Onchip Photonics Advance Toward Scalable Quantum Computers


A team of physicists and engineers at Bristol University has demonstrated exquisite control of single particles of light — photons — on a silicon chip to make a major advance towards long-sought-after quantum technologies, including super-powerful quantum computers and ultra-precise measurements. The most exciting thing about this work is its potential for scalability. The small size of the [device] means that far greater complexity is possible than with large-scale optics

The Bristol Centre for Quantum Photonics has demonstrated precise control of four photons using a microscopic metal electrode lithographically patterned onto a silicon chip. The photons propagate in silica waveguides — much like in optical fibres — patterned on a silicon chip, and are manipulated with the electrode, resulting in a high-performance miniaturized device.

Making two photons “talk” to each other to generate the all-important entangled states is much harder, but Professor O’Brien and his colleagues at the University of Queensland demonstrated this in a quantum logic gate back in 2003 [Nature 426, 264 (2003)].

Last year, the Centre for Quantum Photonics at Bristol showed how such interactions between photons could be realised on a silicon chip, pointing the way to advanced quantum technologies based on photons [Science 320, 646 (2008)].

Photons are also required to “talk” to each other to realise the ultra-precise measurements that harness the laws of quantum mechanics. In 2007 Professor O’Brien and his Japanese collaborators reported such a quantum metrology measurement with four photons [Science 316, 726 (2007)].

“Despite these impressive advances, the ability to manipulate photons on a chip has been missing,” said Mr Politi.

The team coupled photons into and out of the chip, fabricated at CIP Technologies, using optical fibres. Application of a voltage across the metal electrode changed the temperature of the silica waveguide directly beneath it, thereby changing the path that the photons travelled. By measuring the output of the device they confirmed high-performance manipulation of photons in the chip.

The researchers proved that one of the strangest phenomena of the quantum world, namely “quantum entanglement”, was achieved on-chip with up to four photons. Quantum entanglement of two particles means that the state of either of the particles is not defined, but only their collective state, and results in an instantaneous linking of the particles.

This on-chip entanglement has important applications in quantum metrology and the team demonstrated an ultra-precise measurement in this way.

“As well as quantum computing and quantum metrology, on-chip photonic quantum circuits could have important applications in quantum communication, since they can be easily integrated with optical fibres to send photons between remote locations,” said Alberto Politi.

“The really exciting thing about this result is that it will enable the development of reconfigurable and adaptive quantum circuits for photons. This opens up all kinds of possibilities,” said Prof O’Brien.

“The most exciting thing about this work is its potential for scalability. The small size of the [device] means that far greater complexity is possible than with large-scale optics.”

FURTHER READING
Abstract in Nature Photonics journal Manipulation of multiphoton entanglement in waveguide quantum circuits

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 plusminus 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 plusminus 0.4% and 92 plusminus 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 plusminus 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.

5 pages of supplemental information to the Nature Photonics paper.