Abstract
Integrated quantum optics has the potential to markedly reduce the footprint and resource requirements of quantum information processing systems, but its practical implementation demands broader utilization of the available degrees of freedom within the optical field. To date, integrated photonic quantum systems have primarily relied on path encoding. However, in the classical regime, the transverse spatial modes of a multi-mode waveguide have been easily manipulated using the waveguide geometry to densely encode information. Here, we demonstrate quantum interference between the transverse spatial modes within a single multi-mode waveguide using quantum circuit-building blocks. This work shows that spatial modes can be controlled to an unprecedented level and have the potential to enable practical and robust quantum information processing.
Highlights
Integrated quantum optics has the potential to markedly reduce the footprint and resource requirements of quantum information processing systems, but its practical implementation demands broader utilization of the available degrees of freedom within the optical field
We demonstrate a scalable platform for photonic quantum information processing using waveguide quantum circuit-building blocks based on the transverse spatial mode degree of freedom: spatial mode multiplexers and spatial mode beamsplitters
To show the potential utility of the integrated transverse spatial degree of freedom for scalable quantum information processing, we demonstrate Hong–Ou–Mandel (HOM) interference between two different quasi-transverse electric (TE) waveguide modes (TE0 and TE2)
Summary
Integrated quantum optics has the potential to markedly reduce the footprint and resource requirements of quantum information processing systems, but its practical implementation demands broader utilization of the available degrees of freedom within the optical field. Increasing the dimensionality of current quantum systems using higher degrees of freedom, such as transverse spatial field distribution, polarization, time and frequency to encode more information per carrier will enable scalability by simplifying quantum computational architectures[8], increasing security and noise tolerance in quantum communication channels[9,10], and simulating richer quantum phenomena[11]. We show that interference between different transverse spatial waveguide modes and active tuning can be achieved with high visibility using this platform These devices have potential to perform transformations on more modes and be integrated with existing architectures, providing a scalable path to higher-dimensional Hilbert spaces and entanglement
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