Spectral Hong-Ou-Mandel Effect between a Heralded Single-Photon State and a Thermal Field: Multiphoton Contamination and the Nonclassicality Threshold

The Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) effect is crucial for quantum information processing, and its visibility determines the system's quantum-classical characteristics. In an experimental and theoretical study of the spectral HOM effect between a thermal field and a heralded single-photon state, we demonstrate that the HOM visibility varies dependent on the relative photon statistics of the interacting fields. Our findings reveal that multiphoton components in a heralded state get engaged in quantum interference with a thermal field, resulting in improved visibilities at certain mean photon numbers. We derive a theoretical relationship for the HOM visibility as a function of the mean photon number of the thermal field and the thermal part of the heralded state. We show that the nonclassicality degree of a heralded state is reflected in its HOM visibility with a thermal field; our results establish a lower bound of 41.42% for the peak visibility, indicating the minimum assignable degree of nonclassicality to the heralded state. This research enhances our understanding of the HOM effect and its application to high-speed remote secret key sharing, addressing security concerns due to multiphoton contamination in heralded states.