A photon source with high-dimensional entanglement is able to bring increasing capacity of information in quantum communication. The dimensionality is determined by the chosen degree of freedom of the photons and is limited by the complexity of the physical systems. Here we propose a new type of high-dimensional entangled photon source, generated via path-indistinguishable scheme from a two-dimensional atomic cloud, which is prepared in a magneto-optical trap. To verify the photon source, we demonstrate experimentally the quantum state of the single photons heralded by its partner photon, with homodyne tomographic technology.
A photon source with high-dimensional entanglement is able to bring increasing capacity of information in quantum communication. The dimensionality is determined by the chosen degree of freedom of the photons and is limited by the complexity of the physical systems. Here we propose a new type of high-dimensional entangled photon source, generated via path-indistinguishable scheme from a two-dimensional atomic cloud, which is prepared in a magneto-optical trap. To verify the photon source, we demonstrate experimentally the quantum state of the single photons heralded by its partner photon, with homodyne tomographic technology.
We present an experimental demonstration of a general entanglement-generation framework, where the form of the entangled state is independent of the physical process used to produce the particles. It is the indistinguishability of multiple generation processes and the geometry of the setup that give rise to the entanglement. Such a framework, termed entanglement by path identity, exhibits a high degree of customizability. We employ one class of such geometries to build a modular source of photon pairs that are high-dimensionally entangled in their orbital angular momentum. We demonstrate the creation of three-dimensionally entangled states and show how to incrementally increase the dimensionality of entanglement. The generated states retain their quality even in higher dimensions. In addition, the design of our source allows for its generalization to various degrees of freedom and even for the implementation in integrated compact devices. The concept of entanglement by path identity itself is a general scheme and allows for construction of sources producing also customized states of multiple photons. We therefore expect that future quantum technologies and fundamental tests of nature in higher dimensions will benefit from this approach.
High-dimensional entangled photon pairs have many excellent properties compared to two-dimensional entangled two-photon states, such as greater information capacity, stronger nonlocality, and higher security. Traditionally, the degree of freedom that can produce high-dimensional entanglement mainly consists of angular momentum and energy time. In this paper, we propose a type of high-dimensional energy-time-entangled qudit, which is different from the traditional model with an extended propagation path. In addition, our method mainly focuses on the generation with multiple frequency modes, while two- and three-dimensional frequency-entangled qudits are examined as examples in detail through the linear or nonlinear optical response of the medium. The generation of high-dimensional energy-time-entangled states can be verified by coincidence counts in the damped Rabi oscillation regime, where the paired Stokes--anti-Stokes wave packet is determined by the structure of resonances in the third-order nonlinearity. Finally, we extend the dimension to N in the sequential-cascade mode. Our results have potential applications in quantum communication and quantum computation.
Integrated photonic circuits offer the possibility for complex quantum optical experiments in higher-dimensional photonic systems. However, the advantages of integration and scalability can only be fully utilized with the availability of a source for higher-dimensional entangled photons. Here, a novel fiber integrated source for path-entangled photons in the telecom band at 1.55\mum using only standard fiber technology is presented. Due to the special design the source shows good scalability towards higher-dimensional entangled photonic states (quNits), while path entanglement offers direct compatibility with on-chip path encoding. We present an experimental realization of a path-entangled two-qubit source. A very high quality of entanglement is verified by various measurements, i.a. a tomographic state reconstruction is performed leading to a background corrected fidelity of (99.45+-0.06)%. Moreover, we describe an easy method for extending our source to arbitrarily high dimensions.
Abstract High-dimensional quantum entanglement is an important resource for emerging quantum technologies such as quantum communication and quantum computation. The scalability of metres-long experimental setups limits high-dimensional entanglement in bulk optics. Advancements in quantum technology hinge on reproducible, and reconfigurable quantum devices—including photon sources, which are challenging to achieve in a scalable manner using bulk optics. Advances in nanotechnology and CMOS-compatible integration techniques have enabled the generation of entangled photons on millimeter-scale chips, significantly enhancing scalability, stability, replicability, and miniaturization for real-world quantum applications. In recent years we have seen several chip-scale demonstrations with different discrete degrees of freedom including path, frequency-bin, time-bin, and transverse modes, on many material platforms. A complete quantum photonic integrated circuit requires the generation, manipulation, and detection of quantum states, involving various active and passive quantum photonic components which further increase the degree of complexity. Here, we focus on the high-dimensional versions of qubits—qudits—and review the nonlinear optical processes that facilitate on-chip high-dimensional entangled photon sources, and the currently used material platforms. We discuss a range of current implementations of on-chip high-dimensional entangled photon sources and demonstrated applications. We comment on the current challenges due to the limitations of individual material platforms and present future opportunities in hybrid and heterogeneous integration strategies for the next generation of integrated quantum photonic chips.
The field of high-dimensional quantum photonics involves the use of multimode photonic degrees-of-freedom such as the spatial, temporal, or spectral structure of light to encode multi-level quantum states. Recent years have seen rapid progress in the development of methods to generate, manipulate, and distribute such quantum states of light and their use in a range of quantum technology applications that offer practical advantages over conventional qubit-based approaches. High-dimensional quantum states of light encoded in photonic time-bins, frequency-bins, transverse-spatial modes, waveguide paths, and temporal modes have enabled noise-robust fundamental tests of quantum mechanics, error-resilient and high-capacity quantum communication protocols, andas well as efficient approaches for quantum information processing, to name just a few examples. However, research in this field has progressed fairly independently, with little exchange across different photonic degrees-of-freedom or between experiment and theory and no comprehensive comparison between degrees-of-freedom. This roadmap aims to bridge this gap by surveying progress in each area and identifying shared challenges and opportunities that cut across two or more photonic degrees-of-freedoms. We review early work and state-of-the-art experimental techniques under development for high-dimensional quantum states encoded in single and entangled photons, as well as theoretical tools for their measurement and certification. We outline the main outstanding challenges for theory and each experimental degree-of-freedom, identifying promising future directions of research that may enable these to be overcome. We end by discussing interconnections and shared challenges centered around their distribution, measurement, and manipulation, with a view towards their integration into next-generation quantum technology platforms and applications.
High-dimensional entanglement offers promising perspectives in quantum information science. However, how to generate high-quality high-dimensional entanglement and control it efficiently is still a challenge. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a polarization-path hybrid high-dimensional entangled two-photon source with extremely high quality. Based on stable interferometers, we measured fidelities exceeding 0.99 for both three-dimensional and four-dimensional maximal entanglement. The experimental setup can also be used to prepare arbitrary high-dimensional pure state and can be efficiently extended to even higher dimensional systems. Our new source will shed new light on high-dimensional quantum information processes.