Spatial light modulators are versatile devices employed in a vast range of applications to modify the transverse phase or amplitude profile of an incident light beam. Most experiments are designed to use a specific polarization which renders optimal sensitivity for phase or amplitude modulation. Here we take a different approach and apply the formalism of quantum information to characterize how a phase modulator affects a general polarization state. In this context, the spatial modulators can be exploited as a resource to couple the polarization and the transverse spatial degrees of freedom. Using a quasimonochromatic single-photon beam obtained from a pair of twin photons generated by spontaneous parametric down conversion, we performed quantum process tomography in order to obtain a general analytic model for a quantum channel that describes the action of the device on the polarization qubits. We illustrate the application of these concepts by demonstrating the implementation of a controllable phase flip channel. This scheme can be applied in a straightforward manner to characterize the resulting polarization states of different types of phase or amplitude modulators and motivates the combined use of polarization and spatial degrees of freedom in innovative applications.
Spatial light modulators are versatile devices employed in a vast range of applications to modify the transverse phase or amplitude profile of an incident light beam. Most experiments are designed to use a specific polarization which renders optimal sensitivity for phase or amplitude modulation. Here we take a different approach and apply the formalism of quantum information to characterize how a phase modulator affects a general polarization state. In this context, the spatial modulators can be exploited as a resource to couple the polarization and the transverse spatial degrees of freedom. Using a quasimonochromatic single-photon beam obtained from a pair of twin photons generated by spontaneous parametric down conversion, we performed quantum process tomography in order to obtain a general analytic model for a quantum channel that describes the action of the device on the polarization qubits. We illustrate the application of these concepts by demonstrating the implementation of a controllable phase flip channel. This scheme can be applied in a straightforward manner to characterize the resulting polarization states of different types of phase or amplitude modulators and motivates the combined use of polarization and spatial degrees of freedom in innovative applications.
The information-carrying capacity of a single photon can be vastly expanded by exploiting its multiple degrees of freedom: spatial, temporal, and polarization. Although multiple qubits can be encoded per photon, to date only two-qubit single-photon quantum operations have been realized. Here, we report an experimental demonstration of three-qubit single-photon, linear, deterministic quantum gates that exploit photon polarization and the two-dimensional spatial-parity-symmetry of the transverse single-photon field. These gates are implemented using a polarization-sensitive spatial light modulator that provides a robust, non-interferometric, versatile platform for implementing controlled unitary gates. Polarization here represents the control qubit for either separable or entangling unitary operations on the two spatial-parity target qubits. Such gates help generate maximally entangled three-qubit Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger and W states, which is confirmed by tomographical reconstruction of single-photon density matrices. This strategy provides access to a wide range of three-qubit states and operations for use in few-qubit quantum information processing protocols.Photons are essential for quantum information processing, but to date only two-qubit single-photon operations have been realized. Here the authors demonstrate experimentally a three-qubit single-photon linear deterministic quantum gate by exploiting polarization along with spatial-parity symmetry.
Increasing the information-carrying capacity of a single photon may be achieved by utilizing multiple degrees of freedom. We describe here an approach that utilizes two degrees of freedom to encode three qubits per photon: one in polarization and two in the spatial-parity symmetry of the transverse field. In this conception, a polarization-sensitive spatial light modulator corresponds to a three-qubit controlled-unitary gate with one control qubit (polarization) and two target (spatial-parity-symmetry) qubits. We describe the construction of controlled-not (cnot), ncnot, controlled-phase, and Fredkin gates, and the preparation of one-photon, three-qubit Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) and W states. This approach enables simple optical implementations of few-qubit tasks in quantum information processing.
In this dissertation we introduce a quantum theory of propagation of light in integrated photonic devices. The necessity of this theory is justified due to the conceptual and formal inconsistencies the Hamiltonian theory presents when dealing with propagation problems. Taking into account the orthonormalization property and the modal norms, we carry out a canonical quantization of the flux of Momentum and derive Heisenberg equations. We apply it to coupling devices with different features of the refractive index: inhomogeneities, nonlinear response and losses; like N × N linear and nonli- near directional couplers and spontaneous parametric down conversion and spontaneous four wave mixing-based nonlinear inhomogeneous waveguides.
Likewise, we introduce the optical field-strength space and the amplitude probability distributions in this representation, and by means of a spatial- type Lagrangian theory we derive by path integration propagators in this space for different-media based devices. In this way we solve the propagation for discrete and continuous variables.
Next, we present a new method of characterization of quantum states introducing a generalized quantum polarization, based on the confinement in particular regions of the optical field space of the probability distributions of quantum states. Likewise, we propose a consistent polarization degree, a figure which measures how different a state is from a full unpolarized one, showing its application to the characterization of various examples of stationary and dynamic quantum states.
The last aim of this dissertation is to measure quantum states of light propagating in integrated photonic devices. We designe a versatile and relia- ble electro-optic integrated device to accomplish this goal. This device allows carrying out any SU(2) unitary transformation and is able to be nested as well, allowing its extension to SU(N) transformations. Likewise, it outper- forms other current schemes based on pasive directional couplers due to its ability to reduce the effect produced by fabrication errors, a very important fact when complex circuits are involved. We perform simulations and show possible applications.
In summary, in this thesis we develop tools to design and simulate the performance of photonic devices, as well as propose a characterization me- thod for quantum states propagating within, with interest in the conti- nuously growing field of integrated quantum photonics.
We present the novel embodiment of a photonic qubit that makes use of one continuous spatial degree of freedom of a single photon and relies on the parity of the photon's transverse spatial distribution. Using optical spontaneous parametric down-conversion to produce photon pairs, we demonstrate the controlled generation of entangled-photon states in this new space. Specifically, two Bell states, and a continuum of their superpositions, are generated by simple manipulation of a classical parameter, the optical-pump spatial parity, and not by manipulation of the entangled photons themselves. An interferometric device, isomorphic in action to a polarizing beam splitter, projects the spatial-parity states onto an even-odd basis. This new physical realization of photonic qubits could be used as a foundation for future experiments in quantum information processing.
Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are devices capable of manipulating properties of an incident light beam, such as amplitude, phase, and polarization, based on the voltage applied to their molecules. In this work, we will experimentally characterize the effect of an LCD on light polarization, aiming at its use as a programmable spatial light modulator (SLM) in optics and quantum information experiments. In the first part, we will determine the Mueller matrix of the device and, from it, its polarimetric properties. We will show that the LCD acts only approximately as an ideal retarder plate since it introduces depolarization to the incident light. In the second part, we investigate the behavior of the LCD through the formalism of quantum operations, treating its action as an operation on polarization qubit states. Through process tomography, we determine the matrix characterizing the device's operation and show that it is non-unitary. Next, we derive a general expression for the process matrix of an SLM, given by the combination of the LCD with wave plates. This expression will allow us to implement programmable operations on the polarization states of light based on the configuration of the wave plates and the voltage on the LCD. As an application, we will quantify the fidelity of the actual operation implemented by the SLM with an ideal unitary operation of interest in quantum information protocols.
In this Letter, we propose a simple optical architecture based on phase-only programmable spatial light modulators, in order to characterize general processes on photonic spatial quantum systems in a >2 Hilbert space. We demonstrate the full reconstruction of typical noises affecting quantum computing, such as amplitude shifts, phase shifts, and depolarizing channels in dimension =5. We have also reconstructed simulated atmospheric turbulences affecting a free-space transmission of qudits in dimension =4. In each case, quantum process tomography was performed in order to obtain the matrix that fully describes the corresponding quantum channel, ℰ. Fidelities between the states are experimentally obtained after going through the channel, and the expected ones are above 97%.