Hong-Ou-Mandel Cloning: Quantum Copying Without an Ancilla

In this paper we report an experimental realization of an ancilla-free 1→2 phase-covariant quantum cloner. The cloner is realized by interfering a linearly polarized photon, which we wish to clone with a circularly polarized photon at a beam splitter. The two-photon effect can be understood in light of Hong-Ou-Mandel interference. The fidelity of the cloner was measured as 0.829±0.008 for the 0∕90 basis and 0.835±0.006 for the 45∕135 basis, which is in good agreement with the theoretical prediction of 5∕6 fidelity. The experimental scheme is straightforward and has a high cloning success rate