Joshua W. Silverstone

On-chip quantum interference between silicon photon-pair sources

A silicon-on-insulator device combining two four-wave-mixing photon-pair sources in an interferometer with a reconfigurable phase shifter is used to create and manipulate non-degenerate or degenerate, path-entangled or path-unentangled photon pairs. A quantum interference visibility of nearly 100% is observed on-chip. This device is a first step towards fully integrated quantum technologies.

Universal linear optics

Complex quantum optical circuitry Encoding and manipulating information in the states of single photons provides a potential platform for quantum computing and communication. Carolan et al. developed a reconfigurable integrated waveguide device fabricated in a glass chip (see the Perspective by Rohde and Dowling). The device allowed for universal linear optics transformations on six wave-guides using 15 integrated Mach-Zehnder interferometers, each of which was individually programmable. Functional performance in a number of applications in optics and quantum optics demonstrates the versatility of the devices reprogrammable architecture. Science, this issue p. 711; see also p. 696 A reconfigurable optical circuit provides a platform for a photonically-based quantum computer. [Also see Perspective by Rohde and Dowling] Linear optics underpins fundamental tests of quantum mechanics and quantum technologies. We demonstrate a single reprogrammable optical circuit that is sufficient to implement all possible linear optical protocols up to the size of that circuit. Our six-mode universal system consists of a cascade of 15 Mach-Zehnder interferometers with 30 thermo-optic phase shifters integrated into a single photonic chip that is electrically and optically interfaced for arbitrary setting of all phase shifters, input of up to six photons, and their measurement with a 12-single-photon detector system. We programmed this system to implement heralded quantum logic and entangling gates, boson sampling with verification tests, and six-dimensional complex Hadamards. We implemented 100 Haar random unitaries with an average fidelity of 0.999 ± 0.001. Our system can be rapidly reprogrammed to implement these and any other linear optical protocol, pointing the way to applications across fundamental science and quantum technologies.

Qubit entanglement between ring-resonator photon-pair sources on a silicon chip

1Centre for Quantum Photonics, H. H. Wills Physics Laboratory and Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Bristol, Merchant Venturers Building, Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1UB, UK. 2 Institute of Photonics, Department of Physics, University of Strathclyde, Wolfson Centre, 106 Rottenrow East, Glasgow G4 0NW, UK. 3 School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, James Watt South Building, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK. * Authors J.W.S. and R.S. contributed equally to this work.Entanglement—one of the most delicate phenomena in nature—is an essential resource for quantum information applications. Scalable photonic quantum devices must generate and control qubit entanglement on-chip, where quantum information is naturally encoded in photon path. Here we report a silicon photonic chip that uses resonant-enhanced photon-pair sources, spectral demultiplexers and reconfigurable optics to generate a path-entangled two-qubit state and analyse its entanglement. We show that ring-resonator-based spontaneous four-wave mixing photon-pair sources can be made highly indistinguishable and that their spectral correlations are small. We use on-chip frequency demultiplexers and reconfigurable optics to perform both quantum state tomography and the strict Bell-CHSH test, both of which confirm a high level of on-chip entanglement. This work demonstrates the integration of high-performance components that will be essential for building quantum devices and systems to harness photonic entanglement on the large scale.

Gallium arsenide (GaAs) quantum photonic waveguide circuits

Integrated quantum photonics is a promising approach for future practical and large-scale quantum information processing technologies, with the prospect of on-chip generation, manipulation and measurement of complex quantum states of light. The gallium arsenide (GaAs) material system is a promising technology platform, and has already successfully demonstrated key components including waveguide integrated single-photon sources and integrated single-photon detectors. However, quantum circuits capable of manipulating quantum states of light have so far not been investigated in this material system. Here, we report GaAs photonic circuits for the manipulation of single-photon and two-photon states. Two-photon quantum interference with a visibility of 94.9±1.3% was observed in GaAs directional couplers. Classical and quantum interference fringes with visibilities of 98.6±1.3% and 84.4±1.5% respectively were demonstrated in Mach–Zehnder interferometers exploiting the electro-optic Pockels effect. This work paves the way for a fully integrated quantum technology platform based on the GaAs material system.

Chip-to-chip quantum photonic interconnect by path-polarization interconversion

Integrated photonics has enabled much progress toward quantum technologies. Many applications, e.g., quantum communication, sensing, and distributed cloud quantum computing, require coherent photonic interconnection between separate on-chip subsystems. Large-scale quantum computing architectures and systems may ultimately require quantum interconnects to enable scaling beyond the limits of a single wafer, and toward multi-chip systems. However, coherently connecting separate chips remains a challenge, due to the fragility of entangled quantum states. The distribution and manipulation of entanglement between multiple integrated devices is one of the strictest requirements of these systems. Here, we report, to the best of our knowledge, the first quantum photonic interconnect, demonstrating high-fidelity entanglement distribution and manipulation between two separate photonic chips, implemented using state-of-the-art silicon photonics. Path-entangled states are generated on one chip, and distributed to another chip by interconverting between path and polarization degrees of freedom, via a two-dimensional grating coupler on each chip. This path-to-polarization conversion allows entangled quantum states to be coherently distributed. We use integrated state analyzers to confirm a Bell-type violation of S=2.638±0.039 between the two chips. With further improvements in loss, this quantum photonic interconnect will provide new levels of flexibility in quantum systems and architectures.

Multidimensional quantum entanglement with large-scale integrated optics

Large-scale integrated quantum optics The ability to pattern optical circuits on-chip, along with coupling in single and entangled photon sources, provides the basis for an integrated quantum optics platform. Wang et al. demonstrate how they can expand on that platform to fabricate very large quantum optical circuitry. They integrated more than 550 quantum optical components and 16 photon sources on a state-of-the-art single silicon chip, enabling universal generation, control, and analysis of multidimensional entanglement. The results illustrate the power of an integrated quantum optics approach for developing quantum technologies. Science, this issue p. 285 Large-scale integrated quantum optical circuitry is demonstrated on a single silicon chip. The ability to control multidimensional quantum systems is central to the development of advanced quantum technologies. We demonstrate a multidimensional integrated quantum photonic platform able to generate, control, and analyze high-dimensional entanglement. A programmable bipartite entangled system is realized with dimensions up to 15 × 15 on a large-scale silicon photonics quantum circuit. The device integrates more than 550 photonic components on a single chip, including 16 identical photon-pair sources. We verify the high precision, generality, and controllability of our multidimensional technology, and further exploit these abilities to demonstrate previously unexplored quantum applications, such as quantum randomness expansion and self-testing on multidimensional states. Our work provides an experimental platform for the development of multidimensional quantum technologies.

Witnessing eigenstates for quantum simulation of Hamiltonian spectra

We introduce the concept of an eigenstate witness and use it to find energies of quantum systems with quantum computers. The efficient calculation of Hamiltonian spectra, a problem often intractable on classical machines, can find application in many fields, from physics to chemistry. We introduce the concept of an “eigenstate witness” and, through it, provide a new quantum approach that combines variational methods and phase estimation to approximate eigenvalues for both ground and excited states. This protocol is experimentally verified on a programmable silicon quantum photonic chip, a mass-manufacturable platform, which embeds entangled state generation, arbitrary controlled unitary operations, and projective measurements. Both ground and excited states are experimentally found with fidelities >99%, and their eigenvalues are estimated with 32 bits of precision. We also investigate and discuss the scalability of the approach and study its performance through numerical simulations of more complex Hamiltonians. This result shows promising progress toward quantum chemistry on quantum computers.

Relative multiplexing for minimising switching in linear-optical quantum computing

Many existing schemes for linear-optical quantum computing (LOQC) depend on multiplexing (MUX), which uses dynamic routing to enable near-deterministic gates and sources to be constructed using heralded, probabilistic primitives. MUXing accounts for the overwhelming majority of active switching demands in current LOQC architectures. In this manuscript we introduce relative multiplexing (RMUX), a general-purpose optimisation which can dramatically reduce the active switching requirements for MUX in LOQC, and thereby reduce hardware complexity and energy consumption, as well as relaxing demands on performance for various photonic components. We discuss the application of RMUX to the generation of entangled states from probabilistic single-photon sources, and argue that an order of magnitude improvement in the rate of generation of Bell states can be achieved. In addition, we apply RMUX to the proposal for percolation of a 3D cluster state by Gimeno-Segovia et al (2015 Phys. Rev. Lett. 115 020502), and we find that RMUX allows an 2.4× increase in loss tolerance for this architecture.

Silicon photonic processor of two-qubit entangling quantum logic

Entanglement is a fundamental property of quantum mechanics, and is a primary resource in quantum information systems. Its manipulation remains a central challenge in the development of quantum technology. In this work, we demonstrate a device which can generate, manipulate, and analyse two-qubit entangled states, using miniature and mass-manufacturable silicon photonics. By combining four photon-pair sources with a reconfigurable six-mode interferometer, embedding a switchable entangling gate, we generate two-qubit entangled states, manipulate their entanglement, and analyse them, all in the same silicon chip. Using quantum state tomography, we show how our source can produce a range of entangled and separable states, and how our switchable controlled-Z gate operates on them, entangling them or making them separable depending on its configuration.

Photonic qubit entanglement and processing in silicon waveguides

We introduce a method for generating entangled and indistinguishable photon pairs on a silicon photonic chip. We verify their indistinguishability by destroying their entanglement using an on-chip post-selected quantum gate.