Frontiers of Physics

Transferring quantum entangled states of photonic qubits via a quantum switch

Wen-Hao Kong, Jia-Heng Ni, Yifan Kang, Li Zhi Yu, Qi Zhang, Yu Zhang, Qi-Ping Su, Chui‐Ping Yang

Published Jan 1, 2026• 0 citations

Abstract

The controlled transfer of quantum entangled states is a fascinating topic in quantum physics, and has potential applications in fields such as quantum network communication, distributed quantum information processing, and development of quantum functional devices. This study focuses on a circuit quantum electrodynamics (QED) system, comprising an input port, two output ports, and a quantum switch. The input port or each output port contains n microwave cavities. The switch is a superconducting transmon qutrit (three-level quantum system). The vacuum and single-photon states in each cavity encode a photonic qubit. We demonstrate that the single-excitation symmetric (SES) entangled state of n photonic qubits can be transferred from the n cavities at the input port to the n cavities at either of the two output ports, controlled by the switch. Remarkably, the operational time decreases as the number n increases. The only use of qutrit-cavity resonant interaction enables rapid quantum state transfer while effectively suppressing system decoherence. This proposal can be used to achieve the controlled transfer of both Bell states and W states of photonic qubits via a quantum switch. To validate the experimental feasibility, we numerically simulate two scenarios: (i) transferring the Bell state of two photonic qubits, and (ii) transferring the W state of three photonic qubits. This proposal may be extended to accomplish the same task in other physical systems, where the switch is implemented with a three-level artificial atom of different types while each cavity is a microwave or optical cavity.

DOI: 10.15302/frontphys.2026.053201

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