Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Physical Review A

Nonreciprocal single-photon quantum router

Ya-long Ren, Sheng-li Ma, Ji-kun Xie, Xinke Li, Mingtao Cao, Fuli Li

Published Jan 14, 2022• 66 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The quantum router is an elementary building block in quantum information processing and quantum communication. This work constitutes a step forward in this direction, i.e., an efficient scheme is proposed for the implementation of a nonreciprocal single-photon quantum router, allowing the routing of a single photon from one side but blocking it from the other side. Our model consists of two directly coupled coplanar-waveguide resonators and a superconducting ring resonator, which are connected together through a transmission line. The nonreciprocity is realized by unidirectionally interacting the rotating microwave modes of the ring resonator with a dissipative magnon mode in an yttrium iron garnet disk. We find that a single-photon signal can be delivered from a given input port to either of the two output ports, but is fully absorbed from the opposite one. The proposed scheme not only enriches the family of nonreciprocal quantum devices, but also finds useful applications in chiral quantum technologies.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.105.013711

Related papers

Nonreciprocal photonic quantum router via synthetic magnetism

Ya-long Ren, Sheng-li Ma, Ji-kun Xie +1 more

Nonreciprocal photon transmissions at the single-quantum level play crucial roles in optical information processing. Here, we propose to develop a nonreciprocal photonic quantum router via synthetic magnetism, which can route photons of an input quantum state in one direction but block them in the other direction. Our model is based on a superconducting circuit of linearly coupled microwave cavities, and the Lorentz reciprocity is broken by synthesizing an effective magnetic field for photons. As a result, an input quantum signal from a given direction can be delivered on-demand to either of the two output ports, but it from the opposite direction is completely absorbed. Our scheme does not involve strong static magnetic fields and optical nonlinearity for generating the desired optical nonreciprocity. It is, therefore, expected to be a key ingredient for the construction of on-chip quantum networks.

Applied Physics Letters•Jun 12, 2023•5 citations

Realization of Tunable Highly-Efficient Quantum Routing in Chiral Waveguides

Guo-An Yan, Hua Lu

The chiral interaction between single photons in waveguides and quantum emitters has gained considerable attention. Here, we proposed a tunable quantum routing scheme with a chiral quantum system by coupling an emitter to two chiral waveguides. Conventional quantum routers can only be achieved with each port output probability no larger than 25%. But our scheme can transfer quantum information arbitrarily from an input port to another, and each port’s output probability is 100%. Besides, we investigated the influence of the Purcell factor in quantum routing properties. No matter how to change the size of the directionalities Sj or set a specific value to the dissipation of the emitter, we always found that the quantum routing has very high efficiency. Moreover, we also used a superconducting qubit coupled to two resonators to show the present scheme is pretty feasible for experimental implementation.

Frontiers in Physics•Mar 22, 2022•7 citations

Nonreciprocal routing induced by chirality in an atom-dimer waveguide-QED system

Shi-Yu Liu, Lin-Lin Jiang, Hai Zhu +2 more

The implementation of quantum routers is an important and desired task in quantum information science, since quantum routers are important components of quantum networks. Here, we propose a scheme for implementing single-photon routers in a waveguide-QED system, which consists of two coupled two-level atoms coupled to two waveguides to form a four-port quantum device. We obtain the exact analytical expressions of the single-photon scattering amplitudes using the real-space method. By taking the propagating time of photons between two coupling points into account or not, we consider the system working in the Markovian and non-Markovian regimes, respectively. In addition, we introduce the chiral coupling, which breaks the symmetry of the waveguide model, to manipulate the transmission of single photons. We find that when the system works in the non-Markovian regime, the single photon can be transmitted on demand by adjusting the asymmetry coefficient. More interestingly, the complete single-photon routing in this device does not require an ideal chiral coupling, loosening the photon transport conditions. This work will motivate the studies concerning the nonreciprocal and chiral quantum devices in the waveguide-QED platform.

arXiv:2502.10121•Physical Review A•Nov 12, 2025•3 citations

Nonreciprocal single-photon router in quantum networks

Guo-An Yan, Hua Lu

Abstract High-efficiency single-photon routing of photon signals between different quantum channels is of great importance for the quantum networks with the ability to coherently transfer quantum states between the desired sender and receiver nodes. We proposed an efficient scheme for realizing quantum routers via multiple semi-infinite coupled-resonator waveguides ( CRWs ) coupled to cavities nonreciprocally. Numerical results show that with the change of the phase difference value, the quantum routing function of multiple output ports can be realized, in the meantime, the information conversion rate can almost reach 100%. The optimal conditions for these phenomena are obtained by the time-reversal symmetry breaking the nonreciprocal of the single-photon transport. Moreover, we have also described a scalable scheme that can extend the router to an arbitrary number of outputs. Our results pave the way to design high-quality quantum devices based on breaking time-reversal symmetry waveguide-cavity systems.

Physica Scripta•Jun 17, 2021•6 citations

Targeted photonic routers with chiral photon-atom interactions

Cong-Hua Yan, Yong Li, Haidong Yuan +1 more

The photonic router is a key device in optical quantum networks. Conventional routers, however, can only transfer a photon from the input port to the desired port probabilistically. Here, we propose to use chiral photon-atom interactions for targeted routing that can transfer a single photon from the input port to an arbitrarily selected output port deterministically, i.e., with $100%$ probability. The configuration of the proposed router consists of a driven three-level atom which is chirally coupled to two photonic waveguides simultaneously. It is shown that, by properly adjusting the driving field on the atom, a single photon inputting from one port of the first waveguide can be deterministically transferred to one of the selected output ports of the second waveguide. Both resonant and nonresonant photons can be deterministically routed to the desired ports. We also examine how the routing fidelity is influenced by dissipations and imperfections, and investigate the transmission characters of two resonant photons.

Physical Review A•Feb 13, 2018•98 citations

Single-photon quantum router in the microwave regime utilizing double superconducting resonators with tunable coupling

Yuting Zhu, W. Z. Jia

We provide a proposal to achieve single-photon router in the microwave domain based on a waveguide quantum electrodynamics structure, which consists of a double-resonator side coupled to a superconducting transmission line. A superconducting quantum interference device is used to realize tunable and switchable coupling between the resonators; thereby the transport of a single photon in the transmission line can be effectively controlled. Our calculations show that the device has high on-off ratio and is experimentally feasible in currently available superconducting quantum circuits.

Physical Review A•Jun 10, 2019•35 citations
The quantum router is an elementary building block in quantum information processing and quantum communication. This work constitutes a step forward in this direction, i.e., an efficient scheme is proposed for the implementation of a nonreciprocal single-photon quantum router, allowing the routing of a single photon from one side but blocking it from the other side. Our model consists of two directly coupled coplanar-waveguide resonators and a superconducting ring resonator, which are connected together through a transmission line. The nonreciprocity is realized by unidirectionally interacting the rotating microwave modes of the ring resonator with a dissipative magnon mode in an yttrium iron garnet disk. We find that a single-photon signal can be delivered from a given input port to either of the two output ports, but is fully absorbed from the opposite one. The proposed scheme not only enriches the family of nonreciprocal quantum devices, but also finds useful applications in chiral quantum technologies.
Nonreciprocal photon transmissions at the single-quantum level play crucial roles in optical information processing. Here, we propose to develop a nonreciprocal photonic quantum router via synthetic magnetism, which can route photons of an input quantum state in one direction but block them in the other direction. Our model is based on a superconducting circuit of linearly coupled microwave cavities, and the Lorentz reciprocity is broken by synthesizing an effective magnetic field for photons. As a result, an input quantum signal from a given direction can be delivered on-demand to either of the two output ports, but it from the opposite direction is completely absorbed. Our scheme does not involve strong static magnetic fields and optical nonlinearity for generating the desired optical nonreciprocity. It is, therefore, expected to be a key ingredient for the construction of on-chip quantum networks.
The chiral interaction between single photons in waveguides and quantum emitters has gained considerable attention. Here, we proposed a tunable quantum routing scheme with a chiral quantum system by coupling an emitter to two chiral waveguides. Conventional quantum routers can only be achieved with each port output probability no larger than 25%. But our scheme can transfer quantum information arbitrarily from an input port to another, and each port’s output probability is 100%. Besides, we investigated the influence of the Purcell factor in quantum routing properties. No matter how to change the size of the directionalities Sj or set a specific value to the dissipation of the emitter, we always found that the quantum routing has very high efficiency. Moreover, we also used a superconducting qubit coupled to two resonators to show the present scheme is pretty feasible for experimental implementation.
The implementation of quantum routers is an important and desired task in quantum information science, since quantum routers are important components of quantum networks. Here, we propose a scheme for implementing single-photon routers in a waveguide-QED system, which consists of two coupled two-level atoms coupled to two waveguides to form a four-port quantum device. We obtain the exact analytical expressions of the single-photon scattering amplitudes using the real-space method. By taking the propagating time of photons between two coupling points into account or not, we consider the system working in the Markovian and non-Markovian regimes, respectively. In addition, we introduce the chiral coupling, which breaks the symmetry of the waveguide model, to manipulate the transmission of single photons. We find that when the system works in the non-Markovian regime, the single photon can be transmitted on demand by adjusting the asymmetry coefficient. More interestingly, the complete single-photon routing in this device does not require an ideal chiral coupling, loosening the photon transport conditions. This work will motivate the studies concerning the nonreciprocal and chiral quantum devices in the waveguide-QED platform.
Abstract High-efficiency single-photon routing of photon signals between different quantum channels is of great importance for the quantum networks with the ability to coherently transfer quantum states between the desired sender and receiver nodes. We proposed an efficient scheme for realizing quantum routers via multiple semi-infinite coupled-resonator waveguides ( CRWs ) coupled to cavities nonreciprocally. Numerical results show that with the change of the phase difference value, the quantum routing function of multiple output ports can be realized, in the meantime, the information conversion rate can almost reach 100%. The optimal conditions for these phenomena are obtained by the time-reversal symmetry breaking the nonreciprocal of the single-photon transport. Moreover, we have also described a scalable scheme that can extend the router to an arbitrary number of outputs. Our results pave the way to design high-quality quantum devices based on breaking time-reversal symmetry waveguide-cavity systems.
The photonic router is a key device in optical quantum networks. Conventional routers, however, can only transfer a photon from the input port to the desired port probabilistically. Here, we propose to use chiral photon-atom interactions for targeted routing that can transfer a single photon from the input port to an arbitrarily selected output port deterministically, i.e., with 100100%100 probability. The configuration of the proposed router consists of a driven three-level atom which is chirally coupled to two photonic waveguides simultaneously. It is shown that, by properly adjusting the driving field on the atom, a single photon inputting from one port of the first waveguide can be deterministically transferred to one of the selected output ports of the second waveguide. Both resonant and nonresonant photons can be deterministically routed to the desired ports. We also examine how the routing fidelity is influenced by dissipations and imperfections, and investigate the transmission characters of two resonant photons.
We provide a proposal to achieve single-photon router in the microwave domain based on a waveguide quantum electrodynamics structure, which consists of a double-resonator side coupled to a superconducting transmission line. A superconducting quantum interference device is used to realize tunable and switchable coupling between the resonators; thereby the transport of a single photon in the transmission line can be effectively controlled. Our calculations show that the device has high on-off ratio and is experimentally feasible in currently available superconducting quantum circuits.