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Anderson localization of entangled photons in an integrated quantum walk

Nature Photonics volume 7, pages 322–328 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

First predicted for quantum particles in the presence of a disordered potential, Anderson localization is a ubiquitous effect, observed also in classical systems, arising from the destructive interference of waves propagating in static disordered media. Here we report the observation of this phenomenon for pairs of polarization-entangled photons in a discrete quantum walk affected by position-dependent disorder. By exploiting polarization entanglement of photons to simulate different quantum statistics, we experimentally investigate the interplay between the Anderson localization mechanism and the bosonic/fermionic symmetry of the wavefunction. The disordered lattice is realized by an integrated array of interferometers fabricated in glass by femtosecond laser writing. A novel technique is used to introduce a controlled phase shift into each unit mesh of the network. This approach yields great potential for quantum simulation and for implementing a computational power beyond the one of a classical computer in the ‘hard-to-simulate’ scenario.

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Figure 1: Concept scheme of cascaded beamsplitters to implement photonic QWs.
Figure 2: Integrated circuit for disordered QW.
Figure 3: Measured output probabilities for QWs with order and static disorder.
Figure 4: Localization properties of two-photon wave packets.
Figure 5: Relative distance of two-photon walkers.
Figure 6: Measured output probabilities for QWs with dynamic disorder.

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Acknowledgements

This project was supported by FIRB (Fondo per gli investimenti della ricerca di base) – Futuro in Ricerca HYTEQ (Hybrid Technologies for Quantum Information Processing), PRIN 2009 (Progetti di Ricerca di Interesse Nazionale 2009), IP-SOLID (Integrated Project ‘Solid State Systems for Quantum Information Processing’, grant agreement no. FP7 248629) and ERC (European Research Council)—Starting Grant 3D-QUEST (3D-Quantum Integrated Optical Simulation; grant agreement no. 307783).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (IFN-CNR), Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 32, Milano, I-20133, Italy

    Andrea Crespi, Roberto Osellame & Roberta Ramponi

  2. Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 32, Milano, I-20133, Italy

    Andrea Crespi, Roberto Osellame & Roberta Ramponi

  3. NEST, Scuola Normale Superiore and Istituto di Nanoscienze - CNR, Pisa, I-56126, Italy

    Vittorio Giovannetti & Rosario Fazio

  4. Center for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117542, Singapore

    Rosario Fazio

  5. Dipartimento di Fisica, Sapienza Università di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5, Roma, I-00185, Italy

    Linda Sansoni, Francesco De Nicola, Fabio Sciarrino & Paolo Mataloni

  6. Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (INO-CNR), Largo Enrico Fermi, 6, Firenze, I-50125, Italy

    Fabio Sciarrino & Paolo Mataloni

Authors
  1. Andrea Crespi
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Contributions

L.S., F.D.N., F.S., P.M., A.C., R.O. and R.R. conceived the experimental approach for simulation of the Anderson localization. A.C., R.O. and R.R. fabricated the integrated devices and performed the characterization with classical light. L.S., F.D.N., F.S. and P.M. carried out the quantum experiments. V.G. and R.F. contributed to the theoretical analysis on how statistics influences localization. All authors discussed the experimental implementation and results and contributed to writing the paper.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Roberto Osellame or Fabio Sciarrino.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Crespi, A., Osellame, R., Ramponi, R. et al. Anderson localization of entangled photons in an integrated quantum walk. Nature Photon 7, 322–328 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2013.26

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