Photonic Quantum Gates Research Articles

Heralded hyper-CNOT gates for two-photon systems assisted by quantum scattering in waveguides

Photonic hyper-parallel quantum gates play a critical role in high-capacity quantum communication and fast quantum computing. Here, based on photon scattering in one-dimensional (1D) waveguides, we present some heralded schemes for constructing four-qubit hyper-controlled-not (hyper-CNOT) gates in two-photon systems. The qubits are encoded on both the polarization and spatial-mode degrees of freedoms (DOFs) of the photons, which can simplify the quantum circuit and reduce the quantum resource consumption. In our schemes, the faulty scattering events between photons and emitters caused by system imperfections can be filtered out and discarded. That is, our protocols for hyper-CNOT gates work in a heralded way. Our calculations show that, with great progress in the emitter-waveguide systems, our photonic hyper-CNOT gates may be experimentally feasible.

A deterministic qudit-dependent high-dimensional photonic quantum gate with weak cross-kerr nonlinearity

High-dimensional quantum systems expand the Hilbert space, enabling the processing of more intricate information and the execution of wider quantum operations. The development of high-dimensional quantum systems relies significantly on the implementation of high-dimensional gates. In the paper, we propose a deterministic 4 × 4-dimensional controlled-not (CNOT) gate for a three-photon system, where encoding on the polarization-spatial state of a single photon acts as a 4-dimensional control qudit, meanwhile the polarized state of the remaining two photons serves as a 4-dimensional target qudit. The implementation of the gate leverages weak cross-kerr nonlinearities and X-homodyne detectors, which impose lower requirements on the interaction strength and demonstrate robustness against photon loss. In accordance with the measurement of the coherent state, the relevant classical feed-forward operations are employed to make high-dimensional CNOT gate effective. Additionally, the proposed scheme demonstrates a high successful probability as a result of the utilization of mature measurement methods and straightforward optical elements. Further, the fidelity of the CNOT gate is robust against photon loss and is approximate to 1 with the existing technology. Consequently, our deterministic protocol presents a promising approach for the practical realization of high-dimensional quantum computation for photon systems.

Sub-Diffraction Photon Trapping: The Possible Optical Energy Eigenstates within a Tiny Circular Aperture with a Finite Depth

One of the challenging riddles that is set by light is: do photons have wavefunctions like other elementary particles do? Wave–particle duality has been a prevailing fact since the beginning of quantum theory thought; in electromagnetism, light is already a kind of undulation, so what about the waves of probability then? Well, Quantum Field Theory (QFT) has a rigorous explanation and supports the idea when they are considered as fields of particles via second quantization; they do have wavefunctions of probability, and it does not have anything to do with the regular oscillations. They can be related to the energy and momentum signatures of harmonic oscillations, resembling an imitation of the behavior of a classical harmonic oscillator, which then has a wavefunction to solve the corresponding time-independent Schrödinger equation. For the last half century, electrical engineering has owned the best out of these implications of Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) and QFT by engineering better semiconductor techniques with finely miniaturized transistors and composite devices for digital electronics and optoelectronics fields. More importantly, these engineering applications have also greatly evolved into combined fields like quantum computing that have introduced a completely new and extraordinary world to electronics applications. The study takes advantage of the power of QFT to mathematically reveal the bosonic modes (Laguerre–Gaussian) that appear in a sub-diffraction cylindrical aperture. In this way, this may lead to the construction of the techniques and characteristics of room-temperature photonic quantum gates which can isolate photon modes under a diffraction limit.

Universal photonic quantum gate by Cooper-pair-based optical nonlinearity

Universal photonic quantum gate by Cooper-pair-based optical nonlinearity

Performance analysis of all optical-based quantum internet circuits

A Quantum dot implanted within a double-sided optical microcavity is considered and investigated as a critical component for all optical-based quantum internets. Due to the duality as the photonic quantum transistor and gate, the QD cavity system repsents a sturdy base for the future photonic quantum network. With the help of the analytical investigation and review presented in this paper, a quantum dot cavity unit can be developed for implementing deterministic quantum gates and transistors. The maximum fidelity observed for quantum diode, router, and storage is 95.24, 62.06, and 90.42%without considering a noisy environment, respectively, and 62.12, 60.36, and 43.66% under a noisy environment, respectively. Fidelity is also calculated with varying coupling conditions (strong and weak coupling), and optimized cavity parameters are calculated.

Efficient harmonic generation in an adiabatic multimode submicron tapered optical fiber

Optical nanotapers fabricated by tapering optical fibers have attracted considerable interest as an ultimate platform for high-efficiency light-matter interactions. While previously demonstrated applications relied exclusively on the low-loss transmission of only the fundamental mode, the implementation of multimode tapers that adiabatically transmit several modes has remained very challenging, hindering their use in various emerging applications in multimode nonlinear optics and quantum optics. Here, we report the realization of multimode submicron tapers that permit the simultaneous adiabatic transmission of multiple higher-order modes including the LP02 mode, through introducing deep wet-etching of conventional fiber before fiber tapering. Furthermore, as a critical application, we demonstrate fundamental-to-fundamental all-fiber third-harmonic generation with high conversion efficiencies. Our work paves the way for ultrahigh-efficiency multimode nonlinear and quantum optics, facilitating nonclassical light generation in the multimode regime, multimode soliton interactions and photonic quantum gates, and manipulation of the evanescent-field-induced optical trapping potentials of atoms and nanoparticles.

Efficient DNA-Driven Nanocavities for Approaching Quasi-Deterministic Strong Coupling to a Few Fluorophores.

Strong coupling between light and matter is the foundation of promising quantum photonic devices such as deterministic single photon sources, single atom lasers, and photonic quantum gates, which consist of an atom and a photonic cavity. Unlike atom-based systems, a strong coupling unit based on an emitter-plasmonic nanocavity system has the potential to bring these devices to the microchip scale at ambient conditions. However, efficiently and precisely positioning a single or a few emitters into a plasmonic nanocavity is challenging. In addition, placing a strong coupling unit on a designated substrate location is a demanding task. Here, fluorophore-modified DNA strands are utilized to drive the formation of particle-on-film plasmonic nanocavities and simultaneously integrate the fluorophores into the high field region of the nanocavities. High cavity yield and fluorophore coupling yield are demonstrated. This method is then combined with e-beam lithography to position the strong coupling units on designated locations of a substrate. Furthermore, polariton energy under the detuning of fluorophore embedded nanocavities can fit into a model consisting of three sets of two-level systems, implying vibronic modes may be involved in the strong coupling. Our system makes strong coupling units more practical on the microchip scale and at ambient conditions and provides a stable platform for investigating fluorophore-plasmonic nanocavity interaction.

Realization of Photonic Quantum Gates and Their Applications

Realization of Photonic Quantum Gates and Their Applications

Polariton Exchange Interactions in Multichannel Optical Networks.

We examine the dynamics of Rydberg polaritons with dipolar interactions that propagate in multiple spatial modes. The dipolar excitation exchange between different Rydberg states mediates an effective exchange between polaritons that enables photons to hop across different spatial channels. Remarkably, the efficiency of this photon exchange process can increase with the channel distance and becomes optimal at a finite rail separation. Based on this mechanism, we design a simple photonic network that realizes a two photon quantum gate with a robust π phase, protected by the symmetries of the underlying photon interaction and the geometry of the network. These capabilities expand the scope of Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency towards multidimensional geometries for nonlinear optical networks and explorations of photonic many-body physics.

Tunable photon statistics in parametrically amplified photonic molecules

The proposal for single-photon generation utilizing quantum interference of two coupled cavity modes with weak Kerr nonlinearity under resonant coherent driving has been successfully put forward in previous work [T. C. H. Liew and V. Savona, Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 183601 (2010)]. Here we suggest an alternative scheme to explore the statistical properties of the photons and their control in a parametrically amplified photonic molecule that is composed of a pair of coupled cavities, both containing the degenerate optical parametric amplifier (DOPA), by means of extending the model of Liew and Savona. Due to the destructive quantum interference effect between different paths for two-photon excitation, the photons in both cavity modes can exhibit a strong antibunching effect when one of the two cavities is coherently driven by an external laser field. In order to intuitively understand the strong photon antibunching phenomenon occurring in our DOPA photonic molecule, the approximate analytical solutions of the system are provided via the Schr\odinger equation and further are compared with the full numerical solutions via the master equation. The in-depth results reveal that the two solutions are in good agreement. For the two cavity modes, we achieve the optimal antibunching conditions in terms of the nonlinear gain and the strength ratio between the two pump laser fields based on analytical calculations, gaining deep insight into the rich physics of photon statistics. We also show that the statistical properties of the photons can be well controlled by regulating the relative phase between the two pump laser fields and the tunneling rate between the two cavity modes. Furthermore, we address the second-order cross-correlation function between the two cavity modes and find that a strong intermodal antibunching can be efficiently generated. Our approach via the DOPA photonic molecule architecture can be useful to generate tunable single-photon sources or controlled photonic quantum gates.

A photon–photon quantum gate based on Rydberg interactions

The interaction between Rydberg states of neutral atoms is strong and long-range, making it appealing to put it to use in the context of quantum technologies. Recently, first applications of this idea have been reported in the fields of quantum computation and quantum simulation. Furthermore, electromagnetically induced transparency allows to map these Rydberg interactions to light. Here we exploit this mapping and the resulting interaction between photons to realize a photon-photon quantum gate, demonstrating the potential of Rydberg systems as a platform also for quantum communication and quantum networking. We measure a controlled-NOT truth table with a fidelity of 70(8)% and an entangling-gate fidelity of 63.7(4.5)%, both post-selected upon detection of a control and a target photon. The level of control reached here is an encouraging step towards exploring novel many-body states of photons or for future applications in quantum communication and quantum networking.

Electro-optic polarization tuning of microcavities with a single quantum dot.

We present an oxide aperture microcavity with embedded quantum dots which utilizes a three-contact design to independently tune the quantum dot wavelength and birefringence of the cavity modes. A polarization splitting tuning of ∼5 GHz is observed. For a typical microcavity polarization splitting, the method can be used to achieve perfect polarization degeneracy that is required for many polarization-based implementations of photonic quantum gates. The embedded quantum dot wavelength can be tuned into resonance with the cavity, independent of the polarization tuning.

Fiber-Coupled Cavity-QED Source of Identical Single Photons

A high-fidelity source of identical single photons is essential for numerous quantum technologies such as quantum repeaters and optical quantum information processing. Hallmarks thereof are a near-unity single-photon purity, near-unity indistinguishability of consecutively emitted photons, and high brightness through a near-unity number of photons per time bin. In order to embed such sources in quantum networks, optical fiber integration is essential but complicated by cryogenic compatability and noise. Here we demonstrate a resonantly pumped, quantum dot (QD) based, transmission operated, single-mode fiber coupled single photon source with a purity of 97%, indistinguishability of 90%, and a brightness of 17%. This is achieved by deploying a unique micropillar cavity design in a closed-cycle cryostat, which is operated using a through-fiber cross-polarization technique to remove the pump laser light from the resonantly scattered single photons. These results pave the way for fully fiber integrated photonic quantum networks, as our technology is equally applicable for cavity-QED based photonic quantum gates.

Quantum Nonlinear Optics in Optomechanical Nanoscale Waveguides.

We show that strong nonlinearities at the few photon level can be achieved in optomechanical nanoscale waveguides. We consider the propagation of photons in cm-scale one-dimensional nanophotonic structures where stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) is strongly enhanced by radiation pressure coupling. We introduce a configuration that allows slowing down photons by several orders of magnitude via SBS from sound waves using two pump fields. Slowly propagating photons can then experience strong nonlinear interactions through virtual off-resonant exchange of dispersionless phonons. As a benchmark we identify requirements for achieving a large cross-phase modulation among two counterpropagating photons applicable for photonic quantum gates. Our results indicate that strongly nonlinear quantum optics is possible in continuum optomechanical systems realized in nanophotonic structures.

Induced Cavities for Photonic Quantum Gates.

Effective cavities can be optically induced in atomic media and employed to strengthen optical nonlinearities. Here we study the integration of induced cavities with a photonic quantum gate based on Rydberg blockade. Accounting for loss in the atomic medium, we calculate the corresponding finesse and gate infidelity. Our analysis shows that the conventional limits imposed by the blockade optical depth are mitigated by the induced cavity in long media, thus establishing the total optical depth of the medium as a complementary resource.

Single-Photon Absorber Based on Strongly Interacting Rydberg Atoms.

We report on the realization of a free-space single-photon absorber, which deterministically absorbs exactly one photon from an input pulse. Our scheme is based on the saturation of an optically thick medium by a single photon due to Rydberg blockade. By converting one absorbed input photon into a stationary Rydberg excitation, decoupled from the light field through fast engineered dephasing, we blockade the full atomic cloud and change our optical medium from opaque to transparent. We show that this results in the subtraction of one photon from the input pulse over a wide range of input photon numbers. We investigate the change of the pulse shape and temporal photon statistics of the transmitted light pulses for different input photon numbers and compare the results to simulations. Based on the experimental results, we discuss the applicability of our single-photon absorber for number resolved photon detection schemes or quantum gate operations.

Enhancement of Rydberg-mediated single-photon nonlinearities by electrically tuned Förster resonances

Mapping the strong interaction between Rydberg atoms onto single photons via electromagnetically induced transparency enables manipulation of light at the single-photon level and few-photon devices such as all-optical switches and transistors operated by individual photons. Here we demonstrate experimentally that Stark-tuned Förster resonances can substantially increase this effective interaction between individual photons. This technique boosts the gain of a single-photon transistor to over 100, enhances the non-destructive detection of single Rydberg atoms to a fidelity beyond 0.8, and enables high-precision spectroscopy on Rydberg pair states. On top, we achieve a gain larger than 2 with gate photon read-out after the transistor operation. Theory models for Rydberg polariton propagation on Förster resonance and for the projection of the stored spin-wave yield excellent agreement to our data and successfully identify the main decoherence mechanism of the Rydberg transistor, paving the way towards photonic quantum gates.

A photon-photon quantum gate based on a single atom in an optical resonator.

That two photons pass each other undisturbed in free space is ideal for the faithful transmission of information, but prohibits an interaction between the photons. Such an interaction is, however, required for a plethora of applications in optical quantum information processing. The long-standing challenge here is to realize a deterministic photon-photon gate, that is, a mutually controlled logic operation on the quantum states of the photons. This requires an interaction so strong that each of the two photons can shift the other's phase by π radians. For polarization qubits, this amounts to the conditional flipping of one photon's polarization to an orthogonal state. So far, only probabilistic gates based on linear optics and photon detectors have been realized, because "no known or foreseen material has an optical nonlinearity strong enough to implement this conditional phase shift''. Meanwhile, tremendous progress in the development of quantum-nonlinear systems has opened up new possibilities for single-photon experiments. Platforms range from Rydberg blockade in atomic ensembles to single-atom cavity quantum electrodynamics. Applications such as single-photon switches and transistors, two-photon gateways, nondestructive photon detectors, photon routers and nonlinear phase shifters have been demonstrated, but none of them with the ideal information carriers: optical qubits in discriminable modes. Here we use the strong light-matter coupling provided by a single atom in a high-finesse optical resonator to realize the Duan-Kimble protocol of a universal controlled phase flip (π phase shift) photon-photon quantum gate. We achieve an average gate fidelity of (76.2 ± 3.6) per cent and specifically demonstrate the capability of conditional polarization flipping as well as entanglement generation between independent input photons. This photon-photon quantum gate is a universal quantum logic element, and therefore could perform most existing two-photon operations. The demonstrated feasibility of deterministic protocols for the optical processing of quantum information could lead to new applications in which photons are essential, especially long-distance quantum communication and scalable quantum computing.

Photonic controlled-phase gates through Rydberg blockade in optical cavities

We propose a novel scheme for high fidelity photonic controlled phase gates using Rydberg blockade in an ensemble of atoms in an optical cavity. The gate operation is obtained by first storing a photonic pulse in the ensemble and then scattering a second pulse from the cavity, resulting in a phase change depending on whether the first pulse contained a single photon. We show that the combination of Rydberg blockade and optical cavities effectively enhances the optical non-linearity created by the strong Rydberg interaction and thereby reduces the requirements for photonic quantum gates. The resulting gate can be implemented with cavities of moderate finesse which allows for highly efficient processing of quantum information encoded in photons. As a particular example of this, we show how the gate can be employed to increase the communication rate of quantum repeaters based on atomic ensembles.

Superconducting single-photon detectors integrated with diamond nanophotonic circuits

Photonic quantum technologies promise to repeat the success of integrated nanophotonic circuits in non-classical applications. Using linear optical elements, quantum optical computations can be performed with integrated optical circuits and thus allow for overcoming existing limitations in terms of scalability. Besides passive optical devices for realizing photonic quantum gates, active elements such as single photon sources and single photon detectors are essential ingredients for future optical quantum circuits. Material systems which allow for the monolithic integration of all components are particularly attractive, including III-V semiconductors, silicon and also diamond. Here we demonstrate nanophotonic integrated circuits made from high quality polycrystalline diamond thin films in combination with on-chip single photon detectors. Using superconducting nanowires coupled evanescently to travelling waves we achieve high detection efficiencies up to 66 % combined with low dark count rates and timing resolution of 190 ps. Our devices are fully scalable and hold promise for functional diamond photonic quantum devices.