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Photonics Research

Ultrathin optical quantum CNOT gate based on a single-layer metasurface

Mingna Xun, Sheng Ye, Meng Li, Chu Li, Yue Han, Qiang Li, Qihuang Gong, Yan Li

Published Jun 9, 2025• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Compact controlled-NOT (CNOT) gates are essential for achieving large-scale quantum information processing. Recently, metasurfaces have been emerging as a promising miniaturized platform for quantum optics thanks to their advanced light field manipulation capability and subwavelength thickness. Here we report, for the first time, to our knowledge, the experimental demonstration of a quantum CNOT gate realized with a single-layer Pancharatnam–Berry phase-based dielectric metasurface. The metasurface completes the functions of three beam splitters, reducing the thickness of the logic gate to the subwavelength scale. The truth table fidelity reaches as high as 94.7% and state fidelities of the generated maximally entangled Bell states exceed 80%. This provides an ultrathin device for quantum information processing and holds promise for advancing quantum technology.

DOI
10.1364/prj.550246

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Compact controlled-NOT (CNOT) gates are essential for achieving large-scale quantum information processing. Recently, metasurfaces have been emerging as a promising miniaturized platform for quantum optics thanks to their advanced light field manipulation capability and subwavelength thickness. Here we report, for the first time, to our knowledge, the experimental demonstration of a quantum CNOT gate realized with a single-layer Pancharatnam–Berry phase-based dielectric metasurface. The metasurface completes the functions of three beam splitters, reducing the thickness of the logic gate to the subwavelength scale. The truth table fidelity reaches as high as 94.7% and state fidelities of the generated maximally entangled Bell states exceed 80%. This provides an ultrathin device for quantum information processing and holds promise for advancing quantum technology.
To build universal quantum computers, an essential step is to realize the so-called controlled-NOT (CNOT) gate. Quantum photonic integrated circuits are well recognized as an attractive technology offering great promise for achieving large-scale quantum information processing, due to the potential for high fidelity, high efficiency, and compact footprints. Here, we demonstrate a supercompact integrated quantum CNOT gate on silicon by using the concept of symmetry breaking of a six-channel waveguide superlattice. The present path-encoded quantum CNOT gate is implemented with a footprint of $4.8\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}4.45\text{ }\text{ }\ensuremath{\mu}{\mathrm{m}}^{2}$ ($\ensuremath{\sim}3\ensuremath{\lambda}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}3\ensuremath{\lambda}$) as well as a high-process fidelity of $\ensuremath{\sim}0.925$ and a low excess loss of <0.2  dB<0.2\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{dB}<0.2  dB. The footprint is shrunk significantly by $\ensuremath{\sim}10\text{ }000$ times compared to those previous results based on dielectric waveguides. This offers the possibility of realizing practical large-scale quantum information processes and paving the way to the applications across fundamental science and quantum technologies.
Abstract Two-qubit controlled gates such as the controlled-Y (CY) gate are essential building blocks for universal quantum computation. While linear-optical implementations of controlled-NOT and controlled-Z gates have been realized with discrete optics and integrated waveguides, realizing a faithful CY gate on a compact, single-element platform remains challenging because it requires both a controlled bit-flip and precise ± i phase factors. Here we propose and numerically demonstrate an optical quantum CY gate based on a single-layer Pancharatnam–Berry gradient metasurface operating at 1550 nm. Polarization-encoded photons are processed by a 26-pillar amorphous-silicon supercell that realizes parallel beam splitting, diffraction routing and two-photon interference. After fixed local polarization encoding/analysis transformations and coincidence post-selection, the reconstructed two-photon gate matrix matches the ideal CY unitary with a matrix fidelity of 0.9885. Computational ZZ- and complementary XY-basis truth tables yield fidelities of 0.9902 and 0.9924, respectively, while the four phase-type Bell states generated by the gate exhibit an average fidelity of 0.9902. The average post-selection success probability extracted from full-wave simulations is 0.0976. Wavelength-dependent simulations including material dispersion indicate a simulated bandwidth of approximately 26.5 nm ( F CY ⩾ 0.95 ). The results establish a compact, monolithic metasurface platform for phase-sensitive controlled quantum logic and entangled-state manipulation.
The ability to manipulate quantum states of light by integrated devices may open new perspectives both for fundamental tests of quantum mechanics and for novel technological applications. However, the technology for handling polarization-encoded qubits, the most commonly adopted approach, is still missing in quantum optical circuits. Here we demonstrate the first integrated photonic controlled-NOT (CNOT) gate for polarization-encoded qubits. This result has been enabled by the integration, based on femtosecond laser waveguide writing, of partially polarizing beam splitters on a glass chip. We characterize the logical truth table of the quantum gate demonstrating its high fidelity to the expected one. In addition, we show the ability of this gate to transform separable states into entangled ones and vice versa. Finally, the full accessibility of our device is exploited to carry out a complete characterization of the CNOT gate through a quantum process tomography. As quantum information processing continues to develop apace, the need for integrated photonic devices becomes ever greater for both fundamental measurements and technological applications. To this end, Crespiet al.demonstrate a high-fidelity photonic controlled-NOT gate on a glass chip.
It has been proved that surface plasmon polariton (SPP) can well conserve and transmit the quantum nature of entangled photons. Therefore, further utilization and manipulation of such quantum nature of SPP in a plasmonic chip will be the next task for scientists in this field. In quantum logic circuits, the controlled-NOT (CNOT) gate is the key building block. Here, we implement the first plasmonic quantum CNOT gate with several-micrometer footprint by utilizing a single polarization-dependent beam-splitter (PDBS) fabricated on the dielectric-loaded SPP waveguide (DLSPPW). The quantum logic function of the CNOT gate is characterized by the truth table with an average fidelity of. Its entangling ability to transform a separable state into an entangled state is demonstrated with the visibilities of and for non-orthogonal bases. The DLSPPW based CNOT gate is considered to have good integratability and scalability, which will pave a new way for quantum information science.
We present the first quantum controlled-not (cnot) gate realized using a fiber-based indistinguishable photon-pair source in the 1.55 microm telecommunications band. Using this free-space cnot gate, all four Bell states are produced and fully characterized by performing quantum-state tomography, demonstrating the gate's unambiguous entangling capability and high fidelity. Telecom-band operation makes this cnot gate particularly suitable for quantum-information-processing tasks that are at the interface of quantum communication and linear optical quantum computing.