Photonic Integrated Circuits for Quantum Communication

Quantum communication in space allows to bridge large distances and also extend the tests over large distances, and represents an important step towards building a quantum internet. We discuss translating quantum optics experiments from laboratory setups to the upcoming QEYSSat space mission. Full-text article not available; see video presentation

Quantum communications have progressed significantly, moving from a theoretical concept to small-scale experiments to recent metropolitan-scale demonstrations. As the technology matures, it is expected to revolutionize quantum computing in much the same way that classical networks revolutionized classical computing. Quantum communications will also enable breakthroughs in quantum sensing, metrology, and other areas. However, scalability has emerged as a major challenge, particularly in terms of the number and heterogeneity of nodes, the distances between nodes, the diversity of applications, and the scale of user demand. This paper describes InterQnet, a multidisciplinary project that advances scalable quantum communications through a comprehensive approach that improves devices, error handling, and network architecture. InterQnet has a two-pronged strategy to address scalability challenges: <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">InterQnet-Achieve</i> focuses on practical realizations of heterogeneous quantum networks by building and then integrating first-generation quantum repeaters with error mitigation schemes and centralized automated network control systems. The resulting system will enable quantum communications between two heterogeneous quantum platforms through a third type of platform operating as a repeater node. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">InterQnet-Scale</i> focuses on a systems study of architectural choices for scalable quantum networks by developing forward-looking models of quantum network devices, advanced error correction schemes, and entanglement protocols. Here we report our current progress toward achieving our scalability goals.

Entanglement between a photon and a stationary particle is a key resource for quantum communication. The effect has now been observed for a photon and a single electron spin in a semiconductor nanostructure. See Letters p.421 & p.426 Future quantum networks will combine ideally stationary quantum bits (qubits), such as single electron spins, with 'flying' qubits, which are photons that transfer quantum states between distant qubits. It has therefore been a long-standing challenge in the field of quantum computation and communication to couple a single electron spin to a single photon in a solid-state platform. Two groups working independently have now achieved that goal, by demonstrating entanglement between a photon and a single electron spin trapped in a semiconductor 'quantum dot' structure. The quantum dot acts as the stationary node. This achievement is a small step towards eventual implementation of quantum networks that can support long-distance quantum communication.

With their ability to process and transfer quantum information, large-scale entanglement-based quantum networks could be at the heart of a new age of quantum information, enabling fundamentally new applications such as distributed quantum computation, quantum communication, and quantum enhanced sensing. Due to their long spin coherence, controllable local qubit registers and optically active spins, color centers in diamond are prime candidates for nodes of such a network, and have enabled some of the most advanced quantum network demonstrations to date. These demonstrations include the distribution of a 3-node GHZ state across a quantum network, entanglement swapping, entanglement distillation, and memory-enhanced quantum communication. To move beyond current proof-of-principle networks, a further increase of entanglement generation rates is crucial. This thesis presents theoretical and experimental work on enhancing the spin-photon interface of color centers in diamond to achieve this goal, making use of the Purcell effect. The discussed work follows two main directions: embedding of color centers in open, tuneable Fabry-Perot micro-cavities, and in all-diamond photonic crystal cavities. First, we describe theoretical and experimental progress towards cavity-enhanced quantum networks based on nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond. Due to their first order sensitivity to electric fields, we choose to embed NV centers in microns-thin diamond membranes that can be integrated into open fiber-based micro-cavities. We develop analytical methods to optimize the design of such open cavity systems for maximum Purcell enhancement of embedded color centers. We demonstrate a method to fabricate optically coherent NV centers in microns-thin diamond membranes, and use such structures to demonstrate the resonant excitation and detection of coherent, Purcell enhanced NV emission. A theoretical model in excellent agreement with our results suggests our system can improve entanglement rates between distant NV centers by two orders of magnitude with near-term improvements to the setup. Second, we describe progress towards an efficient spin-photon interface of group-IV color centers in diamond by coupling them to photonic nanostructures, allowing for large-scale integration. Due to their first-order insensitivity to electric fields, group-IV color centers can be brought in close proximity to surfaces (~ 100 nm), allowing for sub-wavelength mode volumes and thus very high Purcell factors. We numerically optimize photonic crystal cavity designs to maximize the Purcell enhancement of embedded emitters, test the robustness of our designs to real-world fabrication imperfections, and devise a method to efficiently interface nanophotonic structures. We then proceed to fabricate all-diamond photonic crystal cavities, making use of a dry etching technique that is selective to different crystallographic directions, and characterize the resulting optical quality factors. Finally, we marry the developed fabrication methods to fabricate microns-sized diamond platelets that can be transferred from a holding frame in a controlled fashion. This capability could be crucial for the realization of hybrid photonic circuits that we expect to be at the heart of future large-scale quantum networks.

Quantum information technology has been developing rapidly in last two decades. Very recently, quite a few optical quantum key distribution networks have been reported, enabling preliminary practical applications in secure information transfer. Meanwhile, a number of significant progresses based on quantum network have also been made in the research of linear optical quantum computing, simulation and metrology. However, on the way towards large-scale optical quantum network serious problems occur. On the one hand, the distance of fiber-based quantum communication is limited, due to intrinsic fiber loss and decreasing of entanglement quality caused by the noisy environment. On the other hand, the probabilistic feature of single and entangled photon sources would also cause an exponentially increasing overhead for large-scale quantum network. To solve the above problems, quantum repeaters and/or transmission of optical quantum bits over free space channel can be efficiently exploited for future wide-area realization of quantum communication. In addition, memory built-in quantum repeaters would also enable scalable linear optical quantum computing, simulation and high precision measurement. In this talk I will present some recent experiments from our group, including eight-photon entanglement, topological quantum error-correction, quantum repeater and efficient and long-lived quantum memory, and entanglement distribution and quantum teleportation over 100km-scale free-space quantum channels. These experiments show the promising future possibility towards scalable quantum network with photons and atoms.

Quantum state transfer is an important task in quantum information processing. It is known that one can engineer the couplings of a one-dimensional spin chain to achieve the goal of perfect state transfer. To leverage the value of these spin chains, a spin star is potentially useful for connecting different parts of a quantum network. In this work, we extend the spin-chain engineering problem to the problems with a topology of a star network. We show that a permanently coupled spin star can function as a network switch for transferring quantum states selectively from one node to another by varying the local potentials only. Together with one-dimensional chains, this result allows applications of quantum state transfer to be applied to more general quantum networks.

The novel field of quantum computation and quantum information has gathered significant momentum in the last few years. It has the potential to radically impact the future of information technology and influence the development of modern society. The construction of practical, general purpose quantum computers has been challenging, but quantum cryptographic and communication devices have been available in the commercial marketplace for several years. Quantum networks have been built in various cities around the world and a dedicated satellite has been launched by China to provide secure quantum communication. Such new technologies demand rigorous analysis and verification before they can be trusted in safety- and security-critical applications. Experience with classical hardware and software systems has shown the difficulty of achieving robust and reliable implementations. We present CCS q , a concurrent language for describing quantum systems, and develop verification techniques for checking equivalence between CCS q processes. CCS q has well-defined operational and superoperator semantics for protocols that are functional , in the sense of computing a deterministic input-output relation for all interleavings arising from concurrency in the system. We have implemented QEC (Quantum Equivalence Checker), a tool that takes the specification and implementation of quantum protocols, described in CCS q , and automatically checks their equivalence. QEC is the first fully automatic equivalence checking tool for concurrent quantum systems. For efficiency purposes, we restrict ourselves to Clifford operators in the stabilizer formalism, but we are able to verify protocols over all input states. We have specified and verified a collection of interesting and practical quantum protocols, ranging from quantum communication and quantum cryptography to quantum error correction.

Teleporting energy to remote locations is new challenge for quantum information science and technology. Developing a method for transferring local energy in laboratory systems to remote locations will enable non‐trivial energy flows in quantum networks. From the perspective of quantum information engineering, we propose a method for distributing local energy to a large number of remote nodes using hyperbolic geometry. Hyperbolic networks are suitable for energy allocation in large quantum networks since the number of nodes grows exponentially. To realise long‐range quantum energy teleportation (QET), we propose a hybrid method of quantum state telepotation and QET. By transmitting local quantum information through quantum teleportation and performing conditional operations on that information, QET can theoretically be realized independent of geographical distance. The method we present will provide new insights into new applications of future large‐scale quantum networks and potential applications of quantum physics to information engineering.

Quantum networks are composed of quantum nodes which coherently interact by way of quantum channels. They offer powerful capabilities for quantum computation, communication, and metrology. A generic requirement for these realizations is the capability to generate and store quantum states among multiple quantum nodes, and to disseminate these resources throughout the network via the quantum channels. In this thesis, I describe a series of experiments whereby single excitations in atomic ensembles are strongly coupled to optical modes and provide efficient means for the coherent control of entangled states between matter and light. By following the seminal proposal by Duan et al., we have generated measurement-induced entanglement of an excitation between two cold atomic ensembles. Using this system, we investigated the relationship for the global bipartite entanglement and local correlations in its subsystems. In addition, we achieved functional quantum nodes for entanglement distribution. Two pairs of remote ensembles at two quantum nodes were prepared into entangled states in a heralded and asynchronous fashion by the conditional controls of the entanglement. The quantum states of the ensembles were then distributed into polarization entangled states of photons. We also prepared an analogous quantum state and transferred the nonlocal coherence between two pairs of heralded entangled atomic ensembles, providing a step towards entanglement connection. Beyond such probabilistic approaches, we demonstrated an experiment where entanglement between two quantum memories is created by the reversible and deterministic mapping of an entangled state of light via dynamic electromagnetically induced transparency. This experiment opens novel prospects of integrating hybrid quantum systems by way of reversible quantum interfaces between light and matter. Then, we extended our work to multipartite quantum systems. We theoretically investigated the characterization of multipartite mode-entangled states by way of quantum uncertainty relations, and introduced theoretical tools to verify the entanglement orders in multipartite systems. In particular, we achieved entanglement for one delocalized photon among multiple optical modes (N > 2). Finally, we have achieved measurement-induced entanglement of spin waves among four quantum memories. The individual atomic components for the entangled W state of the four ensembles were then coherently converted into four propagating entangled beams of light via superradiant emissions. We observed the statistical and dynamic transitions for the multipartite entangled spin waves. Experiments described in this thesis thereby represent significant advances of experimental and theoretical capabilities to generate, store, transfer, and characterize entanglement of matter and light over quantum networks.

Quantum entanglement is one of the most important resources in quantum information. In recent years, the research of quantum entanglement mainly focused on the increase in the number of entangled qubits or the high-dimensional entanglement of two particles. Compared with qubit states, multipartite high-dimensional entangled states have beneficial properties and are powerful for constructing quantum networks. However, there are few studies on multipartite high-dimensional quantum entanglement due to the difficulty of creating such states. In this paper, we experimentally prepared a multipartite high-dimensional state left|{Psi }_{442}rightrangle =frac{1}{2}(left|000rightrangle +left|110rightrangle +left|221rightrangle +left|331rightrangle ) by using the path mode of photons. We obtain the fidelity F = 0.854 ± 0.007 of the quantum state, which proves a real multipartite high-dimensional entangled state. Finally, we use this quantum state to demonstrate a layered quantum network in principle. Our work highlights another route toward complex quantum networks.

Realizing quantum networks requires efficient and scalable quantum memories and repeaters. I will discuss how we developed a photonic integrated circuit module with a heterogeneously integrated solid-state color-center qubit chiplet for these uses. Full-text article not available; see video presentation

Optically interfaced spin qubits based on diamond and silicon carbide color centers are considered promising candidates for scalable quantum networks and sensors. However, they can also be used to build chip-scale quantum many body systems with tunable all to all interactions between qubits enabled by photonics - useful for quantum simulation and possibly computing. Full-text article not available; see video presentation

Quantum interconnects will be key to scale quantum computers and deploy quantum networks. I discuss what is required to realize practical, high-bandwidth quantum interconnects using microwave-to-optical transducers based on integrated photonics. Full-text article not available; see video presentation

For quantum states of two subsystems, entanglement measures are related to capacities of communication tasks -- highly entangled states give higher capacity of transmitting classical as well as quantum information. However, we show that this is no more the case in general: quantum capacities of multi-access channels, motivated by communication in quantum networks, do not have any relation with genuine multiparty entanglement measures. Along with revealing the structural richness of multi-access channel capacities, this gives us a tool to classify multiparty quantum states from the perspective of its usefulness in quantum networks, which cannot be visualized by known multiparty entanglement measures.

In this paper, we propose a mesh-topology-based multi-hop teleportation scheme for a quantum network. By using the proposed scheme, quantum communication can be realized between two arbitrary nodes, even when they do not share a direct quantum channel. Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen pairs are used as quantum channels. The source node (initial sender) and all intermediate nodes make Bell measurements independently. They send the results to the destination node (final receiver) by classical channels. The quantum state can be determined from the Bell measurement result, and only the destination node is required for simple unitary transformation. This method of simultaneous measurement contributes significantly to quantum network by reducing the hop-by-hop transmission delay.