Optical Switches for Quantum Information Processing

B. C. Jacobs, T. B. Pittman, J. D. Franson

Recent work towards the realization of low-loss, high-speed, optical switches designed to accommodate single photon qubits is discussed. Preliminary results from an all-optical switch and plans for an electro-optical switch are described.

Kumar Kumar

Helena Fikerová

Ujaan Purakayastha, Colin P. Lualdi, Paul G. Kwiat

Low-loss, ultrafast photon routing is an enabling technology for optical quantum information processing. We demonstrate a 20 GHz, all-optical switch for 1590-nm photons from a heralded single-photon source, achieving a signal-to-noise ratio of 140:1.

Joseph B. Altepeter, Matthew Hall, Prem Kumar

Kevin T. McCusker, Yu-Ping Huang, Abijith S. Kowligy +1 more

We experimentally demonstrate all-optical interaction-free switching using the quantum Zeno effect, achieving a high contrast of 35:1. The experimental data match a zero-parameter theoretical model for several different regimes of operation, indicating a good understanding of the switch's characteristics. We also discuss extensions of this work that will allow for significantly improved performance, and the integration of this technology onto chip-scale devices, which can lead to ultra-low-power all-optical switching, a long-standing goal with applications to both classical and quantum information processing.