Abstract Encoding high-dimensional quantum information into single photons can provide a variety of benefits for quantum technologies, such as improved noise resilience. However, the efficient generation of on-demand, high-dimensional entanglement was thought to be out of reach for current and near-future photonic quantum technologies. We present a protocol for the near-deterministic generation of N-photon, d-dimensional photonic Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger (GHZ) states using an array of d non-interacting single-photon emitters. We analyse the impact on performance of common sources of error for quantum emitters, such as photon spectral distinguishability and temporal mismatch, and find they are readily correctable with time-resolved detection to yield high fidelity GHZ states of multiple qudits. When applied to a quantum key distribution scenario, our protocol exhibits improved loss tolerance and key rates when increasing the dimensionality beyond binary encodings.
Abstract Encoding high-dimensional quantum information into single photons can provide a variety of benefits for quantum technologies, such as improved noise resilience. However, the efficient generation of on-demand, high-dimensional entanglement was thought to be out of reach for current and near-future photonic quantum technologies. We present a protocol for the near-deterministic generation of N-photon, d-dimensional photonic Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger (GHZ) states using an array of d non-interacting single-photon emitters. We analyse the impact on performance of common sources of error for quantum emitters, such as photon spectral distinguishability and temporal mismatch, and find they are readily correctable with time-resolved detection to yield high fidelity GHZ states of multiple qudits. When applied to a quantum key distribution scenario, our protocol exhibits improved loss tolerance and key rates when increasing the dimensionality beyond binary encodings.
The generation of a high-dimensional quantum entangled state provides a crucial resource for achieving more complex and diverse quantum information processing tasks. In this paper, we present two deterministic protocols designed for the generation of a four-dimensional two-qudit Bell state and three-qudit Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state assisted by cross-Kerr nonlinearity, where the four-dimensional qudit is encoded in the hybrid polarization-spatial state of the single photon to conserve quantum resources and alleviate environmental noise. The proposed protocols for generating a four-dimensional two-qudit Bell state and three-qudit GHZ state are circuit concise, high success, robust fidelity, noise resistant, and resource saving. Moreover, the four-dimensional N-qudit (N>3) GHZ states can be generated with the help of the $N\ensuremath{-}1$ generating devices of the four-dimensional Bell state. Consequently, its efficiency and fidelity decay exponentially by a factor of $N\ensuremath{-}1$. Further, the arbitrary high-dimensional qudit-encoded entangled states can be achieved with linear-optics four-dimensional single-qudit X gates and Z gates. These protocols offer a reference for further advancements in high-dimensional state generation technology and providing insights for the practical implementations of metrological enhancement, quantum simulation, high-dimensional quantum computation, and quantum error correction.
Abstract Mutually entangled multi-photon states are at the heart of all-optical quantum technologies. While impressive progresses have been reported in the generation of such quantum light states using free space apparatus, high-fidelity high-rate on-chip entanglement generation is crucial for future scalability. In this work, we use a bright quantum-dot based single-photon source to demonstrate the high fidelity generation of 4-photon Greenberg-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states with a low-loss reconfigurable glass photonic circuit. We reconstruct the density matrix of the generated states using full quantum-state tomography reaching an experimental fidelity to the target state of FGHZ4=(86.0±0.4)% F GHZ 4 = ( 86.0 ± 0.4 ) % , and a purity of PGHZ4=(76.3±0.6)% P GHZ 4 = ( 76.3 ± 0.6 ) % . The entanglement of the generated states is certified with a semi device-independent approach through the violation of a Bell-like inequality by more than 39 standard deviations. Finally, we carry out a four-partite quantum secret sharing protocol on-chip where a regulator shares with three interlocutors a sifted key with up to 1978 bits, achieving a qubit-error rate of 10.87%. These results establish that the quantum-dot technology combined with glass photonic circuitry offers a viable path for entanglement generation and distribution.
High-dimensional quantum entangled states exhibit unique properties. While generalizations like qudit Bell, Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ), and Cluster states have been studied, the qudit W states remain underexplored. We discover that a superposition of qudit Dicke states can serve as high-dimensional generalizations of W states, demonstrating their enhanced robustness against qudit loss, and present linearly scalable quantum circuits for their generation. Using a programmable silicon-photonic entanglement generator, we first theoretically and experimentally demonstrate the generation of 3-ququart GHZ and W states using two photons and one ancillary ququart, with fidelities of 0.932 ± 0.009 and 0.901 ± 0.012, respectively. Genuine multipartite entanglement of the GHZ state and the improved resilience of the W state are confirmed. Our findings provide new insights and efficient approaches for qudit-based quantum science and technologies.
High-dimensional qudit (i.e., d-level or d-state) systems outperform two-dimensional qubit (i.e., 2-level or 2-state) systems in some quantum information processing tasks. We exploit entanglement purification protocols (EPPs) for extracting a subset of high quality arbitrary d-dimensional n-partite Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states from a large set of less entangled GHZ states. In our protocols, qudit-flip and phase-flip errors can be corrected, and the fidelity of the output state can be asymptotically improved to unity by iterating the EPP process. Moreover, the schemes are immune to the number of polluted photons, the fidelity thresholds of the proposed EPPs are developed, and the spatial-based single-qudit operations can be well manipulated with a range of balanced beam splitters, and phase shifters. These features make the proposed schemes offer an alternative method for high-dimensional multipartite entanglement purification.
Mutually entangled multi-photon states are at the heart of all-optical quantum technologies. While impressive progresses have been reported in the generation of such quantum light states using free space apparatus, high-fidelity high-rate on-chip entanglement generation is crucial for future scalability. In this work, we use a bright quantum-dot based single-photon source to demonstrate the high fidelity generation of 4-photon Greenberg-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states with a low-loss reconfigurable glass photonic circuit. We reconstruct the density matrix of the generated states using full quantum-state tomography reaching an experimental fidelity to the target ∣GHZ4⟩ of FGHZ4(86.0±0.4)%, and a purity of PGHZ4=(76.3±0.6)%. The entanglement of the generated states is certified with a semi device-independent approach through the violation of a Bell-like inequality by more than 39 standard deviations. Finally, we carry out a four-partite quantum secret sharing protocol on-chip where a regulator shares with three interlocutors a sifted key with up to 1978 bits, achieving a qubit-error rate of 10.87%. These results establish that the quantum-dot technology combined with glass photonic circuitry for entanglement generation on chip offers a viable path for intermediate scale quantum computation and communication.
Abstract The central technological appeal of quantum science resides in exploiting quantum effects, such as entanglement, for a variety of applications, including computing, communication and sensing 1 . The overarching challenge in these fields is to address, control and protect systems of many qubits against decoherence 2 . Against this backdrop, optical photons, naturally robust and easy to manipulate, represent ideal qubit carriers. However, the most successful technique so far for creating photonic entanglement 3 is inherently probabilistic and, therefore, subject to severe scalability limitations. Here we report the implementation of a deterministic protocol 4–6 for the creation of photonic entanglement with a single memory atom in a cavity 7 . We interleave controlled single-photon emissions with tailored atomic qubit rotations to efficiently grow Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger (GHZ) states 8 of up to 14 photons and linear cluster states 9 of up to 12 photons with a fidelity lower bounded by 76(6)% and 56(4)%, respectively. Thanks to a source-to-detection efficiency of 43.18(7)% per photon, we measure these large states about once every minute, which is orders of magnitude faster than in any previous experiment 3,10–13 . In the future, this rate could be increased even further, the scheme could be extended to two atoms in a cavity 14,15 or several sources could be quantum mechanically coupled 16 , to generate higher-dimensional cluster states 17 . Overcoming the limitations encountered by probabilistic schemes for photonic entanglement generation, our results may offer a way towards scalable measurement-based quantum computation 18,19 and communication 20,21 .