The development of key devices and systems in quantum information technology, such as entangled particle sources, quantum gates and quantum cryptographic systems, requires a reliable and well-established method for characterizing how well the devices or systems work. We report our recent work on experimental characterization of pulsed entangled photonic states and photonic quantum channels, using the methods of state and process tomography. By using state tomography, we could reliably evaluate the states generated from a two-photon source under development and develop a highly entangled pulsed photon source. We are also devoted to characterization of single-qubit and two-qubit photonic quantum channels. Characterization of typical single-qubit decoherence channels has been demonstrated using process tomography. Characterization of two-qubit channels, such as classically correlated channels and quantum mechanically correlated channels is under investigation. These characterization techniques for quantum states and quantum processes will be useful for developing photonic quantum devices and for improving their performances.
The dependence of one- and two-photon characteristics of pulsed entangled two-photon fields generated in spontaneous parametric down-conversion on the pump-pulse properties (shape of the pump-pulse spectrum and its internal structure) is examined. It is shown that entangled two-photon fields with defined properties can be generated. A general relation between the spectra of the down-converted fields is established. As a special case interference of two partially overlapping pulsed two-photon fields is studied. Fourth-order interference pattern of entangled two-photon fields is investigated in …
We experimentally investigate a double-pass parametric down-conversion scheme for producing pulsed, polarization-entangled photon pairs with high visibility. The amplitudes for creating photon pairs on each pass interfere to compensate for distinguishing characteristics that normally degrade two-photon visibility. The result is a high-flux source of polarization-entangled photon pulses that does not require spectral filtering. We observe quantum interference visibility of over 95% without the use of spectral filters for 200 femtosecond pulses, and up to 98.1% with 5 nm bandwidth filters.
A pulsed source of energy-time entangled photon pairs pumped by a standard laser diode is proposed and demonstrated. The basic states can be distinguished by their time of arrival. This greatly simplifies the realization of 2-photon quantum cryptography, Bell state analyzers, quantum teleportation, dense coding, entanglement swapping, GHZ-states sources, etc. Moreover the entanglement is well protected during photon propagation in telecom optical fibers, opening the door to few-photon applications of quantum communication over long distances.
We report the realisation of a fibred polarisation entangled photon-pair source at 1560 nm based on a type-II non linear interaction and working in the picosecond regime. By taking advantage of a set of filters, we deterministically separate the photons and project them into wavelength separable states. A standard entanglement measurement with a net interference visibility close to 1, proves the relevance of our approach as an enabling technology for entanglement-based quantum communication.
The generation of pulsed polarization entangled photon pair has been realized using type-I phase matching in the spontaneous parametirc downconversion process in a space cascaded two-crystal geometry. The optical axes of the crystal are aligned in such a way that the horizontal polarization photon pair is produced from up crystal, and the vertical polarization photon pair is produced from down crystal. These two processes are simultaneous, but are separable in space. We get the high entangled polarization photon pair by using the single mode fiber to erase the spatial information between these…
Entanglement is a universal resource in quantum networks, yet entangled photon sources are typically custom-made for a specific use case. Versatility, both in terms of state modulation and tunability of the temporal properties of the photons, is the key to flexible network architectures and cryptographic primitives that go beyond quantum key distribution. Here, we report on a flexible source design that produces high-quality entanglement in continuous-wave and GHz-rate-pulsed operation modes. Utilizing off-the-shelf optical components, our approach uses a fiber-based Sagnac loop to generate po…
We demonstrate a novel scheme for femto-second pulsed spontaneous parametric down-conversion in periodically poled KTP crystals. Our scheme is based on a crossed crystal configuration with collinear quasi-phase-matching. The non-degenerate photon pairs are split in a fiber-based wavelength division multiplexer. The source is easier to align than common pulsed sources based on bulk BBO crystals and exhibits high-quality polarization entanglement as well as non-classical interference capabilities. Hence, we expect this source to be a well-suited candidate for multi-photon state generation e.g. f…
A new ultra bright pulsed source of polarization entangled photons has been realized using type-II phase matching in spontaneous parametric down conversion process in two cascaded crystals. The optical axes of the crystals are aligned in such a way that the extraordinarily (ordinarily) polarized cone from one crystal overlaps with the ordinarily (extraordinarily) polarized cone from the second crystal. This spatial overlapping removes the association between the polarization and the output angle of the photons that exist in a single type-II down conversion process. Hence, entanglement of photo…
Indistinguishability of photonic qubits emitted from trapped $^{40}$Ca$^+$ ions via pulsed excitation
Fachrichtung Physik, Universität des Saarlandes（萨尔兰州立大学物理系）；Zentrum für Quantentechnologien (QuTe), Universität des Saarlandes（萨尔兰州立大学量子技术中心）；Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST)（卢森堡科学与技术研究所）
We report a source of polarization-entangled photon pairs in the 1550-nm telecommunication band, which is based on non-collinear spontaneous parametric down-conversion in a periodically poled lithium niobate crystal pumped by picosecond pulses. This source is realized utilizing a polarization-based Sagnac interferometer employing a type-0 non-collinear quasi-phase-matching configuration. Polarization entanglement is verified through measurement of the polarization-correlation interference fringes with visibility >96% and by testing the experimental violation of the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (…
We demonstrate pulsed polarization-entangled photons generated from a periodically poled $\mathrm{KTiOPO_4}$ (PPKTP) crystal in a Sagnac interferometer configuration at telecom wavelength. Since the group-velocity-matching (GVM) condition is satisfied, the intrinsic spectral purity of the photons is much higher than in the previous scheme at around 800 nm wavelength. The combination of a Sagnac interferometer and the GVM-PPKTP crystal makes our entangled source compact, stable, highly entangled, spectrally pure and ultra-bright. The photons were detected by two superconducting nanowire single …
We demonstrate pulsed operation of a bidirectionally pumped polarization Sagnac interferometric down-conversion source and its generation of narrowband, high-visibility polarization-entangled photons. Driven by a narrowband, mode-locked pump at 390.35 nm, the phase-stable Sagnac source with a type-II phase-matched periodically poled KTiOPO$_4$ crystal is capable of producing 0.01 entangled pair per pulse in a 0.15-nm bandwidth centered at 780.7 nm with 1 mW of average pump power at a repetition rate of 31.1 MHz. We have achieved a mean photon-pair generation rate of as high as 0.7 pair per pul…
Entanglement is a unique property of quantum systems and an essential resource for many quantum technologies. The ability to transfer or swap entanglement between systems is an important protocol in quantum information science. Entanglement between photons forms the basis of distributed quantum networks and the demonstration of photonic entanglement swapping is essential for their realization. Here an experiment demonstrating entanglement swapping from two independent multimode time-frequency entangled sources is presented, resulting in multiple heralded temporal-mode Bell states. Entanglement…
The entanglement of different classes of initially entangled qubit pair is investigated in the presence of short laser pulses of rectangular and exponential shapes with either one or both qubits are excited. For the rectangular pulse, the detuning parameter protects the entanglement from degradation and controls its upper and lower bounds. We show that the upper bounds of entanglement decrease if both particles are excited, but the lower bounds are much better if only one particle is excited. The phenomena of entanglement degradation, sudden- death and -birth are shown for small initial time. …
The quantum state of the photon pair generated from type-II spontaneous parametric down-conversion pumped by a ultrafast laser pulse exhibits strong decoherence in its polarization entanglement, an effect which can be attributed to the clock effect of the pump pulse or, equivalently, to distinguishing spectral information in the two-photon state. Here, we propose novel temporal and spectral engineering techniques to eliminate these detrimental decoherence effects. The temporal engineering of the two-photon wavefunction results in a universal Bell-state synthesizer that is independent of the ch…
The properties of an entangled two-photon state antisymmetric in frequencies are studied. At a beam-splitter, two entangled photons are perfectly anti-correlated. In addition, they cannot be detected at the same time instant despite the fact that their detection times are confined to a narrow time window, i.e. they are temporally anti-bunched. Using nonlinear photonic-band-gap structures made of GaN/AlN, two schemes for generating such states are described.
Successful generation of photonic cluster states is the key step in the realization of measurement-based quantum computation and quantum network protocols. Several proposals for the generation of such entangled states from different solid-state emitters have been put forward. Each of these protocols come with their own challenges in terms of both conception and implementation. In this work we propose deterministic generation of these photonic cluster states from a spin-photon interface based on a hole spin qubit hosted in a quantum dot molecule. Our protocol resolves many of the difficulties o…
Squeezed light has evolved into a powerful tool for quantum technology, ranging from quantum enhanced sensing and quantum state engineering based on partial post-selection techniques. The pulsed generation of squeezed light is of particular interest, as it can provide accurate time stamp and physically defined temporal mode, which are highly preferred in complex communication networks and large-scale information processing. However, the multimode feature of pulsed squeezing in conventional single-pass configuration limits the purity of the output state, negatively impacting its application in …
Non-linear photonic crystals can be used to provide phase-matching for frequency conversion in optically isotropic materials. The phase-matching mechanism proposed here is a combination of form birefringence and phase velocity dispersion in a periodic structure. Since the phase-matching relies on the geometry of the photonic crystal, it becomes possible to use highly non-linear materials. This is illustrated considering a one-dimensional periodic Al$_{0.4}$Ga$_{0.6}$As / air structure for the generation of 1.5 $μ$m light. We show that phase-matching conditions used in schemes to create entangl…
We study the possible limitations and sources of decoherence in the scheme for the deterministic generation of polarization-entangled photons, recently proposed by Gheri et al. [K. M. Gheri et al., Phys. Rev. A 58, R2627 (1998)], based on an appropriately driven single atom trapped within an optical cavity. We consider in particular the effects of laser intensity fluctuations, photon losses, and atomic motion.
Sources of entangled electromagnetic radiation are a cornerstone in quantum information processing and offer unique opportunities for the study of quantum many-body physics in a controlled experimental setting. While multi-mode entangled states of radiation have been generated in various platforms, all previous experiments are either probabilistic or restricted to generate specific types of states with a moderate entanglement length. Here, we demonstrate the fully deterministic generation of purely photonic entangled states such as the cluster, GHZ, and W state by sequentially emitting microwa…
We present a quantum mechanical description of parametric down-conversion and phase-matching of Bloch-waves in non-linear photonic crystals. We discuss the theory in one-dimensional Bragg structures giving a recipe for calculating the down-converted emission strength and direction. We exemplify the discussion by making explicit analytical predictions for the emission amplitude and direction from a one-dimensional structure that consists of alternating layers of Al0.4Ga0.6As and Air. We show that the emission is suitable for the extraction of polarization-entangled photons.
Using only linear optical elements, the creation of dual-rail photonic entangled states is inherently probabilistic. Known entanglement generation schemes have low success probabilities, requiring large-scale multiplexing to achieve near-deterministic operation of quantum information processing protocols. In this paper, we introduce multiple techniques and methods to generate photonic entangled states with high probability, which have the potential to reduce the footprint of Linear Optical Quantum Computing (LOQC) architectures drastically. Most notably, we are showing how to improve Bell stat…
We report on the higher-order photon correlations of a high-$β$ nanolaser under pulsed excitation at room temperature. Using a multiplexed four-element superconducting single photon detector we measured g$^{(n)}(\vec{0})$ with $n$=2,3,4. All orders of correlation display partially chaotic statistics, even at four times the threshold excitation power. We show that this departure from coherence and Poisson statistics is due to the quantum fluctuations associated with the small number of dipoles and photons involved in the lasing process.
A silicon quantum photonic circuit was proposed and demonstrated as an integrated quantum light source for telecom band polarization entangled Bell state generation and dynamical manipulation. Biphoton states were firstly generated in four silicon waveguides by spontaneous four wave mixing. They were transformed to polarization entangled Bell states through on-chip quantum interference and quantum superposition, and then coupled to optical fibers. The property of polarization entanglement in generated photon pairs was demonstrated by two-photon interferences under two non-orthogonal polarizati…
We discuss the generation of entangled photons using a nonlinear photonic crystal and beam splitter. In our method, the photonic crystal is assumed to be composed of a material with a large second-order nonlinear optical susceptibility $χ^{(2)}$. Our proposal relies on two facts: (1) A nonlinear photonic crystal changes coherent incident light into squeezed light. (2) A beam splitter transforms the squeezed light into entangled light beams flying in two different directions. We estimate the yield efficiency of pairs of entangled photons per pulse of the very weak coherent light for our method …
We present the novel embodiment of a photonic qubit that makes use of one continuous spatial degree of freedom of a single photon and relies on the the parity of the photon's transverse spatial distribution. Using optical spontaneous parametric downconversion to produce photon pairs, we demonstrate the controlled generation of entangled-photon states in this new space. Specifically, two Bell states, and a continuum of their superpositions, are generated by simple manipulation of a classical parameter, the optical-pump spatial parity, and not by manipulation of the entangled photons themselves.…
We propose two alternative entanglement concentration protocols (ECPs) using the Faraday rotation of photonic polarization. Through the single-photon input-output process in cavity QED, it is shown that the maximally entangled atomic (photonic) state can be extracted from two partially entangled states. The distinct feature of our protocols is that we can concentrate both atomic and photonic entangled states via photonic Faraday rotation, and thus they may be universal and useful for entanglement concentration in the experiment. Furthermore, as photonic Faraday rotation works in low-$Q$ caviti…
We describe an entanglement purification protocol (EPP) for atomic entangled pair using photonic Faraday rotation. It is shown that after the two single photons input-output process in cavity QED, the high quality entangled atomic state can be obtained from the low quality mixed entangled atomic states. Different from other EPPs, the two pairs of mixed states do not need to intact directly. As the photonic Faraday rotation works on the low-Q cavities, this EPP is useful in both quantum communication and computation.
We propose a method for entangling a system of two-level atoms in photonic crystals. The atoms are assumed to move in void regions of a photonic crystal. The interaction between the atoms is mediated either via a defect mode or via resonant dipole-dipole interaction. We show that these interactions can produce pure entangled atomic states. We analyze the problem with parameters typical for currently existing photonic crystals and Rydberg atoms. We show that the atoms can emerge from photonic crystals in entangled states. Depending on the linear dimensions of the crystal and on their velocity o…
We consider two classes of non-Gaussian entangled states generated from the product of number states with the action of the beamsplitter or the two-mode squeezer. It is shown that, for many of these states, the covariance matrix is compatible with the covariance matrix of separable Gaussian states and their separability cannot be verified by the measurements of the first and second moments of canonical variables. We identify a couple of continuous-variable entanglement criteria with higher order moments to verify these non-Gaussian entanglement.
The preparation of multipartite entangled states is the prerequisite for exploring quantum information networks and quantum computation. In this letter, we present the first experimental demonstration of eight-partite spatially separated CV entangled states. The initial resource quantum states are eight squeezed states of light, through the linearly optical transformation of which two types of the eight-partite cluster entangled states are prepared, respectively. The generated eight entangled photonic qumodes are spatially separated, which provide valuable quantum resources to implement more c…
We report the generation of polarization-entangled photons by femtosecond-pulse-pumped spontaneous parametric down-conversion in a cascade of two type-I crystals. Highly entangled pulsed states were obtained by introducing a temporal delay between the two orthogonal polarization components of the pump field. They exhibited high-visibility quantum interference and a large concurrence value, without the need of post-selection using narrow-bandwidth-spectral filters. The results are well explained by the theory which incorporates the space-time dependence of interfering two-photon amplitudes if d…
A recent paper (Phys. Rev. A \textbf{86}, 034305 (2012)) proposed an entanglement concentration protocol (ECP) for distilling one pair of maximally entangled multi-photon Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state from two pairs of less-entangled multi-photon states with the photonic Faraday rotation. In this paper, we put forward an improved ECP for arbitrary less-entangled multi-photon GHZ state. In the ECP, we only require one pair of less-entangled multi-photon state and one auxiliary photon, and the whole concentration process only requires local operations. Moreover, our ECP can be used rep…
Trapped atomic ions are an ideal candidate for quantum network nodes, with long-lived identical qubit memories that can be locally entangled through their Coulomb interaction and remotely entangled through photonic channels. The integrity of this photonic interface is generally reliant on purity of single photons produced by the quantum memory. Here we demonstrate a single-photon source for quantum networking based on a trapped $^{138}\mbox{Ba}^+$ ion with a single photon purity of $ g^{2}(0)=(8.1\pm2.3)\times 10^{-5} $ without background subtraction. We further optimize the tradeoff between t…
We experimentally characterize a quantum photonic gate that is capable of converting multiqubit entangled states while acting only on two qubits. It is an important tool in large quantum networks, where it can be used for re-wiring of multipartite entangled states or for generating various entangled states required for specific tasks. The gate can be also used to generate quantum information processing resources, such as entanglement and discord. In our experimental demonstration, we converted a linear four-qubit cluster state into different entangled states, including GHZ and Dicke states. Th…
We present a protocol for generating on-demand, indistinguishable single photons on a silicon photonic integrated chip. The source is a time-multiplexed spontaneous parametric down-conversion element that allows optimization of single-photon versus multiphoton emission while realizing high output rate and indistinguishability. We minimize both the scaling of active elements and the scaling of active element loss with multiplexing. We then discuss detection strategies and data processing to further optimize the procedure. We simulate an improvement in single-photon-generation efficiency over pr…
We consider the resonant interaction energy and force between two identical atoms, one in an excited state and the other in the ground state, placed inside a photonic crystal. The atoms, having the same orientation of their dipole moment, are supposed prepared in their symmetrical state and interact with the quantum electromagnetic field. We consider two specific models of photonic crystals: a one-dimensional model and an isotropic model. We show that in both cases the resonant interatomic force can be strongly enhanced by the presence of the photonic crystal, as a consequence of the modified …
In hybrid quantum systems a controllable coupling can be obtained by mediating the interactions with dynamically introduced photons. We propose a hybrid quantum architecture consisting of two nitrogen vacancy center ensembles coupled to a tunable flux qubit; that are contained on the transmission line of a multimode nonlinear superconducting coplanar waveguide resonator with an appended Josephson mixing device. We discuss using entangled propagating microwaves photons, which through our nonlinear wave-mixing procedure are made into macroscopically distinct quantum states. We use these states t…
We propose a method for generation of entangled photonic states in high dimensions, the so-called qudits, by exploiting quantum correlations of Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) entangled photons, produced via Spontaneous Parametric Down Conversion. Diffraction masks containing $N$ angular slits placed in the path of twin photons define a qudit space of dimension $N^2$, spanned by the alternative pathways of OAM-entangled photons. We quantify the high-dimensional entanglement of path-entangled photons by the Concurrence, using an analytic expression valid for pure states. We report numerical resu…
We present the first experimental confirmation of the quantum-mechanical prediction of stronger-than-binary correlations. These are correlations that cannot be explained under the assumption that the occurrence of a particular outcome of an $n \ge 3$-outcome measurement is due to a two-step process in which, in the first step, some classical mechanism precludes $n-2$ of the outcomes and, in the second step, a binary measurement generates the outcome. Our experiment uses pairs of photonic qutrits distributed between two laboratories, where randomly chosen three-outcome measurements are performe…
A pulsed laser scenario, designed to prepare an appropriately chosen self-assembled quantum dot with 100% population in a biexciton state, is proposed. The ensuing radiative emission would provide a near perfect (99.5%) high rate, on-demand, source of entangled photons.
We have developed a rigorous quantum model of spontaneous parametric down-conversion in a nonlinear 1D photonic-band-gap structure based upon expansion of the field into monochromatic plane waves. The model provides a two-photon amplitude of a created photon pair. The spectra of the signal and idler fields, their intensity profiles in the time domain, as well as the coincidence-count interference pattern in a Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometer are determined both for cw and pulsed pumping regimes in terms of the two-photon amplitude. A broad range of parameters characterizing the emitted down-conve…
We consider the resonance interaction energy between two identical entangled atoms, where one is in the excited state and the other in the ground state. They interact with the quantum electromagnetic field in the vacuum state and are placed in a photonic-bandgap environment with a dispersion relation quadratic near the gap edge and linear for low frequencies, while the atomic transition frequency is assumed to be inside the photonic gap and near its lower edge. This problem is strictly related to the coherent resonant energy transfer between atoms in external environments. The analysis involve…
We propose and design a high-brightness, ultra-compact electrically pumped GaSb-based laser source of entangled photons generated by mode-matched intracavity parametric down-conversion of lasing modes. To describe the nonlinear mixing in highly dispersive and dissipative waveguides, we develop a nonperturbative quantum theory of parametric down-conversion of waveguide modes which takes into account the effects of modal dispersion, group and phase mismatch, propagation, dissipation, and coupling to noisy reservoirs. We extend our theory to the regime of quantized pump fields with a new approach…
This is a short overview explaining how building a large-scale, silicon-photonic quantum computer has been reduced to the creation of good sources of 3-photon entangled states (and may simplify further). Given such sources, each photon need pass through a small, constant, number of components, interfering with at most 2 other spatially nearby photons, and current photonics engineering has already demonstrated the manufacture of thousands of components on two-dimensional semiconductor chips with performance that allows the creation of tens of thousands of photons entangled in a state universal …
We propose a method for transferring quantum entangled states of two photonic cat-state qubits (cqubits) from two microwave cavities to the other two microwave cavities. This proposal is realized by using four microwave cavities coupled to a superconducting flux qutrit. Because of using four cavities with different frequencies, the inter-cavity crosstalk is significantly reduced. Since only one coupler qutrit is used, the circuit resources is minimized. The entanglement transfer is completed with a single-step operation only, thus this proposal is quite simple. The third energy level of the co…
