Quantum interference and manipulation of entanglement in silicon wire waveguide quantum circuits

Abstract

Integrated quantum photonic waveguide circuits are a promising approach to realizing future photonic quantum technologies. Here, we present an integrated photonic quantum technology platform utilizing the silicon-oninsulator material system, where quantum interference and the manipulation of quantum states of light are demonstrated in components orders of magnitude smaller than previous implementations. Two-photon quantum interference is presented in a multi-mode interference coupler, and the manipulation of entanglement is demonstrated in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, opening the way to an all-silicon photonic quantum technology platform.

Photon pair generation in a silicon micro-ring resonator with reverse bias enhancement

“…The on-chip photon pair source reported in this paper is fully compatible with already demonstrated silicon quantum circuits [9] and high-efficiency waveguide integrated superconducting single-photon detectors [7,8]. It is therefore possible to realize in a single material system all the major components required for on-chip linear optics quantum information processing; low noise single photon sources, compact waveguide circuits and efficient single photon detectors.…”

“…In addition, the high confinement of light and the large χ (3) nonlinearity of silicon can be utilized for efficient photon-pair generation via spontaneous fourwave mixing (SFWM) [6]. Together with the development of near unity efficient silicon waveguide single-photon detectors [7,8], and the recent demonstration of quantum interference and entanglement manipulation in silicon waveguide circuits [9,10], silicon is a promising platform for fully integrated on-chip quantum photonic technologies.…”

Generation and manipulation of entangled photons on silicon chips

“…Hence, the stage of integrated quantum photonics research is now moving to hybrid integration on a chip. Among the building blocks, quantum circuits can be realized by using integrated waveguides with cores made of silicon [18,108,110], GaAs [111], or silica-based materials [1,10,13,112]. Of these approaches, silica-based waveguide technology has realized planar lightwave circuits with a significantly large scale for classical optical communication [113,114]; this capability will facilitate the construction of large-scale quantum circuits.…”

On-chip generation and demultiplexing of quantum correlated photons using a silicon-silica monolithic photonic integration platform

“…A photon pair source can be realized by employing nonlinear wave mixing in integrated waveguides such as silicon wire waveguides [9-11, 14, 15, 20]. Quantum circuits can also be realized by using integrated waveguides with cores made of Si [5], GaAs [7] or silicabased materials [2-4, 6, 8]. Of these approaches, silicabased waveguide technology has realized planar lightwave circuits with a significantly large scale for classical optical communication [29,30]; this capability will facilitate the construction of large-scale quantum circuits in the near future.…”