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Manipulation of multiphoton entanglement in waveguide quantum circuits

Nature Photonics volume 3, pages 346–350 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

On-chip integrated photonic circuits are crucial to further progress towards quantum technologies and in the science of quantum optics. Here we report precise control of single photon states and multiphoton entanglement directly on-chip. We manipulate the state of path-encoded qubits using integrated optical phase control based on resistive elements, observing an interference contrast of 98.2 ± 0.3%. We demonstrate integrated quantum metrology by observing interference fringes with two- and four-photon entangled states generated in a waveguide circuit, with respective interference contrasts of 97.2 ± 0.4% and 92 ± 4%, sufficient to beat the standard quantum limit. Finally, we demonstrate a reconfigurable circuit that continuously and accurately tunes the degree of quantum interference, yielding a maximum visibility of 98.2 ± 0.9%. These results open up adaptive and fully reconfigurable photonic quantum circuits not just for single photons, but for all quantum states of light.

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Figure 1: Manipulating quantum states of light on a chip.
Figure 2: Multiphoton state preparation.
Figure 3: Calibration of voltage-controlled phase shift.
Figure 4: Integrated quantum metrology.
Figure 5: A reconfigurable quantum circuit.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. Laing, T. Nagata, S. Takeuchi and X. Q. Zhou for helpful discussions. This work was supported by IARPA, EPSRC, QIP IRC and the Leverhulme Trust.

Author information

Author notes

  1. André Stefanov

    Present address: Present address: Federal Office of Metrology METAS, Lindenweg 50, CH-3003, Bern-Wabern, Switzerland,

  2. Jonathan C. F. Matthews and Alberto Politi: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. H. H. Wills Physics Laboratory & Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Centre for Quantum Photonics, University of Bristol, Merchant Venturers Building, Woodland Road, Bristol, BS8 1UB, UK

    Jonathan C. F. Matthews, Alberto Politi, André Stefanov & Jeremy L. O'Brien

Authors
  1. Jonathan C. F. Matthews
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  2. Alberto Politi
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  3. André Stefanov
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  4. Jeremy L. O'Brien
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jonathan C. F. Matthews, Alberto Politi, André Stefanov or Jeremy L. O'Brien.

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Matthews, J., Politi, A., Stefanov, A. et al. Manipulation of multiphoton entanglement in waveguide quantum circuits. Nature Photon 3, 346–350 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2009.93

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