arXiv subjects

Denton Wu

Publications and source records attributed to Denton Wu.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Trapped Ion Quantum Networking and Telecommunications Coexisting on One Fiber

Research into long-distance quantum memory-based networking to date has exclusively used dark fibers. This avoids the detector background from telecommunications (telecom) traffic, but as a result excludes many fibers deployed in the field. If memory-photon entanglement and telecom signals coexist on one fiber, the entire classical fiber infrastructure becomes available for quantum links. We present the first experimental demonstration of such coexistence. Ion-photon entanglement using 1092 nm photons emitted by a Strontium-88 ion is distributed over a deployed 2.8 km fiber loop which carries Ethernet and 5G traffic. All classical control signals required to coordinate the quantum transmitter and receiver systems co-propagate on the same fiber. These include fiber sensing for polarization stabilization. Our results demonstrate that memory-based quantum networks can be realized on active classical network infrastructure.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Robust Ion-Photon Entanglement via Polarization-to-Time-Bin Conversion

Time-bin photonic qubits are well-suited for quantum network applications due to their robustness to polarization instability in fiber links and potential for heterogeneous networks. In this work, we implement the first entanglement-preserving polarization-to-time-bin conversion of a photon qubit in an entangled state with a matter qubit, together with the independent work of Haen \textit{et al.} \cite{haen2026telecom}. Photons initially generated with polarization encoding are converted to the time-bin basis through a polarization-discriminating asymmetric Mach--Zehnder interferometer. The photonic qubits are generated via the $1092$~nm transition of a $^{88}$Sr$^{+}$ ion. We measure state fidelity bounds of $0.906 \pm 0.011 \le \mathcal{F} \le 0.934\pm 0.011$, with conversion error $< 0.028$, and find this fidelity shows no statistically significant reduction under depolarizing noise, even at full depolarization strength.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Agentic AI for Scalable and Robust Optical Systems Control

We present AgentOptics, an agentic AI framework for high-fidelity, autonomous optical system control built on the Model Context Protocol (MCP). AgentOptics interprets natural language tasks and executes protocol-compliant actions on heterogeneous optical devices through a structured tool abstraction layer. We implement 64 standardized MCP tools across 8 representative optical devices and construct a 410-task benchmark to evaluate request understanding, role-aware responses, multi-step coordination, robustness to linguistic variation, and error handling. We assess two deployment configurations--commercial online LLMs and locally hosted open-source LLMs--and compare them with LLM-based code generation baselines. AgentOptics achieves 87.7%--99.0% average task success rates, significantly outperforming code-generation approaches, which reach up to 50% success. We further demonstrate broader applicability through five case studies extending beyond device-level control to system orchestration, monitoring, and closed-loop optimization. These include DWDM link provisioning and coordinated monitoring of coherent 400 GbE and analog radio-over-fiber (ARoF) channels; autonomous characterization and bias optimization of a wideband ARoF link carrying 5G fronthaul traffic; multi-span channel provisioning with launch power optimization; closed-loop fiber polarization stabilization; and distributed acoustic sensing (DAS)-based fiber monitoring with LLM-assisted event detection. These results establish AgentOptics as a scalable, robust paradigm for autonomous control and orchestration of heterogeneous optical systems.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2025

Kilometer-Scale Ion-Photon Entanglement with a Metastable $^{88}$Sr$^{+}$ Qubit

We demonstrate entanglement between the polarization of an infrared photon and a metastable $^{88}$Sr$^+$ ion qubit. This entanglement persists after transmitting the photon over a $2.8\:$km long commercial fiber deployed in an urban environment. Tomography of the ion-photon entangled state yields a fidelity of $0.949(4)$ within the laboratory and $0.929(5)$ after fiber transmission, not corrected for readout errors. Our results establish the Strontium ion as a promising candidate for metropolitan-scale quantum networking based on an atomic transition at $1092\:$nm, a wavelength compatible with existing telecom fiber infrastructure.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

From Intuition to Understanding: Using AI Peers to Overcome Physics Misconceptions

Generative AI has the potential to transform personalization and accessibility of education. However, it raises serious concerns about accuracy and helping students become independent critical thinkers. In this study, we designed a helpful AI "Peer" to help students correct fundamental physics misconceptions related to Newtonian mechanic concepts. In contrast to approaches that seek near-perfect accuracy to create an authoritative AI tutor or teacher, we directly inform students that this AI can answer up to 40% of questions incorrectly. In a randomized controlled trial with 165 students, those who engaged in targeted dialogue with the AI Peer achieved post-test scores that were, on average, 10.5 percentage points higher - with over 20 percentage points higher normalized gain - than a control group that discussed physics history. Qualitative feedback indicated that 91% of the treatment group's AI interactions were rated as helpful. Furthermore, by comparing student performance on pre- and post-test questions about the same concept, along with experts' annotations of the AI interactions, we find initial evidence suggesting the improvement in performance does not depend on the correctness of the AI. With further research, the AI Peer paradigm described here could open new possibilities for how we learn, adapt to, and grow with AI.

cs.CY↗