Limitations on the indistinguishability of photons from remote solid state sources

Abstract: In the present work, we derive a formalism that can be used to predict and interpret the time structure and achievable visibilities for two-photon interference (TPI) experiments using photons from two separate sources. The treatment particularly addresses photons stemming from solid state quantum emitters, which are often subject to pure dephasing (PD) and spectral diffusion (SD). Therefore, it includes the impact of phase- and emission frequency-jitter besides the influence of differing radiative lifetimes and a relative spectral detuning. While the treatment is mainly aimed at interference experiments after Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM), we additionally offer generalized equations that are applicable to arbitrary linear optical gates, which rely on TPI.