We propose a scheme allowing a conditional implementation of suitably truncated general single- or multi-mode operators acting on states of traveling optical signal modes. The scheme solely relies on single-photon and coherent states and applies beam splitters and zero- and single-photon detections. The signal flow of the setup resembles that of a multi-mode quantum teleportation scheme thus allowing the individual signal modes to be spatially separated from each other. Some examples such as the realization of cross-Kerr nonlinearities, multi-mode mirrors, and the preparation of multi-photon entangled states are considered.
A heavy focus for optical quantum computing is the introduction of error-correction, and the minimisation of resource requirements. We detail a complete encoding and manipulation scheme designed for linear optics quantum computing, incorporating scalable operations and loss-tolerant architecture.
We present a feasible scheme to implement the non-deterministic quantum logic operation of Knill, Laflamme and Milburn (Nature, 409, 46-52(2001)) by using a teleportation protocol, which requires only single-photon sources, linear optical elements and photon detectors.
Discrimination of unitary operations is a fundamental quantum information processing task. Assisted with linear optical elements, we experimentally demonstrate perfect discrimination between single-bit unitary operations using two methods--sequential scheme and parallel scheme. The complexity and resource consumed in these two schemes are analyzed and compared.
We investigate the single mode operation of a quantum optical nonlinear πphase shift gate implemented by a single two-level atom in one-dimensional free space. Since the single mode property of the input photons at the atom is not preserved in the interaction at the atom, we analyze the effeciency of single mode operation that can still be achieved. We show how the input pulse shape can be optimized to obtain high efficiencies for the nonlinear single mode operation. With this analysis, we obtain an optimal single mode transmittance per photon of 78% for the successful nonliner πphase shift op…
Knill, Laflamme, and Milburn recently showed that non-deterministic quantum logic operations could be performed using linear optical elements, additional photons (ancilla), and post-selection based on the output of single-photon detectors [Nature 409, 46 (2001)]. Here we report the experimental demonstration of two logic devices of this kind, a destructive controlled-NOT (CNOT) gate and a quantum parity check. These two devices can be combined with a pair of entangled photons to implement a conventional (non-destructive) CNOT that succeeds with a probability of 1/4.
In principle the Zeno effect controlled-sign gate of Franson et al's (PRA 70, 062302, 2004) is a deterministic two-qubit optical gate. However, when realistic values of photon loss are considered its fidelity is significantly reduced. Here we consider the use of measurement based quantum processing techniques to enhance the operation of the Zeno gate. With the help of quantum teleportation, we show that it is possible to achieve a Zeno CNOT gate (GC-Zeno gate) that gives (near) unit fidelity and moderate probability of success of 0.76 with a one-photon to two-photon transmission ratio $κ=10^4$…
Knill, Laflamme, and Milburn [Nature 409, 46 (2001)] have shown that quantum logic operations can be performed using linear optical elements and additional ancilla photons. Their approach is probabilistic in the sense that the logic devices fail to produce an output with a failure rate that scales as 1/n, where n is the number of ancilla. Here we present an alternative approach in which the logic devices always produce an output with an intrinsic error rate that scales as 1/n^2,which may have several advantages in quantum computing applications.
Large optical nonlinearities can have numerous applications, ranging from the generation of cat-states for optical quantum computation, through to quantum sensing where the sensitivity exceeds Heisenberg scaling in the resources. However, the generation of ultra-large optical nonlinearities has proved immensely challenging experimentally. We describe a novel protocol where one can effectively generate large optical nonlinearities via the conditional application of a linear operation on an optical mode by an ancilla mode, followed by a measurement of the ancilla and corrective operation on the …
One of the greatest difficulties in the applications of single photon polarization states as qubits is the realization of controlled interactions between two photons. Recently, it has been shown that such interactions can be realized using only beam splitters and high efficiency photon detection by post-selecting a well defined part of the results in the output. We analyze these interactions and discuss schemes for qubit operations based on this mechanism.
We present a full quantum treatment of a five-level atomic system coupled to two quantum and two classical light fields. The two quantum fields undergo a cross-phase modulation induced by electro-magnetically induced transparency. The performance of this configuration as a two-qubit quantum phase gate for travelling single-photons is examined. A trade-off between the size of the conditional phase shift and the fidelity of the gate is found. Nonetheless, a satisfactory gate performance is still found to be possible in the transient regime, corresponding to a fast gate operation.
A bulk-optics, polarization-independent phase shifter for photonic quantum information applications is demonstrated. A transverse mode electro-optic modulator using lithium niobate is placed in a Sagnac-like loop containing Faraday rotators. This direction-dependent polarization rotation in the loop is combined with a Mach-Zehnder interferometer to form an optical switch with an on/off contrast of 96% and a switching time of 1.6 ns.
We describe theoretically the main characteristics of the steady state regime of a type II Optical Parametric Oscillator (OPO) containing a birefringent plate. In such a device the signal and idler waves are at the same time linearly coupled by the plate and nonlinearly coupled by the $χ^{(2)}$ crystal. This mixed coupling allows, in some well-defined range of the control parameters, a frequency degenerate operation as well as phase locking between the signal and idler modes. We describe here a complete model taking into account all possible effects in the system, \emph{i.e.} arbitrary rotatio…
We study theoretically the quantum dynamics of an electron in the singly-ionized double-donor structure in the semiconductor host under the influence of two strongly detuned laser pulses. This structure can be used as a charge qubit where the logical states are defined by the lowest two energy states of the remaining valence electron localized around one or another donor. The quantum operations are performed via Raman-like transitions between the localized (qubit) states and the manyfold of states delocalized over the structure. The possibility of realization of arbitrary single-qubit rotation…
We analyze in detail the proposal for a two-qubit gate for travelling single-photon qubits recently presented by C. Ottaviani \emph{et al}. [Phys. Rev. A \textbf{73}, 010301(R) (2006)]. The scheme is based on an ensemble of five-level atoms coupled to two quantum and two classical light fields. The two quantum fields undergo cross-phase modulation induced by electromagnetically induced transparency. The performance of this two-qubit quantum phase gate for travelling single-photon qubits is thoroughly examined in the steady-state and transient regimes, by means of a full quantum treatment of th…
The probabilistic nature of single-photon sources and photon-photon interactions encourages encoding as much quantum information as possible in every photon for the purpose of photonic quantum information processing. Here, by encoding high-dimensional units of information (qudits) in time and frequency degrees of freedom using on-chip sources, we report deterministic two-qudit gates in a single photon with fidelities exceeding 0.90 in the computational basis. Constructing a two-qudit modulo SUM gate, we generate and measure a single-photon state with non-separability between time and frequency…
We consider a multi-qubit system of atoms or ions with two computational ground states and an interacting excited state in the so-called blockade regime, such that only one qubit can be excited at any one time. Examples of such systems are rare-earth-ion-doped crystals and neutral atoms trapped in tweezer arrays. We present a simple laser excitation protocol that yields a complex phase factor on any desired multi-qubit product state, and which can be used to implement multi-qubit gates such as the n-bit Toffoli gates. The operation is performed using only two pulses, where each pulse simultane…
Gaussian quantum states of bosonic systems are an important class of states. In particular, they play a key role in quantum optics as all processes generated by Hamiltonians up to second order in the field operators (i.e. linear optics and quadrature squeezing) preserve Gaussianity. A powerful approach to calculations and analysis of Gaussian states is using phase-space variables and symplectic transformations. The purpose of this note is to serve as a concise reference for performing phase-space calculations on Gaussian states. In particular, we list symplectic transformations for commonly us…
Linear optics is a promising candidate to enable the construction of quantum computers. A number of quantum protocols gates based on linear optics have been demonstrated. However, it is well-known that these gates are non-deterministic and that higher order nonlinearity is necessary for deterministic operations. We found the quantum leader election protocol (QLE) can be operated deterministically only with linear optics, and we have demonstrated the nearly deterministic operation which overcomes classical limit.
Continuous variable Beam Splitter (BS) generated entanglement from single mode optical states generated by single nonclassicality (NC) inducing operation have been found of immense importance in several information processing tasks. There exists a broader class of optical states, generated from successive action of multiple different NC-inducing operations, which show many intriguing nonclassical properties; however the BS conversion of the NC for such states remains unexplored. In this work we have critically analyzed the BS generated entanglement from such nonclassical optical states at inpu…
Unitary operation is an essential step for quantum information processing. We first propose an iterative procedure for decomposing a general unitary operation without resorting to controlled-NOT gate and single-qubit rotation library. Based on the results of decomposition, we design two compact architectures to deterministically implement arbitrary two-qubit polarization-spatial and spatial-polarization collective unitary operations, respectively. The involved linear optical elements are reduced from 25 to 20 and 21 to 20, respectively. Moreover, the parameterized quantum computation can be fl…
We describe a very stable type II optical parametric oscillator operated above threshold which provides 9.7 $\pm$ 0.5 dB (89%) of quantum noise reduction on the intensity difference of the signal and idler modes. We also report the first experimental study by homodyne detection of the generated bright two-mode state in the case of frequency degenerate operation obtained by introducing a birefringent plate inside the optical cavity.
Entanglement purification protocols play an important role in the distribution of entangled systems, which is necessary for various quantum information processing applications. We consider the effects of photo-detector efficiency and bandwidth, channel loss and mode-mismatch on the operation of an optical entanglement purification protocol. We derive necessary detector and mode-matching requirements to facilitate practical operation of such a scheme, without having to resort to destructive coincidence type demonstrations.
We have realized the nonlinear sign shift (NS) operation for photonic qubits.This operation shifts the phase of two photons reflected by a beam splitter using an extra single photon and measurement. We show that the conditional phase shift is $(1.05\pm 0.06) π$ in clear agreement with theory. Our results show that by using an ancilla photon and conditional detection, nonlinear optical effects can be implemented using only linear optical elements. This experiment represents an essential step for linear optical implementations of scalable quantum computation.
We propose an efficient approach for deterministically generating scalable cluster states with photons. This approach involves unitary transformations performed on atoms coupled to optical cavities. Its operation cost scales linearly with the number of qubits in the cluster state, and photon qubits are encoded such that single-qubit operations can be easily implemented by using linear optics. Robust optical one-way quantum computation can be performed since cluster states can be stored in atoms and then transferred to photons that can be easily operated and measured. Therefore, this proposal c…
This article reviews recent hybrid approaches to optical quantum information processing, in which both discrete and continuous degrees of freedom are exploited. There are well-known limitations to optical single-photon-based qubit and multi-photon-based qumode implementations of quantum communication and quantum computation, when the toolbox is restricted to the most practical set of linear operations and resources such as linear optics and Gaussian operations and states. The recent hybrid approaches aim at pushing the feasibility, the efficiencies, and the fidelities of the linear schemes to …
One approach to quantum information processing is to use photons as quantum bits and rely on linear optical elements for most operations. However, some optical nonlinearity is necessary to enable universal quantum computing. Here, we suggest a circuit-QED approach to nonlinear optics quantum computing in the microwave regime, including a deterministic two-photon phase gate. Our specific example uses a hybrid quantum system comprising a LC resonator coupled to a superconducting flux qubit to implement a nonlinear coupling. Compared to the self-Kerr nonlinearity, we find that our approach has im…
A simple and flexible scheme for high-dimensional linear quantum operations on optical transverse spatial modes is demonstrated. The quantum Fourier transformation (QFT) and quantum state tomography (QST) via symmetric informationally complete positive operator-valued measures (SIC POVMs) are implemented with dimensionality of 15. The matrix fidelity of QFT is 0.85, while the statistical fidelity of SIC POVMs and fidelity of QST are ~0.97 and up to 0.853, respectively. We believe that our device has the potential for further exploration of high-dimensional spatial entanglement provided by spon…
Using the quantum teleportation in continuous variables as a test scheme, we compare two entangled transformations - mixing of signals on a beamsplitter and by the CZ operation. We evaluate these transformations in terms of the errors added to teleported oscillators. We have shown that the CZ operation leads to the lower error of teleportation. This error can be further reduced by choosing appropriate weight coefficients for the CZ transforms. We have compared the errors of the theoretical CZ scheme and its practical implementation in the optical design. Although the CZ optical scheme adds int…
One of the main requirements in linear optics quantum computing is the ability to perform single-qubit operations that are controlled by classical information fed forward from the output of single photon detectors. These operations correspond to pre-determined combinations of phase corrections and bit-flips that are applied to the post-selected output modes of non-deterministic quantum logic devices. Corrections of this kind are required in order to obtain the correct logical output for certain detection events, and their use can increase the overall success probability of the devices. In this…
Many components that are employed in quantum information and communication systems are well known photonic devices encountered in standard optical fiber communication systems, such as optical beamsplitters, waveguide couplers and junctions, electro-optic modulators and optical fiber links. The use of these photonic devices is becoming increasingly important especially in the context of their possible integration either in a specifically designed system or in an already deployed end-to-end fiber link. Whereas the behavior of these devices is well known under the classical regime, in some cases …
We present a scheme for linear optical quantum computing using time-bin encoded qubits in a single spatial mode. We show methods for single-qubit operations and heralded controlled phase (CPhase) gates, providing a sufficient set of operations for universal quantum computing with the Knill-Laflamme-Milburn scheme. Our scheme is suited to available photonic devices and ideally allows arbitrary numbers of qubits to be encoded in the same spatial mode, demonstrating the potential for time-frequency modes to dramatically increase the quantum information capacity of fixed spatial resources. As a te…
Integrated photonic technologies applied to quantum optics have recently enabled a wealth of breakthrough experiments in several quantum information areas. Path encoding was initially used to demonstrate operations on single or multiple qubits. However, a polarization encoding approach is often simpler and more effective. Two-qubits integrated logic gates as well as complex interferometric structures have been successfully demonstrated exploiting polarization encoding in femtosecond-laser-written photonic circuits. Still, integrated devices performing single-qubit rotations are missing. Here w…
Advanced electro-optic processing combines electrical control with optical modulation and detection. For quantum photonic applications these processes must be carried out at the single photon level with high efficiency and low noise. Integrated quantum photonics has made great strides achieving single photon manipulation by combining key components on integrated chips which are operated by external driving electronics. Nevertheless, electrical interconnects between driving electronics and the electro-optic components, some of which require cryogenic operating conditions, can introduce parasiti…
We study the evolution of the quantum state of $n$ photons in $m$ different modes when they go through a lossless linear optical system. We show that there are quantum evolution operators $U$ that cannot be built with linear optics alone unless the number of photons or the number of modes is equal to one. The evolution for single photons can be controlled with the known realization of any unitary proved by Reck, Zeilinger, Bernstein and Bertani. The evolution for a single mode corresponds to the trivial evolution in a phase shifter. We analyze these two cases and prove that any other combinati…
Operational theory for photonic circuits: generalizing linear optics beyond quantum theory
Naturwissenschaftlich-Technische Fakultät, Universität Siegen（锡根大学自然科学技术学院）；Department for Quantum Technology, Universität Münster（明斯特大学量子技术系）；Institut für Theoretische Physik, Leibniz Universität Hannover（汉诺威莱布尼茨大学理论物理研究所）
