Changhyoup Lee

Quantum state transfer with surface plasmons on a metallic nanoparticle array

We investigate an array of metal nanoparticles as a channel for nanophotonic quantum communication and the generation of quantum plasmonic interference. We consider the transfer of quantum states, including single-qubits as plasmonic wavepackets, and highlight the necessity of a quantum mechanical description by comparing the predictions of quantum theory with those of classical electromagnetic theory. The effects of loss in the metal are included, thus putting our investigation into a practical setting and enabling the quantification of the performance of realistic nanoparticle arrays as plasmonic quantum channels. We explore the interference of single plasmons, finding nonlinear absorption effects associated with the quantum properties of the plasmon excitations. This work highlights the benefits and drawbacks of using nanophotonic periodic systems for quantum plasmonic applications, such as quantum communication, and the generation of quantum interference.

Quantum plasmonic excitation in graphene and loss-insensitive propagation

We investigate the excitation of quantum plasmonic states of light in graphene using end-fire and prism coupling. In order to model the excitation process quantum mechanically we quantize the transverse-electric and transverse-magnetic surface plasmon polariton (SPP) modes in graphene. A selection of regimes are then studied that enable the excitation of SPPs by photons and we show that efficient coupling of photons to graphene SPPs is possible at the quantum level. Futhermore, we study the excitation of quantum states and their propagation under the effects of loss induced from the electronic degrees of freedom in the graphene. Here, we investigate whether it is possible to protect quantum information using quantum error correction techniques. We find that these techniques provide a robust-to-loss method for transferring quantum states of light in graphene over large distances.

Probing the effect of interaction in Anderson localization using linear photonic lattices

We show how two-dimensional waveguide arrays can be used to probe the effect of on-site interaction on Anderson localization of two interacting bosons in one dimension. It is shown that classical light and linear elements are sufficient to experimentally probe the interplay between interaction and disorder in this setting. For experimental relevance, we evaluate the participation ratio and the intensity correlation function as measures of localization for two types of disorder (diagonal and off-diagonal), for two types of interaction (repulsive and attractive), and for a variety of initial input states. Employing a commonly used set of initial states, we show that the effect of interaction on Anderson localization is strongly dependent on the type of disorder and initial conditions, but is independent of whether the interaction is repulsive or attractive. We then analyze a certain type of entangled input state where the type of interaction is relevant and discuss how it can be naturally implemented in waveguide arrays. We conclude by laying out the details of the two-dimensional photonic lattice implementation including the required parameter regime.

Multisetting Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger theorem

We present a generalized Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) theorem, which involves more than two local measurement settings for some parties, and cannot be reduced to one with less settings. Our results hold for an odd number of parties. We use a set of observables, which are incompatible but share a common eigenstate, here a GHZ state. Such observables are called concurrent. The idea is illustrated with an example of a three-qutrit system and then generalized to systems of higher dimensions, and more parties. The GHZ paradoxes can lead to, e.g., secret sharing protocols.

Quantum noise reduction in intensity-sensitive surface-plasmon-resonance sensors

We investigate the use of twin-mode quantum states of light with symmetric statistical features in their photon number for improving intensity-sensitive surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors. For this purpose, one of the modes is sent into a prism setup where the Kretschmann configuration is employed as a sensing platform and the analyte to be measured influences the SPR excitation conditions. This influence modifies the output state of light that is subsequently analyzed by an intensity-difference measurement scheme. We show that quantum noise reduction is achieved not only as a result of the sub-Poissonian statistical nature of a single mode, but also as a result of the non-classical correlation of the photon number between the two modes. When combined with the high sensitivity of the SPR sensor, we show that the use of twin-mode quantum states of light notably enhances the estimation precision of the refractive index of an analyte. With this we are able to identify a clear strategy to further boost the performance of SPR sensors, which are already a mature technology in biochemical and medical sensing applications.

Hot-spot relaxation time current dependence in niobium nitride waveguide-integrated superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors

We investigate how the bias current affects the hot-spot relaxation dynamics in niobium nitride. We use for this purpose a near-infrared pump-probe technique on a waveguide-integrated superconducting nanowire single-photon detector driven in the two-photon regime. We observe a strong increase in the picosecond relaxation time for higher bias currents. A minimum relaxation time of (22 ± 1) ps is obtained when applying a bias current of 50% of the switching current at 1.7 K bath temperature. We also propose a practical approach to accurately estimate the photon detection regimes based on the reconstruction of the measured detector tomography at different bias currents and for different illumination conditions.

Photonic lattice simulation of dissipation-induced correlations in bosonic systems.

We propose an optical simulation of dissipation-induced correlations in one-dimensional (1D) interacting bosonic systems, using a two-dimensional (2D) array of linear photonic waveguides and only classical light. We show that for the case of two bosons in a 1D lattice, one can simulate on-site two-body dissipative dynamics using a linear 2D waveguide array with lossy diagonal waveguides. The intensity distribution of the propagating light directly maps out the wave function, allowing one to observe the dissipation-induced correlations with simple measurements. Beyond the on-site model, we also show that a generalised model containing nearest-neighbour dissipative interaction can be engineered and probed in the proposed set-up.

Sub-Poisson-binomial light

We introduce a general parameter

Few-photon transport in many-body photonic systems: A scattering approach

{Q}_{\mathrm{PB}}

Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger theorem forNqudits

that provides an experimentally accessible nonclassicality measure for light. The parameter is quantified by the click statistics obtained from on-off detectors in a general multiplexing detection setup. Sub-Poisson-binomial statistics, observed by