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arXiv:2205.12736 · Nature

Efficient generation of entangled multiphoton graph states from a single atom

Philip Thomas, Leonardo Ruscio, Olivier Morin, Gerhard Rempe

Published Aug 24, 2022• 208 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

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 .

DOI
10.1038/s41586-022-04987-5

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Highly entangled multiphoton graph states are a crucial resource in photonic quantum computation and communication. Yet, the lack of photon-photon interactions makes the construction of such graph states especially challenging. Typically, these states are produced through probabilistic single-photon sources and linear-optics entangling operations that require indistinguishable photons. The resulting inefficiency of these methods necessitates a large overhead in the number of sources and operations, creating a major bottleneck in the photonic approach. Here, we show how harnessing single-atom-based photonic operations can enable deterministic generation of photonic graph states, while also lifting the requirement for photon indistinguishability. To this end, we introduce a multigate quantum node comprising a single atom in a W -type level scheme coupled to an optical resonator. This configuration provides a versatile toolbox for generating graph states, allowing the operation of both the controlled- Z and photon-atom gates, as well as the deterministic generation of single photons. Furthermore, the ability to deterministically entangle photonic qubits enables the expansion of the generated state by stitching together graph states produced by different nodes. We investigate the implementation of this gate-based approach using 87 Rb atoms and evaluate its performance through numerical simulations.
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Multiphoton entangled quantum states are key to advancing quantum technologies such as multiparty quantum communications, quantum sensing, or quantum computation. Their scalable generation, however, remains an experimental challenge. Current methods for generating these states rely on stitching together photons from probabilistic sources, and state generation rates drop exponentially in the number of photons. Here, we implement a system based on active feed-forward and multiplexing that addresses this challenge. We demonstrate the scalable generation of four-photon and six-photon Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states, increasing generation rates by factors of 9 and 35, respectively. This is consistent with the exponential enhancement compared to the standard nonmultiplexed approach that is predicted by our theory. These results facilitate the realization of practical multiphoton protocols for photonic quantum technologies.
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Measurement-based quantum computing relies on the generation of large entangled cluster states that act as a universal resource on which logical circuits can be imprinted and executed through local measurements. A number of strategies for constructing sufficiently large photonic cluster states propose fusing many smaller resource states generated by a series of quantum emitters. However, the fusion process is inherently probabilistic with a 50% success probability in standard guise. A recent proposal has shown that, in the limit of low loss, the probability of achieving successful fusion may be boosted to near unity by redundantly encoding the vertices of linear graph states using Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states [Quantum 7, 992 (2023)]. Here we present a protocol for deterministically generating redundantly encoded photonic resource states using single quantum emitters, and study the impact of protocol errors and photonic losses on the generated resource states and type-II photonic fusion. Our work provides a route for efficiently constructing complex entangled photonic qubit states for photonic quantum computing and quantum repeaters.
Photonic cluster states are fundamental resource for measurement-based quantum computing (MBQC), which is a promising approach for scalable quantum computing. These highly entangled states enable computation with applying local measurements rather than gate operations, which makes them essential for fault-tolerant quantum computing. Generation of the photonic cluster states requires high-quality entanglement and stability, which can be done by making use of cavity quantum electrodynamics (cavity QED), which is embedding quantum dots (QDs) into photonic microcavities. This method enables controlled single-photon emission and the entanglement of them, helping with key challenges in generating photonic cluster states. Enhancing the generation of the photonic cluster state requires improvement in the quality factor (Q-factor) and therefore, cooperativity of cavity and QD systems. A high Q-factor helps with reduction in photon loss and decoherence, ensuring more stable and high-fidelity quantum states. It also enables better light-matter interactions, improving cluster state quality. Cooperativity, which is a measure for the light-matter coupling strength relative to dissipation, directly impacts photon emission efficiency. Optimization of these parameters improves entanglement generation, which is essential for producing high-quality photonic cluster states. Therefore, optimized cavities are essential for improving the generation of the photonic cluster states. Scalability is also an important parameter for the generation of the large-scale cluster states used in quantum computing. In this paper, after reviewing MBQC, cluster states, and the generation of the photonic cluster states, we investigate the deterministic generation of the photonic cluster state resource for the purpose of MBQC, and highlights the importance of the inverse design techniques for this goal.