Quantum information processing requires efficient storage and manipulation of photonic states.Here, we advance a cavity-assisted quantum memory protocol based on Pre-created Long-lived Macroscopic (PLM) coherence, thereby transforming quantum memory from a passive storage device into a platform for deterministic in-memory photonic processing. It is demonstrated that spin PLM coherence enables all-optical control of quantum memory using robust radio-frequency rotations alone. Here, the spin coherence serves as a distributed coherent quantum bus, which mediates the deterministic synthesis and storage of frequency-bin states through spectrally nonlocal impedance matching. We identify an inherent time-reversal symmetry in the underlying dynamical equations, ensuring unitary evolution of the quantum memory operations. The presented results demonstrate a unified platform for quantum storage and optical signal processing, enabling controlled manipulation of frequency-bin photonic qubits and paving the way for scalable multimode quantum networks based on spectral-encoding architectures.
Quantum information processing requires efficient storage and manipulation of photonic states.Here, we advance a cavity-assisted quantum memory protocol based on Pre-created Long-lived Macroscopic (PLM) coherence, thereby transforming quantum memory from a passive storage device into a platform for deterministic in-memory photonic processing. It is demonstrated that spin PLM coherence enables all-optical control of quantum memory using robust radio-frequency rotations alone. Here, the spin coherence serves as a distributed coherent quantum bus, which mediates the deterministic synthesis and storage of frequency-bin states through spectrally nonlocal impedance matching. We identify an inherent time-reversal symmetry in the underlying dynamical equations, ensuring unitary evolution of the quantum memory operations. The presented results demonstrate a unified platform for quantum storage and optical signal processing, enabling controlled manipulation of frequency-bin photonic qubits and paving the way for scalable multimode quantum networks based on spectral-encoding architectures.
Photonics offers a route to fast and distributed quantum computing in ambient conditions, provided that photon sources and logic gates can be operated deterministically. Quantum memories, capable of storing and re-emitting photons on demand, enable quasi-deterministic operations by synchronizing stochastic events. Interfaced source–memory systems are thus a key building block in photonics-based quantum information processors. We discuss the design of the single-photon source in this type of light–matter interface and present an experimental system based on a Raman-type quantum memory. In addition to the spectral purity of the produced heralded single photons, we find that their temporal distinguishability also becomes important due to the implicit temporal binning derived from photon storage in the memory. When aiming to operate the source–memory system at high repetition rates, a practical compromise between both of these requirements needs to be found. Our implemented photon source system demonstrates such a solution and enables passive stability, high brightness in a single-pass configuration, high purity as well as good mode matching to our Raman memory.
We report on the high-efficiency storage and retrieval of weak coherent optical pulses and photonic qubits in a cavity-enhanced solid-state quantum memory. By using an atomic frequency comb (AFC) memory in a Pr 3+ :Y 2 SiO 5 crystal embedded in an impedance-matched cavity, we stored weak coherent pulses at the single photon level with up to 62% efficiency for a pre-determined storage time of 2 µs. We also confirmed that the impedance-matched cavity enhances the efficiency for longer storage times up to 70 µs. Harnessing the temporal multimodality of the AFC scheme, we stored weak coherent time-bin qubits with a record (51 ± 2%) efficiency and a fidelity over (94.8 ± 1.4)%, limited by imperfections in the qubits creation and measurement.
Future multiphoton applications of quantum optics and quantum information science require quantum memories that simultaneously store many photon states, each encoded into a different optical mode, and enable one to select the mapping between any input and a specific retrieved mode during storage. Here we show, with the example of a quantum repeater, how to employ spectrally multiplexed states and memories with fixed storage times that allow such mapping between spectral modes. Furthermore, using a Ti:Tm:LiNbO_{3} waveguide cooled to 3 K, a phase modulator, and a spectral filter, we demonstrate storage followed by the required feed-forward-controlled frequency manipulation with time-bin qubits encoded into up to 26 multiplexed spectral modes and 97% fidelity.
Frequency modes of light are one of the most promising platforms that provide access to high-dimensional quantum states amongst different photonic degrees of freedom capable of high-dimensionality, enabling robust, error-tolerant, and scalable quantum optical information systems. We demonstrate engineering of precisely controlled two-photon high-dimensional states entangled in frequency through time-domain Fourier optical synthesis. We generate and convert a continuous broadband frequency-entangled state into a large range of discrete frequency bins suitable for ITU standards, with spacings ranging from 12.5 GHz to 750 GHz, and observe spectral anticorrelations over 38 frequency bins, including intra-bin pure states at a 100 GHz bin spacing. We characterize the full quantum state dimensionality via Schmidt decomposition and observe lower bounds on the frequency-binned Hilbert-space dimensionalities of at least 289, formed by two entangled qudits with dimension 17. Furthermore, we demonstrate quantum nonlocality via frequency correlations in a transmission experiment over a campus-scale two-node fiber network. This work represents a crucial step towards building a versatile and relatively simple way of generating precisely controlled high-dimensional spectral qudits, with the potential of harnessing in wavelength-multiplexed quantum networks, high-dimensional information processing, and communication of quantum states specifically, and fiber-optic quantum remote sensing.
Discrete frequency modes, or bins, present a blend of opportunities and challenges for photonic quantum information processing. Frequency-bin-encoded photons are readily generated by integrated quantum light sources, naturally high-dimensional, stable in optical fiber, and massively parallelizable in a single spatial mode. Yet quantum operations on frequency-bin states require coherent and controllable multifrequency interference, making them significantly more challenging to manipulate than more traditional spatial degrees of freedom. In this mini-review, we describe recent developments that have transformed these challenges and propelled frequency bins forward. Focusing on sources, manipulation schemes, and detection approaches, we introduce the basics of frequency-bin encoding, summarize the state of the art, and speculate on the field’s next phases. Given the combined progress in integrated photonics, high-fidelity quantum gates, and proof-of-principle demonstrations, frequency-bin quantum information is poised to emerge from the lab and leave its mark on practical quantum information processing—particularly in networking where frequency bins offer unique tools for multiplexing, interconnects, and high-dimensional communications.
One of the primary challenges of photonic quantum information processing is the on-demand preparation of multiple single-photon-level quantum states from probabilistic photon pair sources. Motivated by recent developments in frequency-bin-encoded photonic quantum information processing, here we consider active time multiplexing to generate n-photon states, where n single photons with n distinct frequencies occupy the same spatiotemporal mode. We devise an approach that uses optical quantum memories to manipulate the temporal mode of heralded single photons and an array of fiber Bragg grating reflectors to jointly manipulate the frequency and temporal modes of the photons, overlapping n photons in n separate frequency bins into a single spatiotemporal mode. We calculate multiphoton state generation rates that, accounting for loss, are realistically achievable with commercially available hardware. Using only a single free-space switchable delay loop for an optical quantum memory, this scheme could feasibly produce 8-photon states at an average rate of 1 kHz.