Particle Statistics Affects Quantum Decay and Fano Interference
Year: 2015
Authors: Crespi A., Sansoni L., Della Valle G., Ciamei A., Ramponi R., Sciarrino F., Mataloni P., Longhi S., Osellame R.
Autors Affiliation: 1)CNR, Ist Foton & Nanotecnol, Piazza Leonardo Vinci 32, I-20133 Milan, Italy,
2)Univ Roma La Sapienza, Dipartimento Fis, I-00185 Rome, Italy,
3)Politecn Milan, Dipartimento Fis, I-20133 Milan, Italy.
Abstract: Quantum mechanical decay, Fano interference, and bound states with energy in the continuum are ubiquitous phenomena in different areas of physics. Here we experimentally demonstrate that particle statistics strongly affects quantum mechanical decay in a multiparticle system. By considering propagation of two-photon states in engineered photonic lattices, we simulate quantum decay of two noninteracting particles in a multilevel Fano-Anderson model. Remarkably, when the system sustains a bound state in the continuum, fractional decay is observed for bosonic particles, but not for fermionic ones. Complete decay in the fermionic case arises because of the Pauli exclusion principle, which forbids the bound state to be occupied by the two fermions. Our experiment indicates that particle statistics can tune many-body quantum decay from fractional to complete.
Journal/Review: PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
Volume: 114 Pages from: 090201-1 to: 090201-5
KeyWords: RESONANCES; CONTINUUM; PHOTONS; SYSTEMSDOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.090201