Quantum Information Science Using Photons

Harry J. Kimble

Jonathan C. F. Matthews

Shigeki Takeuchi

Recent works of the authors on quantum information science using photons are reviewed. After the general introduction of photonic quantum information science, unique nano photonic devices such as tapered optical fibers, microsphere resonators, and nano diamond crystals are explained and their relationship with surface science is discussed. In the latter half, the realization of optical quantum circuits, and the application of such quantum circuits for quantum metrology are explained.

Tracy E. Northup, R. Blatt

Benjamin Brecht, Dileep V. Reddy, Christine Silberhorn +1 more

Because photons interact weakly with themselves and experience low decoherence, they are a promising avenue for quantum information science. Theorists show how the temporal modes of single-photon states can form an alphabet for communication across a quantum information network.

Benjamin Brecht, Dileep V. Reddy, Christine Silberhorn +1 more

Quantum information science (QIS) offers ways to process information that are not realizable with classical information technology. Today, many QIS applications are based on photons, which can carry information in different degrees of freedom: polarization, transverse spatial mode and frequency. Although polarization is the most widely used basis, it is intrinsically restricted to two dimensions which ultimately limits its potential for QIS. Transverse spatial modes on the other hand have received a lot of attention when the orbital angular momentum (OAM) states of photons have been recognized as suitable basis states for high-dimensional QIS. However, since information is encoded into spatial field modes, OAM states are inherently incompatible with integrated network architectures based on single-mode fibers and thus of limited use for practical applications.