High-dimensional entanglement offers a variety of advantages for both fundamental and applied applications in quantum information science. A central building block for such applications is a programmable processor of entangled states, which is crucial for the certification, manipulation, and distribution of high-dimensional entanglement. The leading technology for processing photons is integrated multiport interferometers. However, such devices are incompatible with structured light and their scaling is challenging. Here, we unlock these limitations by demonstrating a reconfigurable processor of entangled photons in high dimensions that is based on multiplane light conversion (MPLC), a technology that has recently been developed for multiplexing hundreds of spatial modes for classical communication. We use our programmable MPLC platform to certify three-dimensional entanglement in two mutually unbiased bases, perform 400 arbitrary random transformations on entangled photons, and convert the mode basis of entangled photons for entanglement distribution.
High-dimensional entangled photons are a key resource for advanced quantum information processing. Efficient processing of high-dimensional entangled photons requires the ability to synthesize their state using general unitary transformations. The leading technology for processing photons in high-dimensions is integrated multiport interferometers. However, such devices are incompatible with free-space and fiber-based systems, and their architecture poses significant scaling challenges. Here we unlock these limitations by demonstrating a reconfigurable processor of entangled photons that is based on multi-plane light conversion (MPLC), a technology that was recently developed for multiplexing hundreds of spatial modes for classical free-space and fiber communication. To demonstrate the flexibility of MPLC, we perform four key tasks of quantum information processing using the same MPLC hardware: entanglement certification, tailored two-photon interference, arbitrary state transformations, and mode conversion. Based on the high degree of control we obtain, we expect MPLC will become a leading platform for future quantum technologies.
Programmable linear optical interferometers are a core primitive in optical signal processing, quantum information processing, and photonic computing. Existing photonic-integrated implementations realize arbitrary
M-mode unitaries using Mach--Zehnder-interferometer meshes whose footprint and accumulated loss scale with
O(M2) optical components. Here we analyze and experimentally demonstrate a programmable architecture for implementing linear optical transformations directly on spatially tiled free-space {\em pixel modes} using multi-plane light conversion (MPLC). In this architecture,
M spatial modes arranged on a transverse lattice undergo a unitary transformation and are mapped to
M output modes of identical geometry through a sequence of programmable phase masks separated by free-space propagation segments. Numerical simulations show that arbitrary
M-mode unitaries can be compiled to a desired high fidelity using a number of phase planes that scales approximately linearly with
M. Using a spatial-light-modulator-based MPLC, we experimentally demonstrate programmable interferometers acting on up to
16 spatial pixel modes, including tunable beamsplitters, Hadamard unitaries, spatial permutations, and partial unitaries on select subsets of modes. These results establish MPLC-based pixel-mode interferometers as a promising architecture for programmable linear optics with applications in classical and quantum optical interconnects, photonic switching, and quantum information processing.