All-quantum signal processing techniques are at the core of the successful advancement of most information-based quantum technologies. This paper develops coherent and comprehensive methodologies and mathematical models to describe Fourier optical signal processing in full quantum terms for any input quantum state of light. We begin this paper by introducing a spatially two-dimensional quantum state of a photon, associated with its wavefront and expressible as a two-dimensional creation operator. Then, by breaking down the Fourier optical processing apparatus into its key components, we strive to acquire the quantum unitary transformation or the input/output quantum relation of the two-dimensional creation operators. Subsequently, we take advantage of the above results to develop and obtain the quantum analogous of a few essential Fourier optical apparatus, such as quantum convolution via a 4f-processing system and a quantum 4f-processing system with periodic pupils. Moreover, due to the importance and widespread use of optical pulse shaping in various optical communications and optical sciences fields, we also present an analogous system in full quantum terms, namely quantum pulse shaping with an 8f-processing system. Finally, we apply our results to two extreme examples of the quantum state of light. One is based on a coherent (Glauber) state and the other on a single-photon number (Fock) state for each of the above optical systems. We believe the schemes and mathematical models developed in this paper can impact many areas of quantum optical signal processing, quantum holography, quantum communications, quantum radars and multiple-input/multiple-output antennas, and many more applications in quantum computations and quantum machine learning algorithms.
In this paper, we introduce an optical analogy to quantum Fourier tanformation based on a pseudorandom phase ensemble. The optical analogy also brings about exponential speedup over classical Fourier tanformation. Using the analogy, we demonstrate three classcial fields to realize Fourier transform similar to three quantum particles.
We find a new integration transformation which can convert a chirplet function to fractional Fourier transformation kernel, this new transformation is invertible and obeys Parseval theorem. Under this transformation a new relationship between a phase space function and its Weyl-Wigner quantum correspondence operator is revealed.
The light's image is the primary source of information carrier in nature. Indeed, a single photon's image possesses a vast information capacity that can be harnessed for quantum information processing. Our scheme for implementing quantum information processing via universal multiport processors employs a class of quantum Fourier optical systems composed of spatial phase modulators and 4f-processors with phase-only pupils having a characteristic periodicity that reduces the number of optical resources quadratically as compared to other conventional path encoding techniques. In particular, this …
We present one- and two-photon diffraction and interference experiments involving parametric down-converted photon pairs. By controlling the divergence of the pump beam in parametric down-conversion, the diffraction-interference pattern produced by an object changes from a quantum (perfectly correlated) case to a classical (uncorrelated) one. The observed diffraction and interference patterns are accurately reproduced by Fourier-optical analysis taking into account the quantum spatial correlation. We show that the relation between the spatial correlation and the object size plays a crucial rol…
Quantum Fourier transform (QFT) is a key function to realize quantum computers. A QFT followed by measurement was demonstrated on a simple circuit based on fiber-optics. The QFT was shown to be robust against imperfections in the rotation gate. Error probability was estimated to be 0.01 per qubit, which corresponded to error-free operation on 100 qubits. The error probability can be further reduced by taking the majority of the accumulated results. The reduction of error probability resulted in a successful QFT demonstration on 1024 qubits.
We report on an experiment on Grover's quantum search algorithm showing that {\em classical waves} can search a $N$-item database as efficiently as quantum mechanics can. The transverse beam profile of a short laser pulse is processed iteratively as the pulse bounces back and forth between two mirrors. We directly observe the sought item being found in $\sim\sqrt{N}$ iterations, in the form of a growing intensity peak on this profile. Although the lack of quantum entanglement limits the {\em size} of our database, our results show that entanglement is neither necessary for the algorithm itself…
Entangled photons, generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion from a second-order nonlinear crystal, present a rich potential for imaging and image-processing applications. Since this source is an example of a three-wave mixing process, there is more flexibility in the choices of illumination and detection wavelengths and in the placement of object(s) to be imaged. Moreover, this source is entangled, a fact that allows for imaging configurations and capabilities that cannot be achieved using classical sources of light. In this paper we examine a number of imaging and image-processing …
Fourier transforms are ubiquitous mathematical tools in basic and applied sciences. We here report classical and quantum optical realizations of the discrete fractional Fourier transform, a generalization of the Fourier transform. In the integrated configuration used in our experiments, the order of the transform is mapped onto the longitudinal coordinate, thus opening up the prospect of simultaneously observing all Transformation orders. In the context of classical optics, we implement discrete fractional Fourier transforms, both integer and fractional, of exemplary wave functions and experim…
Fourier states are multi-qubit registers that facilitate phase rotations in fault-tolerant quantum computing. We propose distillation protocols for constructing the fundamental, $n$-qubit Fourier state with error $O(2^{-n})$ at a cost of $O(n \log n)$ Toffoli gates and Clifford gates, or any arbitrary Fourier state using $O(n^2)$ gates. We analyze these protocols with methods from digital signal processing. These results suggest that phase kickback, which uses Fourier states, could be the current lowest-overhead method for generating arbitrary phase rotations.
We prove that, under the condition of validity of the Fresnel approximation, diffraction and interference for a wave traveling in the z-direction may be described in terms of the spreading in time of the transverse (x,y)-wave packet. The time required for the evolved wave packet to yield identical patterns as given by standard optics corresponds to the time for the quantum to cross the optical apparatus. This point of view may provide interesting cues in wave mechanics and quantum physics education.
Optical Fourier Architecture for Universal Nonlinear Functions
University of Vienna（维也纳大学）；Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology (VCQ)（维也纳量子科学与技术中心）；Vienna Doctoral School in Physics（维也纳物理博士学院）；Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information Sciences (IQOQI), Austrian Academy of Sciences（奥地利科学院量子光学与量子信息科学研究所）；QUBO Technology GmbH（QUBO技术有限公司）
Conventional optical synthesis, the manipulation of the phase and amplitude of spectral components to produce an optical pulse in different temporal modes, is revolutionizing ultrafast optical science and metrology. These technologies rely on the Fourier transform of light fields between time and frequency domains in one-dimensional space. However, within this treatment it is impossible to incorporate the quantum correlation among photons. Here we expand the Fourier synthesis into high dimensional space to deal with the quantum correlation, and carry out an experimental demonstration by manipu…
A large number of applications in classical and quantum photonics require the capability of implementing arbitrary linear unitary transformations on a set of optical modes. In a seminal work by Reck et al. it was shown how to build such multiport universal interferometers with a mesh of beam splitters and phase shifters, and this design became the basis for most experimental implementations in the last decades. However, the design of Reck et al. is difficult to scale up to a large number of modes, which would be required for many applications. Here we present a constructive proof that it is po…
Seeded SU(1,1) interferometry for Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography
ICFO – Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology（光子科学研究所，巴塞罗那科技研究所）；Department of Signal Theory and Communications, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya（信号理论与通信系，加泰罗尼亚理工大学）
Quantum Optical Coherence Tomography (Q-OCT) is a non-classical equivalent of Optical Coherence Tomography and is able to provide a twofold axial resolution increase and immunity to resolution-degrading dispersion. The main drawback of Q-OCT are artefacts which are additional elements that clutter an A-scan and lead to a complete loss of structural information for multilayered objects. Whereas there are successful methods for artefact removal in Time-domain Q-OCT, no such scheme has been devised for Fourier-domain Q-OCT (Fd-Q-OCT), although the latter modality - through joint spectrum detectio…
Temporal Fourier Optics Reveals Hidden Hybridized Light-Matter States
Singapore University of Technology and Design（新加坡科技设计大学）；Henan University（河南大学）；Henan Academy of Sciences（河南省科学院）；Harbin Institute of Technology（哈尔滨工业大学）；National University of Singapore（新加坡国立大学）
The scalability, error correction and practical problem solving are important challenges for quantum computing (QC) as more emphasized by quantum supremacy (QS) experiments. Quantum path computing (QPC), recently introduced for linear optic based QCs (LOQCs) as an unconventional design, targets to obtain scalability and practical problem solving. It samples the intensity from the interference of exponentially increasing number of propagation paths obtained in multi-plane diffraction (MPD) of classical particle sources. QPC exploits MPD based quantum temporal correlations of the paths and freel…
The Fourier transform proves indispensable in the processing of classical information as well as in the quantum domain, where it finds many applications ranging from state reconstruction to prime factoring. An implementation scheme of the $d$-dimensional Fourier transform acting on single photons is known that uses the path encoding and requires $O(d \log d)$ optical elements. In this paper we present an alternative design that uses the orbital angular momentum as a carrier of information and needs only $O(\sqrt{d}\log d)$ elements, rendering the path-encoded design inefficient. The advantageo…
Even at zero temperature, there exist phase fluctuations associated with an array of Bose-Einstein condensates confined in a one-dimensional optical lattice. We demonstrate a method to measure the phase fluctuations based on the Fourier spectrum of the atomic density for a condensate released from the optical lattice. The phase variance is extracted from the relative intensities of different peaks in the Fourier spectrum. This method works even for high lattice strength where interference peaks disappear in the atomic density distribution.
