The origin of correlation fringe in Franson-type experiments

Abstract: Nonlocal correlation is the key concept in quantum information processing, where quantum entanglement provides such a nonclassical property. Since the first proposal of noninterfering interferometer-based two-photon intensity correlation by Franson (Phys. Rev. Lett. 62, 2205 (1989)), the particle nature of photons has been intensively studied for nonlocal correlation using Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZIs). Here, the role of MZIs is investigated with respect to the origin of nonlocal correlation in Franson-type experiments, where the wave nature of photons plays a critical role. Under the coincidence-provided quantum superposition between independent MZIs, we prove that nonlocal correlation can be created from non-entangled photons through the MZIs.