We propose a scheme for implementing a multipartite quantum filter that uses entangled photons as a resource. It is shown that the success probability for the 2-photon parity filter can be as high as 1/2, which is the highest that has so far been predicted without the help of universal two-qubit quantum gates. Furthermore, the required number of ancilla photons is the least of all current parity filter proposals. Remarkably, the quantum filter operates with probability 1/2 even in the N-photon case, irregardless of the number of photons in the input state.
We examine an experimental setup implementing a family of quantum non-Gaussian filters. The filters can be applied to an arbitrary two-mode input state. We assume realistic photodetection in the filtering process and explore two different models of inefficient detection: a beam splitter of a small reflectivity located in front of a perfect detector and a Weierstrass transform applied to the unperturbed measurement outcomes. We explicitly give an operator which describes the coherent action of the filters in the realistic experimental conditions. The filtered states may find applications in qua…
Engineering multiphoton states is an outstanding challenge with applications in multiple fields, such as quan- tum metrology, quantum lithography or even biological systems. State-of-the-art methods to obtain them rely on post-selection, multi-level systems or Rydberg atomic ensembles. Recently, it was shown that a strongly driven two-level system interacting with a detuned cavity mode can be engineered to continuously emit n-photon states. In the present work, we show that spectral filtering of its emission relaxes considerably the requirements on the system parameters even to the more access…
The multiphoton Jaynes-Cummings model is investigated and applications in quantum information science are explored. Considering the strong atom-field coupling regime and an $N$-photon interaction, a nonlinear driving field can perform an arbitrary rotation in the Fock space of the cavity mode involving the vacuum and an $M$-Fock state, with $M<N$. Besides, driving the cavity mode with a linear coherent field (superposition of many Fock states), only the cavity states within the Fock subspace {$|0\rangle,|1\rangle,..., |N-1\rangle$} can be populated, i.e., we show how to implement a Fock state …
We present a review of theoretical and experimental aspects of multiphoton quantum optics. Multiphoton processes occur and are important for many aspects of matter-radiation interactions that include the efficient ionization of atoms and molecules, and, more generally, atomic transition mechanisms; system-environment couplings and dissipative quantum dynamics; laser physics, optical parametric processes, and interferometry. A single review cannot account for all aspects of such an enormously vast subject. Here we choose to concentrate our attention on parametric processes in nonlinear media, w…
The local multiphoton absorption rate for an arbitrary quantum state of monochromatic light, taking into account the photon number, momentum, and polarization degrees of freedom, is shown to have an upper bound that can be reached by coherent fields. This surprising result rules out any quantum enhancement of the multiphoton absorption rate by momentum entanglement.
We have developed a theory for accessing quantum coherences in mutually unbiased bases associated with generalized Pauli operators in multiphoton multimode linear optics networks (LONs). We show a way to construct complementary Pauli measurements in multiphoton LONs and establish a theory for evaluation of their photonic measurement statistics without dealing with the computational complexity of Boson samplings. This theory extends characterization of complementary properties in single-photon LONs to multiphoton LONs employing convex-roof extension. It allows us to detect quantum properties su…
Recent progress on quantum state engineering has enabled the preparation of quantum photonic systems comprising multiple interacting particles. Interestingly, multiphoton quantum systems can host many complex forms of interference and scattering processes that are essential to perform operations that are intractable on classical systems. Unfortunately, the quantum coherence properties of multiphoton systems degrade upon propagation leading to undesired quantum-to-classical transitions. Furthermore, the manipulation of multiphoton quantum systems requires of nonlinear interactions at the few-ph…
We show a simulation of quantum random walks with multiple photons using a staggered array of 50/50 beam splitters with a bank of detectors at any desired level. We discuss the multiphoton interference effects that are inherent to this setup, and introduce one, two, and threefold coincidence detection schemes. The use of Feynman diagrams are used to intuitively explain the unique multiphoton interference effects of these quantum random walks.
Multiphoton entanglement plays a critical role in quantum information processing, and greatly improves our fundamental understanding of the quantum world. Despite tremendous efforts in either bulk media or fiber-based devices, nonlinear interactions in integrated circuits show great promise as an excellent platform for photon pair generation with its high brightness, stability and scalability \cite{Caspani2017}. Here, we demonstrate the generation of bi- and multiphoton polarization entangled qubits in a single silicon nanowire waveguide, and these qubits directly compatible with the dense wav…
The technological possibilities of a realistic eavesdropper are discussed. Two eavesdropping strategies taking profit of multiphoton pulses in faint laser QKD are presented. We conclude that, as long as storage of Qubits is technically impossible, faint laser QKD is not limited by this security issue, but mostly by the detector noise.
Multiphoton state in quantum cryptography decreases its security. Key disclosing with universal quantum cloning machine (UQCM) is considered in explicit manner. Although UQCM cannot make perfect clones, there is some invariant quantity between the original photon and the imperfect clones. The invariant quantity, the direction of Stokes parameters, tells us the auxiliary information leading into key information. The attack, then, corresponds to some kind of quantum non-demolition measurement. Its application to recent high-performance quantum cryptography, Y-00 protocol, is also studied.
The proposal of quantum lithography [Boto et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 2733 (2000)] is studied via a rigorous formalism. It is shown that, contrary to Boto et al.'s heuristic claim, the multiphoton absorption rate of a ``NOON'' quantum state is actually lower than that of a classical state with otherwise identical parameters. The proof-of-concept experiment of quantum lithography [D'Angelo et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 013602 (2001)] is also analyzed in terms of the proposed formalism, and the experiment is shown to have a reduced multiphoton absorption rate in order to emulate quantum lithogra…
Despite exhibiting novel radiation features, the operation of the proposed quantum free-electron laser would have the drawback that the number of emitted photons is limited by one per electron, significantly reducing the output power of such a device. We show that relying on different resonances of the initial momentum of the electrons increases the number of emitted photons, but also increases the required length of the undulator impeding an experimetal realization. Moreover, we investigate how multiphoton processes influence the dynamics in the deep quantum regime.
We present the proposition of an experiment in which the multiphoton quantum superposition consisting of N= 10^5 particles generated by a quantum-injected optical parametric amplifier (QI-OPA), seeded by a single-photon belonging to an EPR entangled pair, is made to interact with a Mirror-BEC shaped as a Bragg interference structure. The overall process will realize a Macroscopic Quantum Superposition (MQS) involving a microscopic single-photon state of polarization entangled with the coherent macroscopic transfer of momentum to the BEC structure, acting in space-like separated distant places.
We propose an experimental method of recognizing quantum non-Gaussian multiphoton states. This is a native quantum property of Fock states, the fundamental quantum states with a constant number of particles. Our method allows experimental development and characterization of higher Fock states of light, reaching even beyond the current technical limits of their generation. We experimentally demonstrate that it is capable of distinguishing realistic quantum non-Gaussian light with the mean number of photons up to 5 despite detection efficiency of 50 %. We also provide evidence that our method ca…
The elimination of decoherence of two-state quantum systems interacting with a thermal reservoir through an external controllable driving field is discussed in the present paper. The restriction equation with which the external controllable driving field should agree will be derived. Based on this, we obtain the time-development equation of the off-diagonal elements of density operator in the supersymmetric multiphoton two-state quantum systems, which is helpful for studying the polarization evolution in this two-state quantum model.
Protocols for probabilistic entanglement-assisted quantum teleportation and for entanglement swapping of material qubits are presented. They are based on a protocol for postselective Bell-state projection which is capable of projecting two material qubits onto a Bell state with the help of ancillary coherent multiphoton states and postselection by balanced homodyne photodetection. Provided this photonic postselection is successful we explore the theoretical possibilities of realizing unit fidelity quantum teleportation and entanglement swapping with $25\%$ success probability. This photon-assi…
The new process of quantum-injection into an optical parametric amplifier operating in entangled configuration is adopted to amplify into a large dimensionality spin 1/2 Hilbert space the quantum entanglement and superposition properties of the photon-couples generated by parametric down-conversion. The structure of the Wigner function and of the field's correlation functions shows a decoherence-free, multiphoton Schroedinger-cat behaviour of the emitted field which is largely detectable against the squeezed-vacuum noise. Furthermore, owing to its entanglement character, the system is found to…
We show that nonlinear response of a quantum oscillator displays antiresonant dips and resonant peaks with varying frequency of the driving field. The effect is a consequence of special symmetry and is related to resonant multiphoton mixing of several pairs of oscillator states at a time. We also discuss escape from a metastable state of forced vibrations. Two important examples show that the probability of escape via diffusion over quasienergy is larger than via dynamical tunneling provided the relaxation rate exceeds both of them. Diffusion dominates even for zero temperature, so that escape…
The generation of quantum entangled states of many particles is a central goal of quantum information science. Characterizing such states is a complex task that demands exponentially large resources as particles are being added. Previously, we demonstrated a resource efficient source that can generate, in principal, entanglement between any number of photons. This source recursively fuse photon pairs generated by a pulsed laser into a multiphoton entangled state. In the current work, we perform quantum state tomography on the photon pair source and quantum process tomography on the fusion oper…
We propose a tunable nonlinear interaction for the implementation of quantum logic operations on pairs of superconducting resonators, where the two-resonator interaction is mediated by a transmon quantum bit (qubit). This interaction is characterized by a high on-to-off coupling ratio and allows for fast qubit-type and $d$-level system (qudit)-type operations for quantum information processing with multiphoton cavity states. We present analytical and numerical calculations showing that these operations can be performed with practically unit fidelity in absence of any dissipative phenomena, whe…
We present a scheme, based only on linear optics and standard photon detection, that allows to generate heralded multiphoton entangled states of arbitrary photon number from spontaneous parametric downconversion (PDC) in the weak interaction regime. The scheme also works in the strong interaction regime, i.e., for the production of large photon numbers, when photon-number resolving detectors with nearly perfect quantum efficiency are used. In addition, the same setup can be used for quantum metrology as multiphoton interferometer with sensitivity at the Heisenberg limit.
Recently, quantum Fourier transform interferometers have been demonstrated to allow a quantum metrological enhancement in phase sensitivity for a small number n of identical input single photons [1-3]. However, multiphoton distinguishability at the detectors can play an important role from an experimental point of view [4]. This raises a fundamental question: How is the phase sensitivity affected when the photons are completely distinguishable at the detectors and therefore do not interfere? In other words, which role does multiphoton interference play in these schemes? Here, we show that for …
In spite of decades of effort, it has not yet been possible to create single-mode multiphoton states of light with high success probability and near unity fidelity. Complex quantum states of propagating optical photons would be an enabling resource for diverse protocols in quantum information science, including for interconnecting quantum nodes in quantum networks. Here, we propose several methods to generate heralded mutipartite entangled atomic and photonic states by using the strong and long-range dissipative couplings between atoms emerging in waveguide QED setups. Our theoretical analysis…
Mistrustful cryptography includes important tasks like bit commitment, oblivious transfer, coin flipping, secure computations, position authentication, digital signatures and secure unforgeable tokens. Practical quantum implementations presently use photonic setups. In many such implementations, Alice sends photon pulses encoding quantum states and Bob chooses measurements on these states. In practice, Bob generally uses single photon threshold detectors, which cannot distinguish the number of photons in detected pulses. Also, losses and other imperfections require Bob to report the detected p…
In this contribution, we show that the use of conditional measurements in the resonant interaction of two quantized electromagnetic fields gives rise to nonclassical multiphoton processes. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this phenomenon may enable a robust integrated-optics protocol to engineer quantum states containing a high number of photons, thus making it a potentially appealing platform for exploring mesoscopic quantum phenomena.
We present an experimental demonstration of a modified version of the entanglement-assisted "Guess my Number" protocol for the reduction of communication complexity among three separated parties. The results of experimental measurements imply that the separated parties can compute a function of distributed inputs by exchanging less classical information than by using any classical strategy. And the results also demonstrate the advantages of entanglement-enhanced communication, which is very close to quantum communication. The advantages are based on the properties of Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinge…
The quantum theory of electromagnetic radiation predicts characteristic statistical fluctuations for light sources as diverse as sunlight, laser radiation and molecule fluorescence. Indeed, these underlying statistical fluctuations of light are associated with the fundamental physical processes behind their generation. In this contribution, we demonstrate that the manipulation of the quantum electromagnetic fluctuations of a pair of vacuum states leads to a novel family of quantum-correlated multiphoton states with tunable mean photon numbers and degree of correlation. Our technique relies on …
We develop a theory for the interaction of multi-level atoms with multi-mode cavities yielding cavity-enhanced multi-photon resonances. The locations of the resonances are predicted from the use of effective two- and three-level Hamiltonians. As an application we show that quantum gates can be realised when photonic qubits are encoded on the cavity modes in arrangements where ancilla atoms transit the cavity. The fidelity of operations is increased by conditional measurements on the atom and by the use of a selected, dual-rail, Hilbert space. A universal set of gates is proposed, including the…
We develop a novel method for multiphoton controllable transport between remote resonators. Specifically, an auxiliary resonator is used to control the coherent long-range coupling of two spatially separated resonators, mediated by a coupled-resonator chain of arbitrary length. In this manner, an arbitrary multiphoton quantum state can be either transmitted through or reflected off the intermediate chain on demand, with very high fidelity. We find, on using a time-independent perturbative treatment, that quantum information leakage of an arbitrary Fock state is limited by two upper bounds, one…
Single photons are a vital resource for optical quantum information processing. Efficient and deterministic single photon sources do not yet exist, however. To date, experimental demonstrations of quantum processing primitives have been implemented using non-deterministic sources combined with heralding and/or postselection. Unfortunately, even for eight photons, the data rates are already so low as to make most experiments impracticable. It is well known that quantum memories, capable of storing photons until they are needed, are a potential solution to this `scaling catastrophe'. Here, we an…
We study multiphoton blockade and photon-induced tunneling effects in the two-photon Jaynes-Cummings model, where a single-mode cavity field and a two-level atom are coupled via a two-photon interaction. We consider both the cavity-field-driving and atom-driving cases, and find that single-photon blockade and photon-induced tunneling effects can be observed when the cavity mode is driven, while the two-photon blockade effect appears when the atom is driven. For the atom-driving case (the two-photon transition process), we present a criterion of the correlation functions for the multiphoton blo…
Multiphoton quantum interference underpins fundamental tests of quantum mechanics and quantum technologies. Consequently, the detrimental effect of photon distinguishability in multiphoton interference experiments can be catastrophic. Here, we employ correlation measurements in the photonic inner modes, time or frequency, to restore quantum interference between photons differing in their colors or injection times in arbitrary linear optical networks, without the need for additional filtering or post selection. Interestingly, we demonstrate how harnessing the multiphoton inner-mode quantum info…
When an atom is strongly coupled to a cavity, the two systems can exchange a single photon through a coherent Rabi oscillation. This process enables precise quantum-state engineering and manipulation of atoms and photons in a cavity, which play a central role in quantum information and measurement. Recently, a new regime of cavity QED has been reached experimentally where the strength of the interaction between light and artificial atoms (qubits) becomes comparable to the atomic transition frequency or the resonance frequency of the cavity mode. Here we show that this regime can strongly modif…
The spontaneous emission is investigated for an effective atomic two-level system in an intense coherent field with frequency lower than the vacuum-induced decay width. As this additional low-frequency field is assumed to be intense, multiphoton processes may be induced, which can be seen as alternative transition pathways in addition to the simple spontaneous decay. The interplay of the various interfering transition pathways influences the decay dynamics of the two-level system and may be used to slow down the spontaneous decay considerably. We derive from first principles an expression for …
Manipulating photons is an essential technique in quantum communication and computation. Combining the Raman electromagnetically induced transparency technology, we show that the photon blockade behavior can be actively controlled by using an external control field in a two atoms cavity-QED system. As a result, a versatile photon gateway can be achieved in this system, which changes the cavity photons from classical to quantum property and allows one photon, two photon and classical field leaking from the cavity. The proposal presented here has many potential applications for quantum informati…
Photon entanglement is an essential ingredient for linear optics quantum computing schemes, quantum cryptographic protocols and fundamental tests of quantum mechanics. Here we describe a setup that allows for the generation of polarisation-entangled N-photon states on demand. The photons are obtained by mapping the entangled state of N atoms, each of them trapped inside an optical cavity, onto the free radiation field. The required initial state can be prepared by performing postselective measurements on the collective emission from the cavities through a multiport beamsplitter.
We investigate the quantum noise properties of a weakly nonlinear Duffing resonator in the deep quantum regime, where only few quanta are excited. This regime is dominated by the appearance of coherent multiphoton resonances in the nonlinear response of the resonator to the modulation. We determine simple expressions for the photon noise spectrum and find that the multiphoton resonances also induces a multiple peak structure in that noise. When the corresponding multiphoton Rabi oscillations are underdamped, zero temperature quantum fluctuations determine comparable populations of all quasiene…
We propose novel types of parametric oscillators generating both three-photon and four-photon bright light which are accessible for an experiment. The devices are based on the cascaded down-conversion processes and consist of second-order media inserted in two-resonant mode cavity. Discussion of dissipation and quantum features of the system are performed by the quantum-jump simulation method and concerns to the Wigner functions. The phase-space multistabilities and critical threshold behavior of three- and four-photon subharmonics are obtained.
In this article, we introduce a quantum key distribution protocol for the line of sight channels based on coincidence measurements. We present a proof-of-concept implementation of our protocol. We show that using coincidence measurements to monitor multi-photon pulses results in a higher secure key rate over longer distances for such channels. This key rate is higher than popular implementations of quantum key distribution protocol based on BB84, for example, the GLLP analysis [Quant. Info. Comput. \textbf{4}, 325 (2004)]. In the experiment, we could generate around $74 \%$ more key bits per s…
Detection-efficiency mismatch is a common problem in practical quantum key distribution (QKD) systems. Current security proofs of QKD with detection-efficiency mismatch rely either on the assumption of the single-photon light source on the sender side or on the assumption of the single-photon input of the receiver side. These assumptions impose restrictions on the class of possible eavesdropping strategies. Here we present a rigorous security proof without these assumptions and, thus, solve this important problem and prove the security of QKD with detection-efficiency mismatch against general …
Most qubit-based quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols extract the secure key merely from single-photon component of the attenuated lasers. However, with the Scarani-Acin-Ribordy-Gisin 2004 (SARG04) QKD protocol, the unconditionally secure key can be extracted from the two-photon component by modifying the classical post-processing procedure in the BB84 protocol. Employing the merits of SARG04 QKD protocol and six-state preparation, one can extract secure key from the components of single photon up to four photons. In this paper, we provide the exact relations between the secure key rate an…
We propose an entanglement purification scheme based on material qubits and ancillary coherent multiphoton states. We consider a typical QED scenario where material qubits implemented by two-level atoms fly sequentially through a cavity and interact resonantly with a single mode of the radiation field. We explore the theoretical possibilities of realizing a high-fidelity two-qubit quantum operation necessary for the purification protocol with the help of a postselective balanced homodyne photodetection. We demonstrate that the obtained probabilistic quantum operation can be used as a bilateral…
