Ultra-short pulses propagating in nonlinear nanophotonic waveguides can simultaneously leverage both temporal and spatial field confinement, promising a route towards single-photon nonlinearities in an all-photonic platform. In this multimode quantum regime, however, faithful numerical simulations of pulse dynamics naïvely require a representation of the state in an exponentially large Hilbert space. Here, we employ a time-domain, matrix product state (MPS) representation to enable efficient simulations by exploiting the entanglement structure of the system. In order to extract physical insight from these simulations, we develop an algorithm to unravel the MPS quantum state into constituent temporal supermodes, enabling, e.g., access to the phase-space portraits of arbitrary pulse waveforms. As a demonstration, we perform exact numerical simulations of a Kerr soliton in the quantum regime. We observe the development of non-classical Wigner-function negativity in the solitonic mode as well as quantum corrections to the semiclassical dynamics of the pulse. A similar analysis of $χ^{(2)}$ simultons reveals a unique entanglement structure between the fundamental and second harmonic. Our approach is also readily compatible with quantum trajectory theory, allowing full quantum treatment of propagation loss and decoherence. We expect this work to establish the MPS technique as part of a unified engineering framework for the emerging field of broadband quantum photonics.
The ultrafast detection of single photons is currently restricted by the limited time resolution (a few picoseconds) of the available single-photon detectors. Optical gates offer a faster time resolution, but so far they have been mostly applied to ensembles of emitters. Here, we demonstrate through a semi-analytical model that the ultrafast time-resolved detection of single quantum emitters can be possible using an optical-Kerr-shutter (OKS) at GHz rates under focused illumination. This technique provides sub-picosecond time resolution, while keeping a gate efficiency at around 85 \%. These f…
We predict a strong-field ultrafast optical Faraday effect, where a circularly polarized ultrashort optical pulse induces transient chirality in an achiral transparent dielectric. This effect is attractive for time-resolved measurements because it gives access to the non-instantaneity of the nonlinear medium response, and also because it represents relaxation of time-reversal symmetry by all-optical means. We propose probing the induced transient chirality with a weak linearly polarized ultraviolet pulse that is shorter than the near-infrared pump pulse. The predicted effects are ultrafast: th…
We report a study on the ultrafast coherent population oscillations (UCPO) in two level atoms induced by the frequency modulated few-cycle optical pulse train. The phenomenon of UCPO is investigated by numerically solving the optical Bloch equations beyond the rotating wave approximation. We demonstrate that the quantum state of the atoms and the frequency of UCPO may be controlled by controlling the number of pulses in the pulse trains and the pulse repetition time respectively. Moreover, the robustness of the population inversion against the variation of the laser pulse parameters is also in…
Spin-based quantum computing and magnetic resonance techniques rely on the ability to measure the coherence time, T2, of a spin system. We report on the experimental implementation of all-optical spin echo to determine the T2 time of a semiconductor electron-spin system. We use three ultrafast optical pulses to rotate spins an arbitrary angle and measure an echo signal as the time between pulses is lengthened. Unlike previous spin-echo techniques using microwaves, ultrafast optical pulses allow clean T2 measurements of systems with dephasing times T2* fast in comparison to the timescale for mi…
It is shown that the magnetic state decoherence produced by collisions in a thermal vapor can be suppressed by the application of a train of ultrafast optical pulses.
We demonstrate quantum entanglement of two trapped atomic ion qubits using a sequence of ultrafast laser pulses. Unlike previous demonstrations of entanglement mediated by the Coulomb interaction, this scheme does not require confinement to the Lamb-Dicke regime and can be less sensitive to ambient noise due to its speed. To elucidate the physics of an ultrafast phase gate, we generate a high entanglement rate using just 10 pulses, each of $\sim20$ ps duration, and demonstrate an entangled Bell-state with $(76\pm1)$% fidelity. These results pave the way for entanglement operations within a lar…
Quantum computing exploits the quantum-mechanical nature of matter to exist in multiple possible states simultaneously. This new approach promises to revolutionize the present form of computing. As an approach to quantum computing, we discuss ultrafast laser pulse shaping, in particular, the acousto-optic modulator based Fourier-Transform pulse-shaper, which has the ability to modulate tunable high power ultrafast laser pulses. We show that optical pulse shaping is an attractive route to quantum computing since shaped pulses can be transmitted over optical hardware and the same infrastructure …
We review experimental work on the measurement of the quantum state of optical fields, and the relevant theoretical background. The basic technique of optical homodyne tomography is described with particular attention paid to the role played by balanced homodyne detection in this process. We discuss some of the original single-mode squeezed-state measurements as well as recent developments including: other field states, multimode measurements, array detection, and other new homodyne schemes. We also discuss applications of state measurement techniques to an area of scientific and technological…
Low-noise, efficient, phase-sensitive time-domain optical detection is essential for foundational tests of quantum physics based on optical quantum states and the realization of numerous applications ranging from quantum key distribution to coherent classical telecommunications. Stability, bandwidth, efficiency, and signal-to-noise ratio are crucial performance parameters for effective detector operation. Here we present a high-bandwidth, low-noise, ultra-stable time-domain coherent measurement scheme based on balanced homodyne detection ideally suited to characterization of quantum and classi…
We propose an unambiguous signature for detecting quantum superposition states in a nanostructure, based on current ultrafast spectroscopy techniques. The reliable generation of such superposition states via Hadamard-like quantum gates is crucial for implementing solid-state based quantum information schemes. The signature originates from a remarkably strong photon antibunching effect which is enhanced by non-Markovian dynamics.
We study the all-optical time-control of the strong coupling between a single cascade three-level quantum emitter and a microcavity. We find that only specific arrival-times of the control pulses succeed in switching-off the Rabi oscillations. Depending on the arrival times of control pulses, a variety of exotic non-adiabatic cavity quantum electrodynamics effects can be observed. We show that only control pulses with specific arrival times are able to suddenly switch-off and -on first-order coherence of cavity photons, without affecting their strong coupling population dynamics. Such behavior…
We experimentally demonstrate an ultrafast method for preparing spin states of donor-bound electrons in GaAs with single laser pulses. Each polarization state of a preparation pulse has a direct mapping onto a spin state, with bijective correspondence between the Poincaré-sphere (for photon polarization) and Bloch-sphere (for spin) state representations. The preparation is governed by a stimulated Raman process and occurs orders of magnitude faster than the spontaneous emission and spin dephasing. Similar dynamics governs our ultrafast optical Kerr detection of the spin coherence, thus getting…
The interaction between two quantum bits enables entanglement, the two-particle correlations that are at the heart of quantum information science. In semiconductor quantum dots much work has focused on demonstrating single spin qubit control using optical techniques. However, optical control of entanglement of two spin qubits remains a major challenge for scaling from a single qubit to a full-fledged quantum information platform. Here, we combine advances in vertically-stacked quantum dots with ultrafast laser techniques to achieve optical control of the entangled state of two electron spins. …
The ability to control and exploit quantum coherence and entanglement drives research across many fields ranging from ultra-cold quantum gases to spin systems in condensed matter. Transcending different physical systems, optical approaches have proven themselves to be particularly powerful, since they profit from the established toolbox of quantum optical techniques, are state-selective, contact-less and can be extremely fast. Here, we demonstrate how a precisely timed sequence of monochromatic ultrafast (~2-5 ps) optical pulses, with a well defined polarisation can be used to prepare arbitrar…
Conventional approaches to probing ultrafast molecular dynamics rely on the use of synchronized laser pulses with a well-defined time delay. Typically, a pump pulse excites a wavepacket in the molecule. A subsequent probe pulse can then dissociates or ionizes the molecule, and measurement of the molecular fragments provides information about where the wavepacket was for each time delay. In this work, we propose to exploit the ultrafast nuclear-position-dependent emission obtained due to large light-matter coupling in plasmonic nanocavities to image wavepacket dynamics using only a single pump …
