Quantum optics articles within Nature Communications

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Parity detection is essential in quantum error correction. Here, authors propose a reliable joint parity measurement (JPM) scheme inspired by stimulated emission and experimentally implement the weight-2(4) JPM scheme in a tunable coupling superconducting circuit, which shows comparable performance to the standard CNOT-gate based scheme.

    • Sainan Huai
    • , Kunliang Bu
    •  & Yicong Zheng
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Usual multiqubit entangled states can be described using the graph formalism, where each edge connects only two qubits. Here, instead, the authors use a reprogrammable silicon photonics chip to showcase preparation, verification and processing of arbitrary four-qubit hypergraph states, where hyperedges describe entanglement within a subset of many qubits.

    • Jieshan Huang
    • , Xudong Li
    •  & Jianwei Wang
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Manipulating quantum information encoded in a bosonic mode requires sizeable and controllable nonlinearities, but superconducting devices’ strong nonlinearities are normally static. Here, the authors use a SNAIL to suppress static nonlinearities and use drive-dependent ones to reach universal control of a bosonic mode.

    • Axel M. Eriksson
    • , Théo Sépulcre
    •  & Simone Gasparinetti
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Topological properties of a photonic environment are crucial to engineer robust photon-mediated interactions between quantum emitters. Here, the authors find general theorems on the topology of photon-mediated interactions, unveiling the phenomena of topological preservation and reversal.

    • Federico Roccati
    • , Miguel Bello
    •  & Angelo Carollo
  • Article
    | Open Access

    T centers in silicon are promising candidates for quantum applications yet suffer from weak optical transitions. Here, by integrating with a silicon nanocavity, the authors demonstrate an enhancement of the photon emission rate for a single T center.

    • Adam Johnston
    • , Ulises Felix-Rendon
    •  & Songtao Chen
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Interfacing single-photon emitters (SPEs) with high-finesse cavities can prevent decoherence processes, especially at elevated temperature, but its implementation remains challenging. Here, the authors report room-temperature strong coupling of SPEs in hexagonal boron nitride with a dielectric cavity based on bound states in the continuum, showing a Rabi splitting of ~ 4 meV.

    • T. Thu Ha Do
    • , Milad Nonahal
    •  & Son Tung Ha
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here the authors experimentally realized a systematic approach to synthesize arbitrary-size two-dimensional all-band-flat photonic lattices, which pave a route for investigating flat-band related physics such as slow-light, nonlinear breathing, and dispersionless image transmission.

    • Jing Yang
    • , Yuanzhen Li
    •  & Fei Gao
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Enhanced sensitivity is a key parameter in quantum metrology. Here the authors demonstrate a distributed quantum phase sensing method that uses fewer photons than the number of parameters needed, and an enhanced quantum sensitivity is achieved.

    • Dong-Hyun Kim
    • , Seongjin Hong
    •  & Hyang-Tag Lim
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Authors showcase 3D direct laser writing to fabricate optically interfaced mechanical resonators. The membrane-type structures are placed inside fiber Fabry-Perot cavities to realize a miniaturized optical cavity. Further, the optomechanical properties reveal the coupling mechanism and a significant tuning of the mechanical resonator frequency.

    • Lukas Tenbrake
    • , Alexander Faßbender
    •  & Hannes Pfeifer
  • Article
    | Open Access

    High-dimensional quantum states allow for several advantages in quantum communication, but protocols such as teleportation require additional entangled photons as the dimension increases. Here, the authors show how to transport a high-dimensional quantum state from a bright coherent laser field to a single photon, using two entangled photons as the quantum channel.

    • Bereneice Sephton
    • , Adam Vallés
    •  & Andrew Forbes
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Standard techniques for Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy are limited by the electronics to 100’s of picoseconds time resolution. Here, the authors show how to use two-photon interference to perform fluorescence lifetime sensing with picosecond-scale resolution.

    • Ashley Lyons
    • , Vytautas Zickus
    •  & Daniele Faccio
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Levitated nanoparticles are a new platform for exploring quantum mechanics at macroscopic scales. The authors realize feedback controls of all external degrees of freedom of a nanoparticle, with one translational degree in the quantum ground state.

    • Mitsuyoshi Kamba
    • , Ryoga Shimizu
    •  & Kiyotaka Aikawa
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Feedback oscillators are a fundamental tool in science and engineering. Here, Loughlin and Sudhir provide a generalized Schawlow-Townes-like formula for quantum-limited feedback oscillators, thus giving a general model to study the fundamental output noise of these devices and techniques to reduce their noise further.

    • Hudson A. Loughlin
    •  & Vivishek Sudhir
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Storage of photon entanglement at telecommunication wavelength is an important milestone for the development of the quantum internet. Here, the authors demonstrate storage and retrieval of entangled telecom photons—generated through SWFM in a silicon nitride microring resonator—in an Erbium doped crystal.

    • Ming-Hao Jiang
    • , Wenyi Xue
    •  & Xiao-Song Ma
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Realising a quantum-backaction-limited oscillator in the acoustic frequency range would have applications in sensing and metrology. Here, the authors reach this goal by demonstrating destructive interference between quantum back-action noise and shot noise down to sub-kHz range in a warm atomic vapor cell.

    • Jun Jia
    • , Valeriy Novikov
    •  & Eugene S. Polzik
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantum super-resolution techniques take advantage of the non-classical nature of the quantum emitters, but are time-consuming. Here, the authors present a machine learning-assisted approach for fast antibunching-based super-resolution imaging, with a 12-fold speed up over the conventional approach

    • Zhaxylyk A. Kudyshev
    • , Demid Sychev
    •  & Vladimir M. Shalaev
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Continuous-variable quantum networks are easier to implement than discrete-variable ones, but suffer from a lower teleportation fidelity. Here, the authors demonstrate a CV teleportation protocol exploiting heralded noiseless amplification to increase the fidelity, at the expense of probabilistic operation.

    • Jie Zhao
    • , Hao Jeng
    •  & Ping Koy Lam
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hybrid quantum systems, such as superconducting qubits interacting with microwave photons in resonators, offer a rich platform for exploring fundamental physics. Wang et al. observe parity symmetry breaking in a probe qubit dispersively coupled to a resonator in the deep-strong coupling regime.

    • Shuai-Peng Wang
    • , Alessandro Ridolfo
    •  & J. Q. You
  • Article
    | Open Access

    The emergence of relaxation in unitarily evolving systems can be seen as a paradox, but not once the distinction between local and global dynamics is considered. Here, the authors use photons in an integrated optical interferometer to show that, for a system evolving unitarily on a global level, single-mode measurements converge to those of a thermal state.

    • F. H. B. Somhorst
    • , R. van der Meer
    •  & J. J. Renema
  • Article
    | Open Access

    There are different quantum algorithms developed for the security of current cryptographic concepts. Here the authors demonstrate a method to perform quantum-secured digital payments using unforgeable quantum cryptograms over an optical fiber link and verify the information-theoretic security.

    • Peter Schiansky
    • , Julia Kalb
    •  & Philip Walther
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Absorption, transmission and reflection are three processes characterizing optical devices. Absorption allows for signal conversion and transmission is important for signal transfer, however, reflection is frequently detrimental to device performance. Here, Qian et al demonstrate a magnonic device with controllable absorption and transmission while maintain zero reflection.

    • Jie Qian
    • , C. H. Meng
    •  & C. -M. Hu
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Squeezed light allows for quantum-enhanced, sub-shot-noise sensing, but its generation and use on a chip has so far remained elusive. Here, the authors fill this gap by demonstrating a thin-film lithium-niobate-based integrated quantum optical sensor, which beats shot-noise-limited SNR by ~ 4%.

    • Hubert S. Stokowski
    • , Timothy P. McKenna
    •  & Amir H. Safavi-Naeini
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Optically active defects in hBN are promising for quantum sensing and information applications, however, coherent control of a single defect has not been achieved so far. By using an efficient method to produce arrays of defects in hBN, Guo et al. isolate a new carbon-related defect and show its coherent control.

    • Nai-Jie Guo
    • , Song Li
    •  & Guang-Can Guo
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Emission enhancement and extraction from quantum emitters is a major challenge for photon sources in e.g. quantum photonic networks. Here the authors propose a broadband waveguide platform which allows to boost, extract, and guide quantum emission within integrated photonic networks.

    • Nicholas A. Güsken
    • , Ming Fu
    •  & Rupert F. Oulton
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantum technologies allow memory advantages in simulating stochastic processes, but a demonstration of this for non-Markovian processes (where the advantage would be stronger) has been missing so far. Here the authors fill this gap analytically and experimentally, using a single qubit memory to model non-Markovian processes.

    • Kang-Da Wu
    • , Chengran Yang
    •  & Thomas J. Elliott
  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors present a method for super-resolution quantum microscopy at the Heisenberg limit by using pairs of entangled photons with balanced pathlengths. They improve the spatial resolution, imaging speed, and contrast-to-noise ratio in practice while providing a theoretical interpretation of the super-resolution feature.

    • Zhe He
    • , Yide Zhang
    •  & Lihong V. Wang
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Realising integrated photonic circuits containing isolated telecommunications-wavelength artificial atom single photon emitters is an outstanding challenge in quantum technologies. Here, the authors demonstrate how to embed optically tunable G-centers in silicon-on-insulator integrated circuits.

    • Mihika Prabhu
    • , Carlos Errando-Herranz
    •  & Dirk Englund
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantum-enhanced versions of weak coin flipping (a cryptographic primitive where two mistrustful parties agree on a random bit while favouring opposite outcomes) have been proposed in the past but never realised. Here, the authors fill this gap by improving on a previous proposal and implementing it with single photons in a fibre-based setup.

    • Simon Neves
    • , Verena Yacoub
    •  & Eleni Diamanti
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electro-optic modulators can be useful for imaging, sensing and information processing applications. Here the authors demonstrate an ultra-low drive voltage visible to near infrared range electro-optic modulator in the form of amplitude and phase modulation using thin-film lithium niobate.

    • Dylan Renaud
    • , Daniel Rimoli Assumpcao
    •  & Marko Loncar
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Usually, observation of quantum interference in a non-local scenario (that is, when Alice’s measurement settings and Bob’s outcomes are space-like separated) relies on entanglement. Here, the authors experimentally show four-photon frustrated interference originating from the sources’ indistinguishability, without the need for entanglement.

    • Kaiyi Qian
    • , Kai Wang
    •  & Xiao-song Ma
  • Article
    | Open Access

    In quantum multiparameter estimation, achieving the best precision for each parameter is hindered by the Heisenberg principle. Here, the authors demonstrate how to mitigate this problem by using appropriate probe states.

    • Binke Xia
    • , Jingzheng Huang
    •  & Guihua Zeng
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Twin-field QKD should allow secure quantum communication with favourable rate-loss scaling, but requires interferometric implementations which are often impractical for long distances. Here, the authors show how to realise it without the need for closed interferometers.

    • Lai Zhou
    • , Jinping Lin
    •  & Zhiliang Yuan
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Applications of solid-state qubits in large-scale quantum networks are limited by power and density constraints associated with microwave driving. Here the authors propose a programmable architecture based on diamond color centers driven by electric or strain fields for reduced cross-talk and power consumption.

    • Hanfeng Wang
    • , Matthew E. Trusheim
    •  & Dirk R. Englund
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantum random number generators should ideally rely on few assumptions, have high enough generation rates, and be cost-effective and easy to operate. Here, the authors show an untrusted-homodyne-based MDI scheme that does not rely on i.i.d. assumption and is secure against quantum side information.

    • Chao Wang
    • , Ignatius William Primaatmaja
    •  & Charles Lim
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Frequency-bin qubits get the best of time-bin and dual-rail encodings, but require external modulators and pulse shapers to build arbitrary states. Here, instead, the authors work directly on-chip by controlling the interference of biphoton amplitudes generated in multiple, coherently-pumped ring resonators.

    • Marco Clementi
    • , Federico Andrea Sabattoli
    •  & Daniele Bajoni
  • Article
    | Open Access

    ‘Giant atom’ physics occurs when the size of the atomic system becomes comparable to the wavelength of the light it interacts with. For atoms, such a regime is impossible to reach, however, for artificial atomic systems such ‘giant atom’ physics can be explored. Here, Wang et al demonstrate giant spin ensembles, consisting of magnetic spheres coupled to a microwave waveguide.

    • Zi-Qi Wang
    • , Yi-Pu Wang
    •  & J. Q. You
  • Article
    | Open Access

    The existing paradigms of system-bath control typically assume that the bath state is unchanged. By using spin defects in diamond, Dasari et al. demonstrate a scheme for controlling the state of the nuclear spin bath via selective measurements of the central qubit as a way of extending the qubit coherence time.

    • Durga Bhaktavatsala Rao Dasari
    • , Sen Yang
    •  & Jörg Wrachtrup
  • Article
    | Open Access

    A unified metric to assess the performances of quantum transducers, i.e., converters of quantum information between different physical systems - is still lacking. Here the authors propose quantum capacity as such metric, and use it to investigate the optimal designs of generic quantum transduction schemes.

    • Chiao-Hsuan Wang
    • , Fangxin Li
    •  & Liang Jiang
  • Article
    | Open Access

    The use of machine learning to characterise quantum states has been demonstrated, but usually training the algorithm using data from the same state one wants to characterise. Here, the authors show an algorithm that can learn all states that share structural similarities with the ones used for the training.

    • Yan Zhu
    • , Ya-Dong Wu
    •  & Giulio Chiribella