An integrated photonic engine for programmable atomic control

Abstract

Solutions for scalable, high-performance optical control are important for the development of scaled atom-based quantum technologies. Modulation of many individual optical beams is central to the application of arbitrary gate and control sequences on arrays of atoms or atom-like systems. At telecom wavelengths, miniaturization of optical components via photonic integration has pushed the scale and performance of classical and quantum optics far beyond the limitations of bulk devices [1-3]. However, these material platforms for high-speed telecom integrated photonics [4,5] are not transparent at the short wavelengths required by leading atomic systems [6][7][8]. Here, we propose and implement a scalable and reconfigurable photonic architecture for multi-channel quantum control using integrated, visible-light modulators based on thin-film lithium niobate [9, 10]. Our approach combines techniques in free-space optics, holography, and control theory together with a sixteenchannel integrated photonic device to stabilize temporal and cross-channel power deviations and enable precise and uniform control. Applying this device to a homogeneous constellation of siliconvacancy artificial atoms in diamond, we present techniques to spatially and spectrally address a dynamically-selectable set of these stochastically-positioned point emitters. We anticipate that this scalable and reconfigurable optical architecture will lead to systems that could enable parallel individual programmability of large many-body atomic systems, which is a critical step towards universal quantum computation on such hardware.

Scalable photonic integrated circuits for programmable control of atomic systems

“…Interfacing between the laser source and the APIC is a large programmable switch to uniformly distribute light into each DRMZM (Fig. 1): in this case, implemented holographically via a commercial megapixel liquid crystal spatial light modulator (SLM) [26]. While such SLMs-with ∼100 Hz update rate-cannot satisfy the speed criterion (C5) directly, they are ideal for static optical power fanout to balance light across the high speed DRMZMs in a scalable and reconfigurable way.…”

Metal-Optic Nanophotonic Modulators in Standard CMOS Technology

“…To obtain a desired phase range for a given LC molecule and operation wavelength, the cell thickness is not a design parameter. In the optical range, the cell size is on the order of a few µm, which results in τ > 1 ms. For many applications such as imaging through scattering media [27], video holography [28], quantum tomography [29], and quantum control [11], the use of high-speed optical modulators is critical. Research on increasing the speed of LC modulators focuses on modifying the mechanical properties of the LC molecules to reduce their viscosity γ or threshold voltage U th [20,21] which led to the development of nematic LC modulators with a response time of ≈ 1ms.…”

“…Nanophotonic devices are redefining the technology landscape across numerous sectors, including telecommunications [1], sensing [2], classical and quantum computing [3][4][5], bioengineering, and renewable energy [6][7][8], enabled by rapid advances in specialized optoelectronic processes such as silicon photonics [9], silicon nitride photonics [10], and lithium niobate photonics [11]. These developments, particularly in the silicon photonics area, were enabled through the development of the fabless photonics model.…”

Additive GaN Solid Immersion Lenses for Enhanced Photon Extraction Efficiency from Diamond Color Centers

“…Lower numerical aperture collection optics could be used to address arrays of multiple quantum emitters in a significantly enlarged field of view, which might offer a route to scaling of such quantum systems using spatial light modulators and freespace emitting photonic integrated circuits for beam delivery. 55…”