Single-photon Transfer Research Articles

Generation of heralded vector-polarized single photons in remotely controlled topological classes

We demonstrate an experimental protocol for the preparation and control of heralded single photons in inhomogeneously polarized states, such as vector vortex and full Poincaré beam states. A laser beam is shaped by a voltage-controlled spin-to-orbital angular momentum converter q-plate device, which eliminates the need for an interferometer for the robust preparation of high-quality inhomogeneously polarized beams. Such a beam is then used as a pump in a spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) photon-pair source. We demonstrate the full pump to heralded single-photon transfer of the intensity and phase distributions, as well as of the vector polarization structure. Additionally, we show that by controlling the polarization to which the heralding idler photon is projected before detection, we can toggle between the direct and basis-switched pump-single-photon transfer. We show that this nonlocal control of the heralded single photon pertains also to the topological class of the resulting heralded single photon. We believe that our work will lead to opportunities in photon-based quantum information processing science. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Tailoring Wavelength- and Emitter-Orientation-Dependent Propagation of Single Photons in Silicon Nanowires

Designing the propagation of single quanta at subwavelength scale is of major interest for integrated optical quantum information transfer. This study demonstrates the high potential of crystalline silicon wires with nanometric sections as low-loss nanochannels for quantum nanophotonics. Single photons from N-$V$ centers in nanodiamonds can be guided and spectrally filtered over several micrometers while conserving their quantum statistics. Moreover, these nanowaveguides can be designed so that only light from emitters of specific orientations is efficiently guided, enabling quantum state selectivity and modal control of single-photon transfer in subwavelength waveguides.

Perfect Quantum State Transfer in Glauber-Fock Cavity Array

We study transfer of single photon in an one-dimensional finite Glauber-Fock cavity array whose coupling strengths satisfy a square root law. The evolved state in the array can be mapped to an upper truncated coherent state if the cavities are resonant. Appropriate choices of resonance frequencies provide perfect transfer of a photon between any two cavities in the array. Perfect transfer of the photon allows perfect quantum state transfer between the cavities. Our findings may help in realizing quantum communication and information processing in photonic lattices.

Deterministic bidirectional communication and remote entanglement generation between superconducting qubits

We propose and experimentally demonstrate an efficient scheme for bidirectional and deterministic photonic communication between two remote superconducting modules. The two chips, each consists of a transmon, are connected through a one-meter long coaxial cable that is coupled to a dedicated “communication” resonator on each chip. The two communication resonators hybridize with a mode of the cable to form a dark “communication mode” that is highly immune to decay in the coaxial cable. We overcome the various restrictions of quantum communication channels established by other recent approaches in deterministic communication for superconducting qubits. Our approach enables bidirectional communication, and eliminates the high insertion loss and large volume footprint of circulators. We modulate the transmon frequency via a parametric drive to generate sideband interactions between the transmon and the communication mode. We demonstrate bidirectional single-photon transfer with a success probability exceeding 60%, and generate an entangled Bell pair with a fidelity of 79.3 ± 0.3%.

Single-photon transfer using levitated cavityless optomechanics

We theoretically explore a quantum memory using a single nanoparticle levitated in an optical dipole trap and subjected to feedback cooling. This protocol is realized by storing and retrieving a single photon quantum state from a mechanical mode in levitated cavityless optomechanics. We describe the effectiveness of the photon-phonon-photon transfer in terms of the fidelity, the Wigner function, and the zero-delay second-order autocorrelation function. For experimentally accessible parameters, our numerical results indicate robust conversion of the quantum states of the input signal photon to those of the retrieved photon. We also show that high fidelity single-photon wavelength conversion is possible in the system as long as intense control pulses shorter than the mechanical damping time are used. Our work opens up the possibility of using levitated optomechanical systems for applications of quantum information processing.

Coherent control of the single-photon multichannel scattering in the dissipation case

Based on the quasi-boson approach, a model of a Λ-type three-level atom coupled to a X-shaped coupled cavity arrays (CCAs) is used to study the transport properties of a single-photon in the dissipative case, and a classical field is introduced to motivate the one transition of the Λ-type three-level atom (ΛTLA). The analytical expressions of transmission and transfer rate are obtained. Our results show that the cavity dissipation will obviously weaken the single-photon transfer rate where the incident energy of the single photon is resonant with the excited energy of the atom. Whether the cavity dissipation exists or not, the single photon can be almost confined in the incident channel at large detuning, and we can regulate the intensity of the classical field to control the total transmission of the single-photon.

Picosecond pulse shaping of single photons using quantum dots

Quantum dots (QDs) are an excellent single-photon source that can be combined with a spin quantum memory. Many quantum technologies require increased control over the characteristics of emitted photons. A powerful approach is to trigger coherent Raman photons from QDs with a Λ energy-level system, such as the spin singlet–triplet system in two coupled QDs. The temporal and spectral behavior of single Raman photons can be varied simply by modifying the excitation source. Here, we demonstrate control of the single-photon pulse shape in a solid-state system on a timescale much shorter than the radiative lifetime, in addition to control of the frequency and bandwidth. We achieve a photon pulse width of 80 ps—an order of magnitude shorter than the exciton lifetime. Possible applications include time-bin encoding of quantum information, matching photons from different sources, and efficient single-photon transfer in a quantum network.

Single photon transfer controlled by excitation phase in a two-atom cavity system

We investigate the quantum interference effect of single photon transfer in a two-atom cavity system caused by the excitation phase. In the proposed system, the two identical atoms are firstly put into a timed state by an external single photon field. During the excitation, the atoms grasp different phases which depend on the spatial position of the atoms. Due to the strong resonant interaction between the atoms and optical cavity mode, the absorbed input photon can be efficiently transferred from the atoms to the cavity mode. We show that photon transfer is sensitive to the quantum interference caused by the excitation phases of atoms. The atomic positions can also determine the coupling constants between the atoms and cavity mode as well as the interatomic dipole–dipole interaction which causes additional interference effects on the quantum transfer. Based on the characteristics of the excitation phase, we find that it is a feasible scheme to generate a long-lived dark state and it could be useful for storage and manipulation of single photon fields by controlling the excitation phase.

Photon-phonon-photon transfer in optomechanics

We consider transfer of a highly nonclassical quantum state through an optomechanical system. That is we investigate a protocol consisting of sequential upload, storage and reading out of the quantum state from a mechanical mode of an optomechanical system. We show that provided the input state is in a test-bed single-photon Fock state, the Wigner function of the recovered state can have negative values at the origin, which is a manifest of nonclassicality of the quantum state of the macroscopic mechanical mode and the overall transfer protocol itself. Moreover, we prove that the recovered state is quantum non-Gaussian for wide range of setup parameters. We verify that current electromechanical and optomechanical experiments can test this complete transfer of single photon.

Photon transfer in ultrastrongly coupled three-cavity arrays

We study the photon transfer along a linear array of three coupled cavities where the central one contains an interacting two-level system in the strong and ultrastrong coupling regimes. We find that an inhomogeneously coupled array forbids a complete single-photon transfer between the external cavities when the central one performs a Jaynes-Cummings dynamics. This is not the case in the ultrastrong coupling regime, where the system exhibits singularities in the photon transfer time as a function of the cavity-qubit coupling strength. Our model can be implemented within the state-of-the-art circuit quantum electrodynamics technology and it represents a building block for studying photon state transfer through scalable cavity arrays.

Coherent control of single photons in the cross resonator arrays via the dark state mechanism

We study the single photon transfer in a hybrid system where the normal modes of two coupled resonator arrays interact with two transition arms of a Λ-type atom localised in the intersectional resonator. It is found that, due to the Fano-Feshbach effect based on the dark state of the Λ-type atom, the photon transfer in one array can be well controlled by the bound state of the photon in the other array. This conceptual setup could be implemented in some practical cavity QED system to realise a quantum switch for single photon.

Demonstration of digital readout circuit for superconducting nanowire single photon detector

We demonstrate the transfer of single photon triggered electrical pulses from a superconducting nanowire single photon detector (SNSPD) to a single flux quantum (SFQ) pulse. We describe design and test of a digital SFQ based SNSPD readout circuit and demonstrate its correct operation. Both circuits (SNSPD and SFQ) operate under the same cryogenic conditions and are directly connected by wire bonds. A future integration of the present multi-chip configuration seems feasible because both fabrication process and materials are very similar. In contrast to commonly used semiconductor amplifiers, SFQ circuits combine very low power dissipation (a few microwatts) with very high operation speed, thus enabling count-rates of several gigahertz. The SFQ interface circuit simplifies the SNSPD readout and enables large numbers of detectors for future compact multi-pixel systems with single photon counting resolution. The demonstrated circuit has great potential for scaling the present interface solution to 1,000 detectors by using a single SFQ chip.

Transferring and Bounding Single Photon in Waveguide Controlled by Quantum Node Based on Atomic Ensemble

We study the scattering process of photons confined in a one-dimensional optical waveguide by a laser controlled atomic ensemble. The investigation leads to an alternative setup of quantum node controlling the coherent transfer of single photon in such one dimensional continuum. To exactly solve the effective scattering equations by using the discrete coordinate approach, we simulate the linear waveguide as a coupled resonator array at the high energy limit. We generally calculate the transmission coefficients and its vanishing at resonance reflects the good controllability of our scheme. We also show that there exist two bound states to describe the localize photons around the cavity.