Single photons and quantum effects articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantum communications will be used to transmit entanglement and secure keys, but it is important to estimate their optimal transfer rates. Here the authors compute the fundamental limit of repeaterless quantum communications for the most relevant practical scenario.

    • Stefano Pirandola
    • , Riccardo Laurenza
    •  & Leonardo Banchi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hyper-complex quantum theories are generalizations of quantum mechanics where amplitudes are generalized complex numbers. Here the authors study phase commutation in a photonic experiment, reporting consistency with standard quantum mechanics and placing precise bounds on hyper-complex theories.

    • Lorenzo M. Procopio
    • , Lee A. Rozema
    •  & Philip Walther

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photon twins are important for interdisciplinary research fields using non-classical light, such as quantum biology. Here, Heindelet al. demonstrate that a single semiconductor quantum dot integrated into a microlens operates as an efficient photon-pair source.

    • T. Heindel
    • , A. Thoma
    •  & S. Reitzenstein

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Bell’s theorem has important implications for quantum information processing. Here the authors experimentally investigate the violation of a Bell-like inequality in the case of distant parties whose correlations are mediated by independent sources, a realistic feature in future quantum networks.

    • Gonzalo Carvacho
    • , Francesco Andreoli
    •  & Fabio Sciarrino

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Silicon vacancy centres in diamond have been identified as potential highly efficient solid-state qubits for on-chip integration. Here, Zhouet al. demonstrate coherent control of silicon vacancy centres in nanodiamonds and observe Autler-Townes splitting, Mollow triplet and Rabi oscillations.

    • Yu Zhou
    • , Abdullah Rasmita
    •  & Wei-bo Gao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In quantum information technology the output of one element often does not match the required frequency and bandwidth of the input of the next element. Here, Allgaieret al. demonstrate simultaneous frequency and bandwidth conversion of single photons without changing their quantum statistics.

    • Markus Allgaier
    • , Vahid Ansari
    •  & Christine Silberhorn

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Precise quantum state preparation plays an important role in quantum information processing. Here, Premaratneet al. use stimulated Raman adiabatic passage to transfer population from a superconducting transmon qubit to a cavity Fock state.

    • Shavindra P. Premaratne
    • , F. C. Wellstood
    •  & B. S. Palmer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The state of a single photon can be stored as a Rydberg excitation using electromagnetically induced transparency, and this enables nonlinear interactions at the single-photon level. Here, the authors store a paired photon emitted by a quantum memory in an ensemble-based, highly nonlinear medium.

    • Emanuele Distante
    • , Pau Farrera
    •  & Hugues de Riedmatten

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Solid-state emitters enable broadband quantum information storage, but they are affected by decoherence resulting from inhomogeneous broadening. Here the authors suppress this effect via cavity protection at the single photon level in an ensemble of rare-earth ions coupled to a nanophotonic resonator.

    • Tian Zhong
    • , Jonathan M. Kindem
    •  & Andrei Faraon

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Looped trajectories of photons in a three-slit interference experiment could modify the resulting intensity pattern, but they are experimentally hard to observe. Here the authors exploit surface plasmon excitations to increase their probability, measuring their contribution and confirming Born’s rule.

    • Omar S Magaña-Loaiza
    • , Israel De Leon
    •  & Robert W. Boyd

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The efficient excitation of atoms using photons is a fundamental step in the control of photon-atom interaction and quantum information protocols. Here the authors show that photons with an exponentially rising envelope excite a single atom efficiently compared to a decaying temporal shape.

    • Victor Leong
    • , Mathias Alexander Seidler
    •  & Christian Kurtsiefer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hybrid quantum systems combine efficient high-quality quantum dot sources with atomic vapours that can serve as precise frequency standards or quantum memories. Here, Portalupi et al. demonstrate an optimized atomic Cs-Faraday filter working with single photons emitted from a semiconductor quantum dot.

    • Simone Luca Portalupi
    • , Matthias Widmann
    •  & Ilja Gerhardt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Generation of narrowband pure and storable single photons is an enabling step towards hybrid quantum networks interconnecting different systems. Here the authors report on a heralded single photon source based on a cold ensemble of atoms with controllable emission time and high photon shape tunability.

    • Pau Farrera
    • , Georg Heinze
    •  & Hugues de Riedmatten

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantum information processing requires long-storage time of quantum states, but this typically comes at the expense of their addressability. Here the authors developed a method that exploits interaction between Rydberg and ground states of an atom reporting fast state generation and long-term storage.

    • Lin Li
    •  & A Kuzmich

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Multipartite entangled states are a fundamental resource for quantum information processing tasks; it is thus important to verify their presence. Here the authors present and demonstrate a protocol that allows any party in a network to verify if an untrusted source is distributing multipartite entangled states.

    • W. McCutcheon
    • , A. Pappa
    •  & M. S. Tame

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides hold promise as scalable single-photon sources. Here, the authors demonstrate all-electrical, single-photon generation in tungsten disulphide and diselenide, achieving charge injection into the layers, containing quantum emitters.

    • Carmen Palacios-Berraquero
    • , Matteo Barbone
    •  & Mete Atatüre

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantum-network protocols based on photon-atom interfaces have stimulated a great demand for single-photon sources with narrow bandwidth. Here the authors report the generation of entangled photon pairs with controllable bandwidth and coherence time from a Doppler-broadened hot atomic vapour cell.

    • Chi Shu
    • , Peng Chen
    •  & Shengwang Du

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Single-photon optical nonlinearity is possible using an optical cavity to create strong coupling between a cavity mode and a two-level quantum system. Here, the authors demonstrate it is also possible in the weak-coupling regime by using quantum interference in a polarization-degenerate cavity.

    • H. Snijders
    • , J. A. Frey
    •  & W. Löffler

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Vacuum fluctuations can produce observable phenomena which can potentially be harnessed, for example using the dynamical Casimir effect. Here, the authors show that, on the basis of the same effect, it is possible to establish distinct two-mode coherence correlations in a pumped microwave cavity owing to absence of which-way information.

    • Pasi Lähteenmäki
    • , Gheorghe Sorin Paraoanu
    •  & Pertti J. Hakonen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Microwave single photon sources are important for quantum applications, but their design often incorporates a resonator that fixes the frequency of the emitted photon. Here, the authors demonstrate a tuneable on-demand photon source based on an artificial atom asymmetrically coupled to two transmission lines.

    • Z. H. Peng
    • , S. E. de Graaf
    •  & O. V. Astafiev

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Single-photon detection is challenging in the microwave regime due to the small photon energy. Here, the authors demonstrate the deterministic detection of single microwave photons through an impedenance-matched artificial Λ system composed by a driven superconducting qubit and a microwave resonator.

    • Kunihiro Inomata
    • , Zhirong Lin
    •  & Yasunobu Nakamura

  • Article
    | Open Access

    No noncontextual hidden-variable model can be consistent with quantum theory, but proving such an inconsistency with nature itself is a long-standing problem. Here, the authors devise experimentally-achievable tests of noncontextuality and perform a photonic implementation that rules out such models.

    • Michael D. Mazurek
    • , Matthew F. Pusey
    •  & Robert W. Spekkens

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cold atomic ensembles have been considered suitable platforms to realize quantum memories, but their scalability is limited by the cooling apparatuses. Here, the authors show how room temperature atomic microcells can be used for discrete variable ensemble-based quantum information processing.

    • J. Borregaard
    • , M. Zugenmaier
    •  & A. S. Sørensen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Scalable networks for processing and distribution of quantum information using photons can be achieved by using multiplexed quantum states. Here, the authors report frequency-multimode storage and spectral-temporal photon manipulation of heralded single photons at telecom wavelength, in a fully integrated setting.

    • Erhan Saglamyurek
    • , Marcelli Grimau Puigibert
    •  & Wolfgang Tittel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Deterministically generated single photons are useful for quantum communications, but the processes that create such light are often non-deterministic. Here, the authors enhance the single-photon output probability by multiplexing photons from four temporal modes using fibre-integrated optics.

    • C. Xiong
    • , X. Zhang
    •  & B. J. Eggleton

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Interacting light beams are required for all-optical information processing, but such nonlinear effects are tiny at the single-photon level. Here, the authors show that a single quantum dot in a photonic-crystal waveguide enables the necessary giant optical nonlinearity.

    • A. Javadi
    • , I. Söllner
    •  & P. Lodahl

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The more degrees of freedom a quantum observable has, the more complicated it is to measure its probability distribution. Here, the authors deduce the mean and variance of an infinite-dimensional variable, the orbital angular momentum of light, from a two-dimensional one: spin angular momentum.

    • Bruno Piccirillo
    • , Sergei Slussarenko
    •  & Enrico Santamato

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Optomechanics is the use of light to control the motion of a mechanical resonator, potentially cooling it to the quantum ground state. Here, the authors cool a millimetre-scale silicon nitride membrane to an effective temperature of 34 microkelvin by coupling it to a three-dimensional microwave cavity.

    • Mingyun Yuan
    • , Vibhor Singh
    •  & Gary A. Steele

  • Article |

    A large volume of active material in a single-photon detector enhances absorption efficiency at the expense of conversion efficiency, noise and speed. Here the authors overcome this tradeoff in a near-perfect absorber architecture for a waveguide-integrated superconducting nanowire single-photon detector.

    • Mohsen K. Akhlaghi
    • , Ellen Schelew
    •  & Jeff F. Young

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photons emitted from a quantum dot typically have slightly different frequencies owing to various sources of noise. Here, the authors suppress the noise, notably the noise arising from the nuclear spins, and demonstrate single-photon emission with a transform-limited optical linewidth.

    • Andreas V. Kuhlmann
    • , Jonathan H. Prechtel
    •  & Richard J. Warburton

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Self-assembled quantum dots are good emitters, but lack emission control prior to device fabrication. Here a photoluminescence imaging technique to characterize position and emission properties of such quantum dots is demonstrated, enabling the realization of high-performance single-photon sources.

    • Luca Sapienza
    • , Marcelo Davanço
    •  & Kartik Srinivasan

  • Article |

    Single-photon emitters are required for quantum cryptography and computation and single-photon metrology. Here, Lohrmannet al. fabricate electrically driven, single-photon emitting diodes in silicon carbide with a fully polarized output, high emission rates and stability at room temperature.

    • A. Lohrmann
    • , N. Iwamoto
    •  & B.C. Johnson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Implementations of known quantum teleportation techniques suffer from a number of technical limitations, most notably the scaling of the required classical resources. Here, the authors implement a new protocol, superdense teleportation, which requires fewer resources than the conventional approaches.

    • Trent M. Graham
    • , Herbert J. Bernstein
    •  & Paul G Kwiat

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the nature of coherent absorption is essential for exploiting it in new technologies. Here, the authors show that a metamaterial can deterministically absorb photons from a travelling wave with nearly unitary probability, down to the single-photon level.

    • Thomas Roger
    • , Stefano Vezzoli
    •  & Daniele Faccio

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The recently observed rotation of a photon's polarization by interaction with a single solid state spin has potential implications in quantum computing. Here, Arnold et al. demonstrate enhanced spin–photon coupling and polarization rotation via a coupled quantum dot/micropillar cavity system.

    • Christophe Arnold
    • , Justin Demory
    •  & Loïc Lanco

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ultrafast imaging schemes can enable a diverse range of applications but require long acquisition times or raster scanning. Here, Gariepy et al. demonstrate visualization and rapid characterization of light-in-flight and laser-induced plasma formation using single-photon detector arrays.

    • Genevieve Gariepy
    • , Nikola Krstajić
    •  & Daniele Faccio

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Advances in low-light-level imaging techniques have shown that imaging in the one photon per pixel regime is possible. Here, Morris et al. demonstrate high-quality image reconstruction using ghost and heralded imaging with less than one photon per image pixel with a time-gated intensified camera.

    • Peter A. Morris
    • , Reuben S. Aspden
    •  & Miles J. Padgett

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Controlling the coherent evolution of cavity quantum electrodynamics systems is key for future quantum networks. Here Pagliano et al.demonstrate dynamic control of the coupling of a single exciton to a photonic micro-resonator using electrical tuning of the exciton energy in a photonic crystal cavity diode.

    • Francesco Pagliano
    • , YongJin Cho
    •  & Andrea Fiore

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