arXiv subjects

Olivier Pfister

Publications and source records attributed to Olivier Pfister.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

A squeezed quantum microcomb on a chip

The optical microresonator-based frequency comb (microcomb) provides a versatile platform for nonlinear physics studies and has wide applications ranging from metrology to spectroscopy. Deterministic quantum regime is an unexplored aspect of microcombs, in which unconditional entanglements among hundreds of equidistant frequency modes can serve as critical ingredients to scalable universal quantum computing and quantum networking. Here, we demonstrate a deterministic quantum microcomb in a silica microresonator on a silicon chip. 40 continuous-variable quantum modes, in the form of 20 simultaneously two-mode squeezed comb pairs, are observed within 1 THz optical span at telecommunication wavelengths. A maximum raw squeezing of 1.6 dB is attained. A high-resolution spectroscopy measurement is developed to characterize the frequency equidistance of quantum microcombs. Our demonstration offers the possibility to leverage deterministically generated, frequency multiplexed quantum states and integrated photonics to open up new avenues in fields of spectroscopy, quantum metrology, and scalable quantum information processing.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2021

Fock state interferometry for quantum enhanced phase discrimination

We study Fock state interferometry, consisting of a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer with two Fock state inputs and photon-number-resolved detection at the two outputs. We show that it allows discrimination of a discrete number of apriori-known optical phase shifts with an error probability lower than what is feasible with classical techniques under a mean photon number constraint. We compare its performance with the optimal quantum probe for M-ary phase discrimination, which unlike our probe, is difficult to prepare. Our technique further allows discriminating a null phase shift from an increasingly small one at zero probability of error under ideal conditions, a feature impossible to attain using classical probe light. Finally, we describe one application to quantum reading with binary phase-encoded memory pixels.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Heisenberg-limited quantum interferometry with multi-photon subtracted twin beams

We propose a Heisenberg-limited quantum interferometer whose input is twin optical beams from which one or more photons have been indistinguishably subtracted. Such an interferometer can yield Heisenberg-limited performance while at the same time giving a direct fringe reading, unlike for the twin-beam input of the Holland-Burnett interferometer. We propose a feasible experimental realization using a photon-number correlated source, such as non-degenerate parametric down-conversion, and perform realistic analyses of performance in the presence of loss and detector inefficiency.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Hypercubic cluster states in the phase modulated quantum optical frequency comb

We propose and fully analyze the simplest technique to date to generate light-based universal quantum computing resources, namely 2D, 3D and, in general, n-hypercubic cluster states. The technique uses two standard optical components: first, a single optical parametric oscillator pumped below threshold by a monochromatic field, which generates Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen entangled states, a.k.a. two-mode-squeezed states, over the quantum optical frequency comb; second, phase modulation at frequencies multiple of the comb spacing (via RF or optical means). The unprecedented compactness of this technique paves the way to implementing quantum computing on chip using quantum nanophotonics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Generalized overlap quantum state tomography

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a quantum state tomography protocol that generalizes the Wallentowitz-Vogel-Banaszek-Wódkiewicz point-by-point Wigner function reconstruction. The full density operator of an arbitrary quantum state is efficiently reconstructed in the Fock basis, using semidefinite programming, after interference with a small set of calibrated coherent states. This new protocol is resource- and computationally efficient, is robust against noise, does not rely on approximate state displacements, and ensures the physicality of results.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Photon-number-resolving segmented detectors based on single-photon avalanche-photodiodes

We investigate the feasibility and performance of photon-number-resolved photodetection employing single-photon avalanche photodiodes (SPADs) with low dark counts. While the main idea, to split $n$ photons into $m$ detection modes with no more than one photon per mode, is not new, we investigate here a important variant of this situation where SPADs are side-coupled to the same waveguide rather than terminally coupled to a propagation tree. This prevents the nonideal SPAD quantum efficiency from contributing to photon loss. We propose a concrete SPAD segmented waveguide detector based on vertical directional coupler design, and characterize its performance by evaluating the purities of positive-operator-valued measurements (POVMs) in terms of SPAD number $m$, photon loss, and dark counts.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2019

Non-Gaussian and Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill state preparation by photon catalysis

Continuous-variable quantum-computing (CVQC) is the most scalable implementation of QC to date but requires non-Gaussian resources to allow exponential speedup and quantum correction, using error encoding such as Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) states. However, GKP state generation is still an experimental challenge. We show theoretically that photon catalysis, the interference of coherent states with single-photon states followed by photon-number-resolved detection, is a powerful enabler for non-Gaussian quantum state engineering such as exactly displaced single-photon states and $M$-symmetric superpositions of squeezed vacuum (SSV), including squeezed cat states ($M=2$). By including photon-counting based state breeding, we demonstrate the potential to enlarge SSV states and produce GKP states.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Spatiotemporal graph states from a single optical parametric oscillator

An experimental scheme is proposed for building massively multipartite entangled states using both the spatial and the frequency modes of an optical parametric oscillator. We provide analytical forms of the entangled states using the squeezed eigenmodes of Heisenberg equations, a.k.a. the nullifiers of the corresponding graph state. This scheme can generate, in parallel, several cluster states described by sparsely connected, bicolorable graph states, usable for one-way quantum computing. We indicate the experimentally accessible quantum graphs, depending on the squeezing parameter.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Continuous-variable quantum computing in the quantum optical frequency comb

This topical review introduces the theoretical and experimental advances in continuous-variable (CV) --- i.e., qumode-based in lieu of qubit-based --- large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computing and quantum simulation. An introduction to the physics and mathematics of multipartite entangled CV cluster states is given, and their connection to experimental concepts is delineated. Paths toward fault tolerance are also presented. It is the hope of the author that this review attract more contributors to the field and promote its extension to the promising technology of integrated quantum photonics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

State-independent quantum tomography of a single-photon state by photon-number-resolving measurements

The Wigner quasiprobability distribution of a narrowband single-photon state was reconstructed by quantum state tomography using photon-number-resolving measurements with transition-edge sensors (TES) at system efficiency 58(2)%. This method makes no assumptions on the nature of the measured state, save for the limitation on photon flux imposed by the TES. Negativity of the Wigner function was observed in the raw data without any inference or correction for decoherence.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

One-way quantum computing with arbitrarily large time-frequency continuous-variable cluster states from a single optical parametric oscillator

One-way quantum computing is experimentally appealing because it requires only local measurements on an entangled resource called a cluster state. Record-size, but non-universal, continuous-variable cluster states were recently demonstrated separately in the time and frequency domains. We propose to combine these approaches into a scalable architecture in which a single optical parametric oscillator and simple interferometer entangle up to ($3\times 10^3$ frequencies) $\times$ (unlimited number of temporal modes) into a new and computationally universal continuous-variable cluster state. We introduce a generalized measurement protocol to enable improved computational performance on this new entanglement resource.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2015

Engineering large-scale entanglement in the quantum optical frequency comb: influence of the quasiphasematching bandwidth and of dispersion

One of the most scalable methods for continuous-variable quantum computing is to encode quantum information in the quantum optical frequency comb generated by an optical parametric oscillator (OPO). The scalability is limited by the quasiphasematching bandwidth and dispersion of the OPO. We study both factors in this article. The results show that 3200 qumodes are probably entangled in our recent demonstration of a record 60-qumode entanglement.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2014

Direct measurement of the Wigner function by photon-number-resolving detection

Photon-number-revolving (PNR) detection allows the direct measurement of the Wigner quasiprobability distribution of an optical mode without the need for numerically processing an inverse Radon transform [K. Banaszek and K. Wódkiewicz, Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 4344 (1996)]. In this work, we reproduced the seminal experiment of Banaszek et al. [Phys. Rev. A 60, 674 (1999)] of quantum tomography of a pure coherent state, and of a statistical mixture thereof, and extended it to the more general case of photon fluxes with much more than one photon per detection time. This was made possible by the use of a superconducting transition-edge sensor to perform PNR detection from 0 to 5 photons at 1064 nm, at about 70% system efficiency and with no dead time. We detail signal acquisition and detection efficiency and discuss prospects for applying such quantum tomography to non-Gaussian states.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Weaving quantum optical frequency combs into continuous-variable hypercubic cluster states

Cluster states with higher-dimensional lattices that cannot be physically embedded in three-dimensional space have important theoretical interest in quantum computation and quantum simulation of topologically ordered condensed-matter systems. We present a simple, scalable, top-down method of entangling the quantum optical frequency comb into hypercubic-lattice continuous-variable cluster states of a size of about 10^4 quantum field modes, using existing technology. A hypercubic lattice of dimension D (linear, square, cubic, hypercubic, etc.) requires but D optical parametric oscillators with bichromatic pumps whose frequency splittings alone determine the lattice dimensionality and the number of copies of the state.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Experimental realization of multipartite entanglement of 60 modes of a quantum optical frequency comb

We report the experimental realization and characterization of one 60-mode copy, and of two 30-mode copies, of a dual-rail quantum-wire cluster state in the quantum optical frequency comb of a bimodally pumped optical parametric oscillator. This is the largest entangled system ever created whose subsystems are all available simultaneously. The entanglement proceeds from the coherent concatenation of a multitude of EPR pairs by a single beam splitter, a procedure which is also a building block for the realization of hypercubic-lattice cluster states for universal quantum computing.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2013

Generation of multipartite spin entanglement from multimode squeezed states

We investigate the systematic use of the Schwinger representation, by virtue of which two boson fields are equivalent to an effective spin, for casting multimode squeezed states into multipartite spin entangled states. The motivation for this endeavor is the following established fact: finitely squeezed, two-mode entangled states can be recast into maximally entangled bipartite spin states, irrespective of their level of squeezing (in the lossless case). This work explores the generalization of this interesting property to multipartite entanglement. While we found that the generalization of multipartite Gaussian entanglement to multipartite spin entanglement is not straightforward, there are nonetheless interesting features and entangled states to be found. Here we study a few CV entangled states already realized experimentally, and show that some of them correspond to multipartite spin entangled states.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2012

Large-scale multipartite entanglement in the quantum optical frequency comb of a depleted-pump optical parametric oscillator

We show theoretically that multipartite entanglement is generated on a massive scale in the spectrum, or optical frequency comb, of a single optical parametric oscillator (OPO) emitting well above threshold. In this system, the quantum dynamics of the strongly depleted pump field are responsible for the onset of the entanglement by correlating the two-mode squeezed, bipartite-entangled pairs of OPO signal fields. (Such pairs are independent of one another in the undepleted, classical pump approximation.) We verify the multipartite nature of the entanglement by evaluating the van Loock-Furusawa criterion for a particular set of entanglement witnesses deduced from physical considerations.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2011

Parallel generation of quadripartite cluster entanglement in the optical frequency comb

Scalability and coherence are two essential requirements for the experimental implementation of quantum information and quantum computing. Here, we report a breakthrough toward scalability: the simultaneous generation of a record 15 quadripartite entangled cluster states over 60 consecutive cavity modes (Qmodes), in the optical frequency comb of a single optical parametric oscillator. The amount of observed entanglement was constant over the 60 Qmodes, thereby proving the intrnisic scalability of this system. The number of observable Qmodes was restricted by technical limitations, and we conservatively estimate the actual number of similar clusters to be at least three times larger. This result paves the way to the realization of large entangled states for scalable quantum information and quantum computing.

quant-ph↗