Quantum phase gate based on electromagnetically induced transparency in optical cavities

Abstract

We theoretically investigate the implementation of a quantum phase gate in a system constituted by a single atom inside an optical cavity, based on the electromagnetically induced transparency effect. Firstly we show that a probe pulse can experience a $\pi$ phase shift due to the presence or absence of a classical control field. Considering the interplay of the cavity-EIT effect and the quantum memory process, we demonstrated a controlled phase gate between two single photons. To this end, firstly one needs to store a (control) photon in the ground atomic states. In the following, a second (target) photon must impinge on the atom-cavity system. Depending on the atomic state, this second photon will be either transmitted or reflected, acquiring different phase shifts. This protocol can then be easily extended to multiphoton systems, i.e., keeping the control photon stored, it may induce phase shifts in several single photons, thus enabling the generation of multipartite entangled states. We explore the relevant parameter space in the atom-cavity system that allows the implementation of quantum phase gates using the recent technologies. In particular we have found a lower bound for the cooperativity of the atom-cavity system which enables the implementation of phase shift on single photons. The induced shift on the phase of a photonic qubit and the controlled phase gate between single photons, combined with optical devices, enable to perform universal quantum computation.