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Journal of the Optical Society of America B

Wave packet shaping for a single-photon source

Azadeh Ahmadian, Rasoul Malekfar

Published Jan 13, 2021• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

For the realization of a quantum network and efficient transfer of information between its nodes, many challenges should be resolved. One of these challenges is related to controlling photons, in that receiving and resending data in a real-time process should be reliable. The uncontrollable and time asymmetry shape of the photon wave packets emitted by quantum sources creates obstacles for reliable information transfer. In this work, an approach has been introduced to tune the wave packet shape of a single photon as a significant factor for absorbing and resending the same information. Since the wave packet of the photon emitted from spontaneous emission cannot be handled, in this research for the wave packet shaping, two lasers with a phase difference between them are proposed, where Rabi frequency Ω ( t ) is considered as a time-dependent function. Studying the temporal evolution of the system states and using the experimental parameters of a real single photon are two steps employed in this paper to achieve the desired outcome. Furthermore, the fidelity of two distant nodes, between which information is transmitted by the proposed single photon, is examined.

DOI
10.1364/josab.410445

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For the realization of a quantum network and efficient transfer of information between its nodes, many challenges should be resolved. One of these challenges is related to controlling photons, in that receiving and resending data in a real-time process should be reliable. The uncontrollable and time asymmetry shape of the photon wave packets emitted by quantum sources creates obstacles for reliable information transfer. In this work, an approach has been introduced to tune the wave packet shape of a single photon as a significant factor for absorbing and resending the same information. Since the wave packet of the photon emitted from spontaneous emission cannot be handled, in this research for the wave packet shaping, two lasers with a phase difference between them are proposed, where Rabi frequency Ω ( t ) is considered as a time-dependent function. Studying the temporal evolution of the system states and using the experimental parameters of a real single photon are two steps employed in this paper to achieve the desired outcome. Furthermore, the fidelity of two distant nodes, between which information is transmitted by the proposed single photon, is examined.
Quantum networks require flying qubits that transfer information between the nodes. This may be implemented by means of single atoms (the nodes) that emit and absorb single photons (the flying qubits) and requires full control of photon absorption and emission by the individual emitters. In this paper, we theoretically characterize the wave packet of a photon emitted by a single atom undergoing a spontaneous Raman transition in a three-level scheme. We investigate several excitation schemes that are experimentally relevant and discuss control parameters that allow one to tailor the spectrum of the emitted photon wave packet.
The exchange of quantum information among nodes in a quantum network is one of the main challenges in modern technologies. Superconducting waveguide QED networks hold great potential for realizing distributed quantum computation, where distinct nodes communicate via itinerant single photons. Yet, different frequencies among the nodes restrict their applicability and limit scalability. Here we derive the controls required to shape single photons arbitrarily detuned with respect to their natural frequency, allowing thus for an on-demand and deterministic exchange of quantum information among frequency detuned nodes. We provide a theoretical framework, analyzing the properties of the controls for typical photon shapes, identifying operation regimes amenable for experimental realization. We then show how these controls enable frequency-selective quantum state transfer among non-resonant and distant nodes of a realistic network. In addition, we also provide a simple extension for remote entanglement generation between these nodes. The suitability and high-fidelity of these protocols is supported by numerical simulations, highlighting the novel networking possibilities unlocked when shaping frequency-tunable single photons.
Creating and controlling well-defined single-photon states is important for many quantum enhanced technologies. Information can be encoded in any degree of freedom associated with a single-photon field excitation, for example in the polarization or transverse spatial mode structure. The ability to encode multiple qubits in these states is desirable for high data transmission rates and increased information processing capacity. The spectral-temporal domain offers a large Hilbert space for encoding information, well suited to integrated optical architectures owing to the low cross-talk between channels. Indeed, time-frequency encoding is an integral component of existing information technologies infrastructure. Thus, complete, coherent control of the spectral-temporal mode structure of light is essential to advancing optical quantum technologies. Arbitrary control of single-photon states has been demonstrated in the polarization and spatial-momentum degrees of freedom however, is yet to be established in the spectral-temporal domain. Recently it was shown that spectral-temporal pulse shaping is experimentally feasible using nonlinear optical methods. However, such techniques can introduce noise photons, are challenging to implement deterministically and require specially prepared auxiliary pump pulses. Furthermore, they are typically only possible at relatively low repetition rates to avoid damage of nonlinear optical materials. Here, we demonstrate deterministic pulse shaping of single-photon wave packets by introducing a time-varying phase. Applying linear or quadratic phase to the wave packet introduces a spectral shift or spectral broadening, respectively. Achieving significant spectral manipulation requires temporal-phase modulation on the order of π. The phase must also vary on the same time scale as the optical pulses, approximately 1 ps in duration here. This relatively rapid phase variation is achieved using a fast electro-optic phase modulator. The modulator is driven by a time-varying voltage that is synchronized with a pulse train of single-photon wave packets for accurate temporal phase control. In this thesis, we experimentally demonstrate control of the spectral-temporal state of single-photon wave packets using this method. Heralded single-photon wave packets are generated by spontaneous parametric down conversion pumped by a frequency-doubled Titanium-Sapphire laser oscillator with 80 MHz repetition rate. To achieve significant modulation of single-photon pulses a 10 V peak-to-peak radio-frequency signal of 40 GHz drives the phase modulator, which requires approximately 3.6 V to achieve a π phase shift. The signal is synchronized with the oscillator pulse train using custom designed electronics. Details of these electronics are presented, resulting in a robust phase and amplitude controllable 40 GHz voltage source, phase locked to the single-photon pulse train. To demonstrate the utility of this pulse-shaping method we experimentally show spectral shearing of almost 1 nm for single-photon wave packets with 830 nm central wavelength and 1 nm bandwidth. Measurement of the second-order intensity correlation before and after the wave-packet manipulation remains constant within uncertainty of the measurement, showing that the quantum nature of the single-photon source is not deteriorated by the modulator. Preservation of the wave-packet coherence is verified by two-photon interference between spectrally sheared and non-modulated single-photons.
Control of the temporal waveform of photons produced during spontaneous emission from single quantum emitters provides a crucial tool in the establishment of hybrid quantum systems, optimization of quantum state transfer protocols and mitigation of effects due interferometric instability for network architectures based on flying qubits. We describe a method to generate photons of any temporal waveform from emitters of any excited state lifetime, limited only by the timing resolution of control hardware. We show how the temporal waveform of photons can be controlled by deterministically varying the population of an excited state which undergoes spontaneous emission. Our broadly applicable approach has only two requirements for a candidate quantum emitter: modulation of the (1) amplitude and (2) relative phase of a field coupling a ground state to the excited manifold. We detail how to identify optimal excitation pulses by employing variational algorithms to feed back on atomic populations. Additionally, we develop Quantum Monte Carlo based tools to determine photon-number statistics and establish techniques to identify optimal excitation strengths and post-selection thresholds for photon generation protocols. We situate our work in the context of other prior research on bespoke single photon sources and networking including post-emission pulse shaping, temporal gating and cavity-based methods. In comparison, our free-space process has greater flexibility in producing any waveform, requires less infrastructure, and can be readily applied across a wide range of quantum emitters. We discuss the applications and limits of this technique, including how increasing photon emission probabilities affects achievable temporal-mode overlap fidelities between emitted and target photon waveforms.
The ability to control the temporal shape of single-photon pulses is highly desirable in quantum information processing. For instance, it has been shown that Gaussian pulses are best suited for linear optics quantum computing1. By mimicking the time-reversal of a spontaneous emission event, it also allows to optimize the absorption of the prepared photons by a quantum emitter. In this work we investigate the potential of using fast modifications of the detuning between an atomic system and a cavity mode during photon emission to reach this goal. We compare two approaches consisting of varying the emitter or cavity frequency. The latter, achievable by a fast modification of the refractive index of a solid state cavity, will be shown to have negligible influence on the photon spectrum. It allows to create Gaussian pulses interacting with a fidelity to the target photons of 99%, as well as time-reversed photons absorbed by an atom in a cavity with a probability of 93%.
A cavity coupling, a charged nanodot, and a fiber can act as a quantum interface, through which a stationary spin qubit and a flying photon qubit can be interconverted via a cavity-assisted Raman process. This Raman process can be made to generate or annihilate an arbitrarily shaped single-photon wave packet by pulse shaping the controlling laser field. This quantum interface forms the basis for many essential functions of a quantum network, including sending, receiving, transferring, swapping, and entangling qubits at distributed quantum nodes as well as a deterministic source and an efficient detector of a single-photon wave packet with arbitrarily specified shape and average photon number. Numerical study of errors from noise and system parameters on the operations shows high fidelity and robust tolerance.