Hong–Ou–Mandel interferometry and quantum metrology with multimode frequency-bin entangled photons

Qian C., Tian H., Jing X., Liu Y., Chen Z., Luo H., Du Y., Zheng X., Chen T., Kong Y., Yin H., Jiang D., Niu B., Lu L.

The promotion of quantum network applications demands the scalable connection of quantum resources. It is preferable to set up multiple logical networks coexisting on a single physical network infrastructure to accommodate a larger number of users. Here we present a quantum virtual network architecture that offers this level of scalability, without being constrained to a fixed physical-layer network relying solely on passive multiplexing components. The architecture can be understood as arising from the superposition of a fully connected entanglement distribution network and port-based virtual local area network, which group multiusers by access ports. In terms of hardware, we leverage a semiconductor chip with a high figure-of-merit modal overlap to directly generate high-quality polarization entanglement, and a streamlined polarization analysis module, which requires only one single-photon detector for each end user. We experimentally perform the BBM92 QKD protocol on the five-user quantum virtual network and demonstrate voice and image encryption on a campus area network. Our results may provide insights into the realization of large-scale quantum networks with integrated and cost-efficient photonic architecture.

Wang B., Zheng K., Xie Q., Zhang A., Xu L., Zhang L.

Lu C., Wu X., Wen W., Ma X.

AbstractPhotons’ frequency degree of freedom is promising to realize large‐scale quantum information processing. Quantum frequency combs (QFCs) generated in integrated nonlinear microresonators can produce multiple frequency modes with narrow linewidth. Here, polarization‐entangled QFCs are utilized to generate discrete frequency‐bin entangled states. Fourteen pairs of polarization‐entangled photons with different frequencies are simultaneously transformed into frequency‐bin entangled states. The characteristic of frequency‐bin entanglement is demonstrated by Hong‐Ou‐Mandel interference, which can be performed with single or multiple frequency pairs in parallel. This work paves the way for harnessing large‐scale frequency‐bin entanglement and converting between different degrees of freedom in quantum information processing.

Jing X., Qian C., Weng C., Li B., Chen Z., Wang C., Tang J., Gu X., Kong Y., Chen T., Yin H., Jiang D., Niu B., Lu L.

Quantum communication networks are crucial for both secure communication and cryptographic networked tasks. Building quantum communication networks in a scalable and cost-effective way is essential for their widespread adoption. Here, we establish a complete polarization entanglement–based fully connected network, which features an ultrabright integrated Bragg reflection waveguide quantum source, managed by an untrusted service provider, and a streamlined polarization analysis module, which requires only one single-photon detector for each user. We perform a continuously working quantum entanglement distribution and create correlated bit strings between users. Within the framework of one-time universal hashing, we provide the experimental implementation of source-independent quantum digital signatures using imperfect keys circumventing the necessity for private amplification. We further beat the 1/3 fault tolerance bound in the Byzantine agreement, achieving unconditional security without relying on sophisticated techniques. Our results offer an affordable and practical route for addressing consensus challenges within the emerging quantum network landscape.

Jin R., Zeng Z., You C., Yuan C.

Interference, which refers to the phenomenon associated with the superposition of waves, has played a crucial role in the advancement of physics and finds a wide range of applications in physical and engineering measurements. Interferometers are experimental setups designed to observe and manipulate interference. With the development of technology, many quantum interferometers have been discovered and have become cornerstone tools in the field of quantum physics. Quantum interferometers not only explore the nature of the quantum world but also have extensive applications in quantum information technology, such as quantum communication, quantum computing, and quantum measurement. In this review, we analyze and summarize three typical quantum interferometers: the Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interferometer, the N00N state interferometer, and the Franson interferometer. We focus on the principles and applications of these three interferometers. In the principles section, we present the theoretical models for these interferometers, including single-mode theory and multi-mode theory. In the applications section, we review the applications of these interferometers in quantum communication, computation, and measurement. We hope that this review article will promote the development of quantum interference in both fundamental science and practical engineering applications.

Jing X., Qian C., Zheng X., Nian H., Wang C., Tang J., Gu X., Kong Y., Chen T., Liu Y., Sheng C., Jiang D., Niu B., Lu L.

Building communication links among multiple users in a scalable and robust way is a key objective in achieving large-scale quantum networks. In realistic scenario, noise from the coexisting classical light is inevitable and can ultimately disrupt the entanglement. The previous significant fully connected multiuser entanglement distribution experiments are conducted using dark fiber links and there is no explicit relation between the entanglement degradations induced by classical noise and its error rate. Here we fabricate a semiconductor chip with a high figure-of-merit modal overlap to directly generate broadband polarization entanglement. Our monolithic source maintains polarization entanglement fidelity above 96% for 42 nm bandwidth with a brightness of 1.2 × 107 Hz mW-1. We perform a continuously working quantum entanglement distribution among three users coexisting with classical light. Under finite-key analysis, we establish secure keys and enable images encryption as well as quantum secret sharing between users. Our work paves the way for practical multiparty quantum communication with integrated photonic architecture compatible with real-world fiber optical communication network.

Liu Z., Siltanen O., Kuusela T., Miao R., Ning C., Li C., Guo G., Piilo J.

Quantum entanglement and decoherence are the two counterforces of many quantum technologies and protocols. For example, while quantum teleportation is fueled by a pair of maximally entangled resource qubits, it is vulnerable to decoherence. Here, we propose an efficient quantum teleportation protocol in the presence of pure decoherence and without entangled resource qubits entering the Bell-state measurement. Instead, we use multipartite hybrid entanglement between the auxiliary qubits and their local environments within the open–quantum system context. With a hybrid-entangled initial state, it is the decoherence that allows us to achieve high fidelities. We demonstrate our protocol in an all-optical experiment.

Jin R., Zeng Z., Xu D., Yuan C., Li B., Wang Y., Shimizu R., Takeoka M., Fujiwara M., Sasaki M., Lu P.

Li B., Chen C., Yuan B., Zhang X., Dong R., Zhang S., Jin R.

Entangled photons (biphotons) in the time-frequency degree of freedom play a crucial role in both foundational physics and advanced quantum technologies. Fully characterizing them poses a key scientific challenge. Here, we propose a theoretical approach to achieving the complete tomography of biphotons by introducing a frequency shift in one arm of the combination interferometer. Our method, a generalized combination interferometer, enables the reconstruction of the full complex joint spectral amplitude associated with both frequency sum and difference in a single interferometer. In contrast, the generalized Hong-Ou-Mandel and N00N state interferometers only allow for the partial tomography of biphotons, either in frequency difference or frequency sum. This provides an alternative method for full characterization of an arbitrary two-photon state with exchange symmetry and holds potential for applications in high-dimensional quantum information processing.

Wei S., Jing B., Zhang X., Liao J., Li H., You L., Wang Z., Wang Y., Deng G., Song H., Oblak D., Guo G., Zhou Q.

AbstractTo advance the full potential of quantum networks one should be able to distribute quantum resources over long distances at appreciable rates. As a consequence, all components in such networks need to have large multimode capacity to manipulate photonic quantum states. Towards this end, a photonic quantum memory with a large multimode capacity, especially one operating at telecom wavelength, remains an important challenge. Here we optimize the preparation of atomic frequency combs and demonstrate a spectro-temporally multiplexed quantum memory in a 10-m-long cryogenically cooled erbium doped silica fibre. Our multiplexing storage has five spectral channels - each 10 GHz wide with 5 GHz separation - with up to 330 temporal modes in each, thus resulting in a simultaneous storage of 1,650 modes of heralded single photons with a 1000-fold increasing in coincidence detection rate with respect to single mode storage. Our results could pave the way for high speed quantum networks compatible with the infrastructure of fibre optical communication.

Lu H., Liscidini M., Gaeta A., Weiner A., Lukens J.

Discrete frequency modes, or bins, present a blend of opportunities and challenges for photonic quantum information processing. Frequency-bin-encoded photons are readily generated by integrated quantum light sources, naturally high-dimensional, stable in optical fiber, and massively parallelizable in a single spatial mode. Yet quantum operations on frequency-bin states require coherent and controllable multifrequency interference, making them significantly more challenging to manipulate than more traditional spatial degrees of freedom. In this mini-review, we describe recent developments that have transformed these challenges and propelled frequency bins forward. Focusing on sources, manipulation schemes, and detection approaches, we introduce the basics of frequency-bin encoding, summarize the state of the art, and speculate on the field’s next phases. Given the combined progress in integrated photonics, high-fidelity quantum gates, and proof-of-principle demonstrations, frequency-bin quantum information is poised to emerge from the lab and leave its mark on practical quantum information processing—particularly in networking where frequency bins offer unique tools for multiplexing, interconnects, and high-dimensional communications.

Hong L., Cao X., Chen Y., Chen L.

Structured photons are a crucial resource in both classical and quantum technologies, particularly in spin–orbit hybrid photons, enabling various practical applications ranging from ultra-sensitive metrology techniques to quantum-enhanced information processing tasks. However, the two-photon interference of spin–orbit hybrid photons, which combines polarization modes and complex transverse spatial structures across the beam profile, remains unexplored. Here, we present an experimental observation of Hong–Ou–Mandel (HOM) interference of spin–orbit hybrid photons. The tunable q-plates that work as spin–orbit coupler devices are used to prepare various forms of spin–orbit hybrid entangled photons. By harnessing the match degree in the temporal domain, the coalescence and anti-coalescence effects resulting from the symmetric and anti-symmetric properties of the incident quantum states are observed. Moreover, we demonstrated the feasibility of quantum-enhanced photon polarization gears through HOM interference and theoretically analyze the noise-resilient advantages based on coherent HOM measurements. These results provide an alternative route toward quantum experiments with structured photons that allows for controlling their quantum interference in a compact, stable, and efficient way.

Cheng X., Chang K., Sarihan M.C., Mueller A., Spiropulu M., Shaw M.D., Korzh B., Faraon A., Wong F.N., Shapiro J.H., Wong C.W.

AbstractHigh-dimensional quantum entanglement is a cornerstone for advanced technology enabling large-scale noise-tolerant quantum systems, fault-tolerant quantum computing, and distributed quantum networks. The recently developed biphoton frequency comb (BFC) provides a powerful platform for high-dimensional quantum information processing in its spectral and temporal quantum modes. Here we propose and generate a singly-filtered high-dimensional BFC via spontaneous parametric down-conversion by spectrally shaping only the signal photons with a Fabry-Pérot cavity. High-dimensional energy-time entanglement is verified through Franson-interference recurrences and temporal correlation with low-jitter detectors. Frequency- and temporal- entanglement of our singly-filtered BFC is then quantified by Schmidt mode decomposition. Subsequently, we distribute the high-dimensional singly-filtered BFC state over a 10 km fiber link with a post-distribution time-bin dimension lower bounded to be at least 168. Our demonstrations of high-dimensional entanglement and entanglement distribution show the singly-filtered quantum frequency comb’s capability for high-efficiency quantum information processing and high-capacity quantum networks.

guo Y., Yang Z., Zeng Z., Ding C., Shimizu R., Jin R.

Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interference of multi-mode frequency entangled states plays a crucial role in quantum metrology. However, as the number of modes increases, the HOM interference pattern becomes increasingly complex, making it challenging to comprehend intuitively. To overcome this problem, we present the theory and simulation of multi-mode-HOM interference (MM-HOMI) and compare it to multi-slit interference (MSI). We find that these two interferences have a strong mapping relationship and are determined by two factors: the envelope factor and the details factor. The envelope factor is contributed by the single-mode HOM interference (single-slit diffraction) for MM-HOMI (MSI). The details factor is given by sin (Nx)/sin (x) ([sin (Nv)/sin (v)]2) for MM-HOMI (MSI), where N is the mode (slit) number and x (v) is the phase spacing of two adjacent spectral modes (slits). As a potential application, we demonstrate that the square root of the maximal Fisher information in MM-HOMI increases linearly with the number of modes, indicating that MM-HOMI is a powerful tool for enhancing precision in time estimation. We also discuss multi-mode Mach-Zehnder interference, multi-mode NOON-state interference, and the extended Wiener-Khinchin theorem. This work may provide an intuitive understanding of MM-HOMI patterns and promote the application of MM-HOMI in quantum metrology.

Zhao P., Yang M., Zhu S., Zhou L., Zhong W., Du M., Sheng Y.

Hyperentanglement, the simultaneous entanglement in more than one degree of freedom (DOF), plays an important role in quantum communication and quantum information processing for it can effectively increase the channel capacity. Existing hyperentanglement sources mainly focus on the generation of the hyperentanglement in two DOFs. In this paper, we design the generation protocols for three kinds of hyperentanglement encoded in three DOFs with the practical coherent pulses sources, including the polarization-frequency-space hyperentanglement, the polarization-frequency-time-bin hyperentanglement, and the polarization-space-time-bin hyperentanglement. These protocols exploit the spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) process and the Sagnac interferometer. The three protocols are all based on feasible experimental condition and may have potential applications in future hyperentanglement-based quantum communication and quantum information processing protocols.