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Nano Letters

Dynamic Quantum Gate Based on Controllable Chiral Liquid Crystal Nanostructure

Shi‐Hui Ding, D X Zhu, Yi‐Heng Zhang, Liu S, Rui Sun, Wen Chen, Fang-Tianyu Chen, Jia Jiang, Yanqing Lu, Peng Chen

Published Jul 8, 2026• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The photonic quantum system, as a prominent candidate for quantum information processing, possesses inherent advantages of room-temperature operation, a long coherence time, and a large encoding capacity. However, a conventional photonic quantum gate is usually limited by its bulky volume, complicated protocols, and fixed functions. Here, we find that chiral liquid crystal (CLC) nanostructure can offer a feasible platform for a dynamic photonic quantum gate. Tuning a uniformly self-assembled nanostructure enables a full rotation of the Bloch sphere within the short wavelength circular regime of the CLC, facilitating efficient implementation of the identity gate, S gate, and Pauli-Z gate. Furthermore, such a CLC gate enables dynamic control over the transformation between polarization-entangled states. It is utilized to control hybrid entanglement between the polarization and orbital angular momentum, linking the Poincaré sphere to the higher-order Poincaré sphere. This work demonstrates the potential of soft-matter CLC nanostructure to serve as a versatile platform in the photonic quantum system.

DOI
10.1021/acs.nanolett.6c02279

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The photonic quantum system, as a prominent candidate for quantum information processing, possesses inherent advantages of room-temperature operation, a long coherence time, and a large encoding capacity. However, a conventional photonic quantum gate is usually limited by its bulky volume, complicated protocols, and fixed functions. Here, we find that chiral liquid crystal (CLC) nanostructure can offer a feasible platform for a dynamic photonic quantum gate. Tuning a uniformly self-assembled nanostructure enables a full rotation of the Bloch sphere within the short wavelength circular regime of the CLC, facilitating efficient implementation of the identity gate, S gate, and Pauli-Z gate. Furthermore, such a CLC gate enables dynamic control over the transformation between polarization-entangled states. It is utilized to control hybrid entanglement between the polarization and orbital angular momentum, linking the Poincaré sphere to the higher-order Poincaré sphere. This work demonstrates the potential of soft-matter CLC nanostructure to serve as a versatile platform in the photonic quantum system.
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We have demonstrated the coherent control of nanoscale objects (such as quantum dots) embedded in photonic crystals, which provides a basis for a one-qubit phase rotation gate that is one of the universal quantum logic gates for quantum information processing. In this demonstration, the quantum electrodynamics of the atomic system is calculated by the Schrödinger equation. Using the results of the calculation, the quantum electrodynamics is graphically represented by a Bloch sphere. This shows that the quantum state is rotated on the Bloch sphere, and this rotation is stopped or started, depending on the laser phase, which can act as a one-qubit phase rotation gate.
Featuring a nontrivial coupling between the orbital angular momentum of light and spatially inhomogeneous polarization, hybrid-order Poincaré sphere (HyOPS) beams have recently triggered numerous curiosities, especially in classical and quantum informatics. Despite much effort devoted to creating single HyOPS beam, it is still a formidable challenge to simultaneously harness multichannel and diverse HyOPS beams in a simple and efficient manner. Here, we propose a digitalized geometric phase optical element via photo-induced liquid crystal microstructures and demonstrate flexible and spin-controlled massive channels of HyOPS beams. By tuning the incident polarization, any state on up to 24 diverse HyOPSs is simultaneously mapped from common Poincaré sphere in high efficiency and good energy uniformity. All experimental results match well with the theoretical predictions of such a planar multifunctional device. This adds an extra spatial degree of freedom to advanced light tailoring and may facilitate parallel optical trapping, high-capacity communication, and high-dimensional quantum entanglement.
Entangled photon pair sources relying on spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) are an essential ingredient for optical quantum technologies. Currently, the vast majority of SPDC sources is based on solid-state crystals. However, their rigid nature implies a careful design of the source as well as it limits the two-photon state that can be generated, without much possibility of tuning it. Here, we demonstrate a new generation of efficient, highly tunable sources of entangled photons based on recently discovered liquid crystal materials called ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals (FNLC). In addition to other highly desirable properties that liquid crystals possess, such as the ability to self-assemble into complex structures, strong response to the electric field and integrability into complex optical systems, FNLCs also possess considerable optical nonlinearity. This, as we demonstrate, enables also efficient SPDC generation and opens the door for promising new functionalities in quantum technologies. This work demonstrates the first-ever realization of SPDC in soft, organic matter, with the possibility of controlling the molecular order and thus tuning the two-photon polarization state. We show that almost any polarization state can be generated by simply adjusting the twist of the molecular orientation along the sample. Additionally, by applying only a few volts, we can drastically alter both the emission rate and the generated state of photon pairs, which enables real-time tunability. Developed concepts could lead to complex multi-pixel devices generating quantum light with real time tunability and therefore hold the potential to have a huge impact in the field of quantum technologies.
In this paper we review recent results we obtained in the field of photonic quantum information that were made possible by the introduction of patterned non-uniform liquid crystal cells known as “q-plates”: (i) the generation of entangled states of polarization and orbital angular momentum of a photon; (ii) the transfer of a qubit of quantum information from the spin to the orbital angular momentum of photons and vice versa; (iii) the Hong-Ou-Mandel coalescence in the same outgoing mode of a beam-splitter of two photons having nonzero orbital angular momentum; (iv) the universal optimal quantum cloning of orbital-angular-momentum-encoded qubits.