Nonreciprocal single-photon quantum router

Abstract

The quantum router is an elementary building block in quantum information processing and quantum communication. This work constitutes a step forward in this direction, i.e., an efficient scheme is proposed for the implementation of a nonreciprocal single-photon quantum router, allowing the routing of a single photon from one side but blocking it from the other side. Our model consists of two directly coupled coplanar-waveguide resonators and a superconducting ring resonator, which are connected together through a transmission line. The nonreciprocity is realized by unidirectionally interacting the rotating microwave modes of the ring resonator with a dissipative magnon mode in an yttrium iron garnet disk. We find that a single-photon signal can be delivered from a given input port to either of the two output ports, but is fully absorbed from the opposite one. The proposed scheme not only enriches the family of nonreciprocal quantum devices, but also finds useful applications in chiral quantum technologies.