Abstract
Quantum information protocols require various types of entanglement, such as Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen, Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger, and cluster states. In optics, on-demand preparation of these states has been realized by squeezed light sources, but such experiments require different optical circuits for different entangled states, thus lacking versatility. Here, we demonstrate an on-demand entanglement synthesizer that programmably generates all these entangled states from a single squeezed light source. This is achieved by a loop-based circuit that is dynamically controllable at nanosecond time scales and processes optical pulses in the time domain. We verify the generation of five different small-scale entangled states and a large-scale cluster state containing more than 1000 modes without changing the optical circuit. Moreover, this circuit enables storage and release of one part of the generated entangled state, thus working as a quantum memory. Our demonstration should open a way for a more general entanglement synthesizer and a scalable quantum processor.
INTRODUCTION
Entanglement is an essential resource for many quantum information protocols in both qubit and continuous variable (CV) regimes. However, different types of entanglement are required for different applications (Fig. 1A). The most commonly used maximally entangled state is a two-mode Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) state (1), which is the building block for two-party quantum communication and quantum logic gates based on quantum teleportation (2, 3). Its generalized version is an n-mode Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state (4, 5), which is central to building a quantum network; this state, once shared between n parties, enables any two of the n parties to communicate with each other (5, 6). In terms of quantum computation, a special type of entanglement called cluster states has attracted much attention as a universal resource for one-way quantum computation (7–9).
(A) Types of entanglement that can be generated by our entanglement synthesizer. (B) Types of entanglement that are actually generated and verified in this experiment. Orange spheres represent quantum modes. Blue arrows connecting two modes mean that the connected nodes can communicate with each other by use of the entanglement. Brown links connecting two modes mean that an entangling gate to generate cluster states is applied between these modes.
Thus far, the convenient and well-established method for deterministically preparing photonic entangled states is to mix squeezed light via beam splitter networks and generate entanglement in the CV regime (10–12). By using squeezed light sources multiplexed in the time (12) or frequency (13) domain, generation of large-scale entangled states has also been demonstrated recently. In these experiments, however, optical setups are designed to produce specific entangled states. That is, the optical setup has to be modified to produce different entangled states, thus lacking versatility. A few experiments have reported programmable characterization of several types of entanglement in multimode quantum states by postprocessing on measurement results (14) or changing measurement basis (15, 16). However, directly synthesizing various entangled states in a programmable and deterministic way is still a challenging task.
Here, we propose an on-demand photonic entanglement synthesizer that can programmably produce an important set of entangled states, including an EPR state, an n-mode GHZ state, and an n-mode linear- or star-shaped cluster state for any n ≥ 2 (Fig. 1A). This synthesizer is based on a dynamically controllable photonic circuit that processes optical pulses in the time domain. Using this circuit, we verify the programmable generation of various entangled states in Fig. 1B, including five different small-scale entangled states and a large-scale cluster state containing more than 1000 modes. We also demonstrate that the implemented photonic circuit can store and release one part of the generated entangled state, thus working as a quantum memory. The implemented circuit is a core circuit to realize a more general entanglement synthesizer (8, 17) and a scalable quantum processor (18), thus offering a promising route to photonic quantum information processing with scalability and programmability.
RESULTS
Concept of entanglement synthesizer
The conceptual schematic of the entanglement synthesizer is shown in Fig. 2A. Squeezed optical pulses are sequentially produced from a single squeezer and injected into a loop circuit whose round-trip time τ is equivalent to the time interval between the pulses. This loop includes a beam splitter with variable transmissivity T(t) and a phase shifter with variable phase shift θ(t), where t denotes time. After transmitting the loop, the pulses are sent to a homodyne detector with a tunable measurement basis
(A) Conceptual schematic. (B) Time sequence for changing system parameters. (C) Equivalent circuit. (D) Experimental setup. See Materials and Methods for details. “H” and “V” denote horizontal and vertical polarization, respectively. OPO, optical parametric oscillator; PBS, polarizing beam splitter; QWP, quarter wave plate; EOM, electro-optic modulator; LO, local oscillator. (E) Actual control of beam splitter transmissivity T(t). Both measured (blue line) and ideal (black dotted line) responses are plotted.
Synthesis of small-scale entangled states
We implement this synthesizer using a setup shown in Fig. 2D. Here, squeezed optical pulses arrive at a 19.8-m loop every τ = 66 ns. We develop a technique to dynamically change the beam splitter transmissivity, phase shift, and measurement basis within 20 ns and time-synchronize the switching of all these parameters at nanosecond time scales (see Materials and Methods). Figure 2E represents the actual response of switching the beam splitter transmissivity in our setup, showing that the switching time is sufficiently short to change the transmissivity from pulse to pulse.
As a demonstration of programmable entanglement generation, we first program the synthesizer to generate five different small-scale entangled states, including an EPR state, a three-mode GHZ state, a two-mode cluster state, and two three-mode cluster states with different graphs, as shown in Fig. 1B (graphs 1 and 2 correspond to the linear and star shape, respectively; see Fig. 1A). To verify generation of the desired entanglement, we apply temporal mode functions to the homodyne signals and extract quadratures
T(t) and θ(t) are controlled by the sequence in Fig. 2B with the setting values (T1, T2, … ) and (θ1, θ2, … ) defined in this table. φ(t) is also controlled to measure the inseparability parameter for each state. The generated state is inseparable when each inseparability parameter is below 1 (ℏ = 1/2). The expression of inseparability parameters is given in (11, 14, 20, 21).
Note that the current experimental setup is unable to synthesize more than three-mode GHZ and cluster states (except for the large-scale cluster state described in the next paragraph) for a technical reason; the switching of T(t) is realized by an electro-optic modulator (EOM), but T(t) is switchable among only three different values because of the design of the EOM driving circuits that we use. By developing a more sophisticated driving circuit or cascading multiple EOMs at the expense of extra loss, we can increase the number of selectable transmissivity values and generate GHZ and cluster states of arbitrary number of modes (see Materials and Methods).
Synthesis of a large-scale cluster state
Our entanglement synthesizer is not limited to producing small-scale entangled states but can produce a large-scale entangled state and thus has high scalability. We demonstrate this scalability by generating a large-scale one-dimensional cluster state (Fig. 1B), which is known to be a universal resource for single-mode one-way quantum computation for CVs (9). This state can be produced by dynamically controlling the system parameters as T1 = 1,
(A) Schematic. (B) Single-shot measurement of quadratures for the first 15 modes.
Figure 3B shows the quadratures for the first 15 modes acquired by setting the default measurement basis to
Note that the reduction of
Loop circuit as a quantum memory
The programmable loop circuit further allows us to confine an optical pulse in the loop by keeping T(t) = 0 and release it after n loops, effectively acting as a quantum memory. The ability to add a tunable delay to nonclassical CV states plays a key role for time synchronization in various quantum protocols (3, 23, 24), but there have been only a few memory experiments for CV entanglement (25, 26). A loop-based quantum memory is a simple and versatile memory that limits neither the wavelength nor the quantum state of light, but it has been demonstrated only for single photons (27, 28). Here, we demonstrate this functionality by first generating an EPR state in the loop, then storing one part of the EPR state for n loops, and finally releasing it (Fig. 4A). In this scheme, one part of the EPR state is stored, whereas the other is left propagating, which is exactly the same situation as in quantum repeater protocol. We measure the inseparability parameter for the EPR state after introducing the delay nτ. As shown in Fig. 4B, the inseparability parameter is below 1 and satisfies the inseparability criterion up to ~400 ns (n = 6), although it gradually degrades as the delay increases. A theoretical simulation shows that the lifetime of the EPR correlation in our system is dominantly limited by the phase fluctuation of ~7° in the loop, rather than the round-trip loss of ~7%. Specifically, a small phase drift in the loop is accumulated when the stored pulse circulates in the loop, destroying the relative phase relation between two EPR pulses. As a result, the measured inseparability parameter is contaminated by the noise of anti-squeezed quadratures and finally exceeds 1 after ~400 ns. Therefore, the lifetime of our memory can be increased by improving the mechanical stability of the loop or the feedback system to stabilize the phase. Our loop-based memory can store any CV quantum states, such as non-Gaussian states, by changing our squeezer to other quantum light sources (29).
(A) Control sequence. (B) Measured inseparability parameter
DISCUSSION
In conclusion, we have programmably generated and verified a variety of small- and large-scale entangled states by dynamically controlling the beam splitter transmissivity, phase shift, and measurement basis of a loop-based optical circuit at nanosecond time scales. We have also demonstrated that this circuit can work as a quantum memory by storing one part of an EPR state in the loop. Our loop-based system is programmable and highly scalable, offering a unique and versatile tool for future photonic quantum technologies.
The demonstrated circuit is a core circuit to build more general photonic circuits. By embedding this loop circuit in another large loop, we can realize an arbitrary beam splitter network to combine input squeezed pulses (17), thereby synthesizing more general entangled states including an arbitrary cluster state (8). Moreover, this circuit can be further extended to a universal quantum computer by incorporating a programmable displacement operation based on the homodyne detector’s signal and another non-Gaussian light source (18). In these schemes, fault-tolerant quantum computation is possible even with finite level of squeezing (18, 30). Our demonstration is a crucial step to realize these goals and will stimulate further theoretical and experimental research toward scalable photonic quantum information processing.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Experimental setup and data analysis
We used a continuous-wave Ti:sapphire laser at 860 nm. Our optical parametric oscillator [OPO; the same design as in (31)] produced a squeezed light with ~5 dB of squeezing and ~8 dB of anti-squeezing at low frequencies (this means ~9 dB of pure squeezing and the total loss of ~20% during the generation and measurement process). Our loop, built by a Herriott-type optical delay line (32), has a round-trip length of 19.8 m and a round-trip loss of ~7% . Considering this loop length, we artificially divided the squeezed light into 66-ns time bins. Each time bin was further divided into 20-ns switching time used for changing system parameters and 46-ns processing time within which a squeezed optical pulse was defined. The loop includes a variable beam splitter composed of two polarizing beam splitters (PBSs) and one bulk-type polarization-rotation EOM. By inserting a quarter wave plate (QWP) between the PBSs, the transmissivity of the beam splitter was initially set to 0.5, and the EOM changed the transmissivity when it was triggered. The variable phase shifter was realized by a bulk-type phase-modulation EOM, shifting the phase from the initially locked value of 0∘ when it was triggered. Last, the pulses after the loop were mixed with a local oscillator (LO) beam and measured using a homodyne detector. Here, a waveguide-type EOM in the LO’s path can shift the phase ϕ(t) and thereby change the measurement basis
To analyze the generated states, we acquired the homodyne detector’s signal using an oscilloscope at a sampling rate of 1.25 GHz. Five thousand data frames were recorded to estimate each inseparability parameter and nullifier. The quadrature of the k-th mode was extracted by applying a temporal mode function fk(t) to each data frame, defined as (33)
Working principle of variable beam splitter and phase shifter
The EOMs for the variable beam splitter and phase shifter contain a crystal of rubidium titanyl phosphate that is sandwiched between two electrodes. We used commercially available EOM driving circuits that are composed of two fast high-voltage switches (one for each electrode). These switches enabled us to selectively apply 0 or V1 volt to one of these electrodes and 0 or −V2 volt to the other electrode, where V1 > 0 and V2 > 0 can be arbitrarily chosen in advance. The net voltage applied to the crystal can thus be switched among 0, V1, V2, and V1 + V2, and these voltages determine the possible values of T(t) and θ(t). The rise/fall time for the switching is ~10 ns. In this system, it is not possible to switch T(t) and θ(t) among more than three different target values in general because of the design of the EOM driving circuits. As a result, our setup was unable to generate GHZ or cluster states of more than three modes, which require switching of T(t) among four or more different values. This limitation can be overcome by developing another sophisticated EOM driving circuits containing more high-voltage switches to increase the number of selectable voltages. Another solution is to cascade multiple EOMs at the expense of introducing additional transmission loss. Because one EOM can shift T(t) from the initial value (applied voltage, 0 volt) to two different target values (V1 or V2 volt), n cascaded EOMs make it possible to switch T(t) among 2n + 1 different target values. In this way, GHZ or cluster states of arbitrary number of modes can be generated in principle.
In the following, we introduce theoretical description of the action of the variable beam splitter and phase shifter. In Fig. 2C, the k-th beam splitter with transmissivity Tk (k ≥ 2) mixes one mode from a squeezer (annihilation operator
Generation of GHZ and star-shaped cluster states
It is known that an n-mode GHZ state (n ≥ 2; the case of n = 2 corresponds to an EPR state) can be generated in the setup of Fig. 2C by setting T1 = Tn+1 = 1, Tk = 1/(n − k + 2) (2 ≤ k ≤ n), and θ1 = 90°, θk = 0 (2 ≤ k ≤ n) (5). When all input modes are infinitely
In this experiment, these settings were used for generating the EPR state, three-mode GHZ state, two-mode cluster state, and three-mode cluster state (graph 2). When we generated three-mode GHZ and cluster states (graph 2), additional phase shifts of 180° before and after the beam splitter were introduced by the variable beam splitter with T2 = 1/3, as explained in Eq. 4. The 180° phase shift before the beam splitter had no effect because it was applied to a squeezed vacuum state with 180° rotational symmetry, and the phase shift after the beam splitter was cancelled out by setting θ2 = 180°, as shown in Table 1.
Generation of linear-shaped cluster states
The setup of Fig. 2C can also produce an n-mode linear-shaped cluster state by setting T1 = Tn+1 = 1, Tk = Fn−k+2/Fn−k+3 (2 ≤ k ≤ n), and θk = 90° (1 ≤ k ≤ n) (19). Here, Fk is a Fibonacci number defined by F0 = 0, F1 = 1, Fk = Fk−1 + Fk−2 (k ≥ 2) and given by
In this method, the transmissivity Tk approaches a constant value
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, so long as the resultant use is not for commercial advantage and provided the original work is properly cited.
REFERENCES AND NOTES
- Copyright © 2019 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).