The ability to detect quantum superpositions lies at the heart of fundamental and applied aspects of quantum mechanics. The time-frequency degree of freedom of light enables encoding and transmitting quantum information in a multi-dimensional fashion compatible with fiber and integrated platforms. However, the ability to efficiently detect time-frequency superpositions is not yet available. Here we show, that multidimensional time-bin superpositions can be detected using a single time-resolved photon detector. Our approach uses off-the shelf components and is based on the temporal Talbot effect -- a time-frequency counterpart of the well-know near field diffraction effect. We provide experimental results and discuss the possible applications in quantum communication, quantum information processing, and time-frequency quantum state tomography.
@article{arxiv.2308.05523,
title = {Efficient detection of multidimensional single-photon time-bin superpositions},
author = {Adam Widomski and Maciej Ogrodnik and Michał Karpiński},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2308.05523},
year = {2026}
}