPs was observed in a plasmonic circuitry. However, the visibility was below the classical limit (50%) due to the simultaneous excitation of distinguishable SPP modes. We employed a directional coupler based on long-range surface-plasmon-polariton waveguides (LRSPP-DC) and superconducting photon-number-resolving detectors to directly observe the bosonic quantum interference of single SPPs beyond the classical limit. In addition, we demonstrated the indistinguishability of photons that excite single SPPs is well preserved in the process of photon-SPP mode conversion.