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arXiv:1406.6165 · Physical Review A

Entangling time-bin qubits with a switch

Hiroki Takesue

Published Jun 23, 2014• 23 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

A time-bin qubit is a promising candidate qubit for advanced quantum information processing systems operating over optical fibers or integrated quantum photonic circuits. However, the single- and two-qubit operations of time-bin qubits have been largely unexplored compared with those of polarization qubits. Here, I present a simple scheme for implementing a basic two-qubit operation, namely an ``entangling'' operation of two independent time-bin qubits, based on Hong-Ou-Mandel quantum interference in a high-speed $2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}2$ optical switch. With the proposed scheme, the formation of a time-bin entanglement was confirmed experimentally.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.89.062328

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A time-bin qubit is a promising candidate qubit for advanced quantum information processing systems operating over optical fibers or integrated quantum photonic circuits. However, the single- and two-qubit operations of time-bin qubits have been largely unexplored compared with those of polarization qubits. Here, I present a simple scheme for implementing a basic two-qubit operation, namely an ``entangling'' operation of two independent time-bin qubits, based on Hong-Ou-Mandel quantum interference in a high-speed 2\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi22\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}22\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi2 optical switch. With the proposed scheme, the formation of a time-bin entanglement was confirmed experimentally.
Quantum logic gates are important for quantum computation and quantum information processing in numerous physical systems. Although time-bin qubits are suitable for quantum communication over optical fiber, many essential quantum logic gates for them have not yet been realized. Here, we demonstrated a controlled-phase (C-Phase) gate for time-bin qubits that uses a 2 × 2 optical switch based on an electro-optic modulator. A Hong–Ou–Mandel interference measurement showed that the switch could work as a time-dependent beam splitter with a variable splitting ratio. We confirmed that two independent time-bin qubits were entangled as a result of C-Phase gate operation with the switch.
Quantum states encoded in the time-bin degree of freedom of photons represent a fundamental resource for quantum information protocols. Traditional methods for generating and measuring time-bin-encoded quantum states face severe challenges due to optical instabilities, complex setups, and timing resolution requirements. To circumvent these issues, we leverage an approach based on Hong-Ou-Mandel interference and we propose and demonstrate a robust and scalable protocol to generate and measure arbitrary high-dimensional time-bin quantum states. We experimentally implement the protocol in a photonic setup reaching high-fidelity quantum state tomographies of two- and three-dimensional quantum states encoded in time bins with short temporal separation. We also certify intrasystem polarization-time entanglement of single photons through a nonclassicality test. The demonstrated approach enables access to high-dimensional states and tasks that are practically inaccessible with standard schemes, thereby advancing fundamental quantum information science and opening applications in quantum communication.
Frequency-bin quantum information encoding offers an intriguing synergy with classical optical networks, with the ability to support many qubits in a single fiber. Yet, coherent quantum frequency operations prove extremely challenging due to the difficulties in mixing frequencies arbitrarily and with low noise. In this paper, we address such challenges and implement distinct quantum gates in parallel on two entangled frequency-bin qubits in the same optical fiber. Our basic quantum operation controls the spectral overlap between adjacent spectral bins, allowing us to observe frequency-bin Hong–Ou–Mandel interference with a visibility of 0.971±0.007. By integrating this tunability with frequency parallelization, we synthesize independent gates on entangled qubits and flip their spectral correlations, allowing us to observe strong violation of the separability bound. Our realization of closed, user-defined gates on frequency-bin qubits in parallel should find application in the development of fiber-compatible quantum information processing and quantum networks.
Time-bin qubits, where information is encoded in a single photon at different times, have been widely used in optical-fiber- and waveguide-based quantum communications. With the recent developments in distributed quantum computation, it is logical to ask whether time-bin encoded qubits may be useful in that context. We have recently realized a time-bin qubit controlled-phase (C-phase) gate using a $2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}2$ optical switch based on a lithium-niobate waveguide, with which we demonstrated the generation of an entangled state. However, the experiment was performed with only a pair of input states and thus the functionality of the C-phase gate was not fully verified. In this research, we use quantum process tomography to establish a process fidelity of $97.1\mathrm{%}$. Furthermore, we demonstrate the controlled-not gate operation with a process fidelity greater than $94\mathrm{%}$. This study confirms that typical two-qubit logic gates used in quantum computational circuits can be implemented with time-bin qubits and thus it is a significant step forward for the realization of distributed quantum computation based on time-bin qubits.
A key enabling feature of future quantum networks is interoperability between platforms that operate at different wavelengths and with different qubit encodings. We demonstrate an interface that converts atom-photon entanglement from polarization encoding at an atomic wavelength to time-bin encoding in the telecom C-band. Atom-entangled photons at 854 nm are generated from a single 40^{40}40Ca+^++ ion. After quantum frequency conversion to 1550 nm, the photonic polarization qubit is converted into a time-bin qubit using a fiber-based Mach--Zehnder-like encoder. Full quantum tomography of the final state verifies that the process preserves entanglement with 96.3(4.2)% fidelity. Together with the independent work of Ferrari et al. [arXiv:2607.07805 (2026)], this is the first demonstration of polarization-to-time-bin conversion of photons entangled with a single atomic quantum memory. The telecom-compatible interface enables robust qubit transmission over optical fibers and provides a key building block for heterogeneous quantum networking architectures.