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At the dynamic nexus of artificial intelligence and quantum technology, quantum neural networks (QNNs) play an important role as an emerging technology in the rapidly developing field of quantum machine learning. This development is set to revolutionize the applications of quantum computing. This article reviews the concept of QNNs and their physical realizations, particularly implementations based on quantum optics . We first examine the integration of quantum principles with classical neural network architectures to create QNNs. Some specific examples, such as the quantum perceptron, quantum convolutional neural networks, and quantum Boltzmann machines are discussed. Subsequently, we analyze the feasibility of implementing QNNs through photonics. The key challenge here lies in achieving the required non-linear gates, and measurement-induced approaches, among others, seem promising. To unlock the computational potential of QNNs, addressing the challenge of scaling their complexity through quantum optics is crucial. Progress in controlling quantum states of light is continuously advancing the field. Additionally, we have discovered that different QNN architectures can be unified through non-Gaussian operations. This insight will aid in better understanding and developing more complex QNN circuits.

Reliably characterised pulses are the starting point of any application of ultrafast techniques. Unfortunately, experimental constraints do not always allow optimising the characterisation conditions. This dictates the need for refined analysis methods. Here we show that neutral networks can provide a viable characterisation when applied to data from SPIDER. We have adopted a cascade of convolutional networks, addressing the multiparameter structure of the interferogram with a reasonable computing power. In particular, the necessity of precalibration is reduced, thus pointing towards the introduction of neural networks in more generic arrangements.

Gaussian Boson Sampling (GBS) exhibits a unique ability to solve graph problems, such as finding cliques in complex graphs. It is noteworthy that many drug discovery tasks can be viewed as the clique-finding process, making them potentially suitable for quantum computation. However, to perform these tasks in their quantum-enhanced form, a large-scale quantum hardware with universal programmability is essential, which is yet to be achieved even with the most advanced GBS devices. Here, we construct a time-bin encoded GBS photonic quantum processor that is universal, programmable, and software-scalable. Our processor features freely adjustable squeezing parameters and can implement arbitrary unitary operations with a programmable interferometer. Using our processor, we have demonstrated the clique-finding task in a 32-node graph, where we found the maximum weighted clique with approximately twice the probability of success compared to classical sampling. Furthermore, a multifunctional quantum pharmaceutical platform is developed. This GBS processor is successfully used to execute two different drug discovery methods, namely molecular docking and RNA folding prediction. Our work achieves the state-of-the-art in GBS circuitry with its distinctive universal and programmable architecture which advances GBS towards real-world applications., Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures

Photonics integrated circuitry would benefit considerably from the ability to arbitrarily control waveguide cross-sections with high precision and low loss, in order to provide more degrees of freedom in manipulating propagating light. Here, we report a new method for femtosecond laser writing of optical-fibre-compatible glass waveguides, namely spherical phase induced multi-core waveguide (SPIM-WG), which addresses this challenging task with three dimensional on-chip light control. Fabricating in the heating regime with high scanning speed, precise deformation of cross-sections is still achievable along the waveguide, with shapes and sizes finely controllable of high resolution in both horizontal and vertical transversal directions. We observed that these waveguides have high refractive index contrast of 0.017, low propagation loss of 0.14 dB/cm, and very low coupling loss of 0.19 dB coupled from a single mode fibre. SPIM-WG devices were easily fabricated that were able to perform on-chip beam rotation through varying angles, or manipulate polarization state of propagating light for target wavelengths. We also demonstrated SPIM-WG mode converters that provide arbitrary adiabatic mode conversion with high efficiency between symmetric and asymmetric non-uniform modes; examples include circular, elliptical modes and asymmetric modes from ppKTP (periodically-poled potassium titanyl phosphate) waveguides which are generally applied in frequency conversion and quantum light sources. Created inside optical glass, these waveguides and devices have the capability to operate across ultra-broad bands from visible to infrared wavelengths. The compatibility with optical fibre also paves the way toward packaged photonic integrated circuitry, which usually needs input and output fibre connections., Comment: Published in Nature: Light Science & Applications

Identifying the boundary beyond which quantum machines provide a computational advantage over their classical counterparts is a crucial step in charting their usefulness. Gaussian Boson Sampling (GBS), in which photons are measured from a highly entangled Gaussian state, is a leading approach in pursuing quantum advantage. State-of-the-art quantum photonics experiments that, once programmed, run in minutes, would require 600 million years to simulate using the best pre-existing classical algorithms. Here, we present substantially faster classical GBS simulation methods, including speed and accuracy improvements to the calculation of loop hafnians, the matrix function at the heart of GBS. We test these on a $\sim \! 100,000$ core supercomputer to emulate a range of different GBS experiments with up to 100 modes and up to 92 photons. This reduces the run-time of classically simulating state-of-the-art GBS experiments to several months -- a nine orders of magnitude improvement over previous estimates. Finally, we introduce a distribution that is efficient to sample from classically and that passes a variety of GBS validation methods, providing an important adversary for future experiments to test against., Comment: 18 pages, 16 figures

Quantum integrated photonics requires large-scale linear optical circuitry, and for many applications it is desirable to have a universally programmable circuit, able to implement an arbitrary unitary transformation on a number of modes. This has been achieved using the Reck scheme, consisting of a network of Mach Zehnder interferometers containing a variable phase shifter in one path, as well as an external phase shifter after each Mach Zehnder. It subsequently became apparent that with symmetric Mach Zehnders containing a phase shift in both paths, the external phase shifts are redundant, resulting in a more compact circuit. The rectangular Clements scheme improves on the Reck scheme in terms of circuit depth, but it has been thought that an external phase-shifter was necessary after each Mach Zehnder. Here, we show that the Clements scheme can be realised using symmetric Mach Zehnders, requiring only a small number of external phase-shifters that do not contribute to the depth of the circuit. This will result in a significant saving in the length of these devices, allowing more complex circuits to fit onto a photonic chip, and reducing the propagation losses associated with these circuits. We also discuss how similar savings can be made to alternative schemes which have robustness to imbalanced beam-splitters., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures

Establishing quantum entanglement between individual nodes is crucial for building large-scale quantum networks, enabling secure quantum communication, distributed quantum computing, enhanced quantum metrology and fundamental tests of quantum mechanics. However, the shared entanglements have been merely observed in either extremely low-temperature or well-isolated systems, which limits the quantum networks for the real-life applications. Here, we report the realization of heralding quantum entanglement between two atomic ensembles at room temperature, where each of them contains billions of motional atoms. By measuring the mapped-out entangled state with quantum interference, concurrence and correlation, we strongly verify the existence of a single excitation delocalized in two atomic ensembles. Remarkably, the heralded quantum entanglement of atomic ensembles can be operated with the feature of delay-choice, which illustrates the essentiality of the built-in quantum memory. The demonstrated building block paves the way for constructing quantum networks and distributing entanglement across multiple remote nodes at ambient conditions., Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures

The development of new quantum light sources requires robust and convenient methods of characterizing their joint spectral properties. Measuring the joint spectral intensity between a photon pair ignores any correlations in spectral phase which may be responsible for degrading the quality of quantum interference. A fully phase-sensitive characterization tends to require significantly more experimental complexity. Here, we investigate the sensitivity of the frequency-resolved double-pair emission to spectral phase correlations, in particular to the presence of a simple form of correlated phase which can be generated by a chirped pump laser pulse. We observe interference fringes in the four photon coincidences which depend on the frequencies of all four photons, with a period which depends on the strength of their correlation. We also show that phase correlations in the JSA induce spectral intensity correlations between two signal photons, even when the corresponding idler photons are not detected, and link this correlation pattern to the purity of a single signal photon. These effects will be useful in assessing new photon-pair sources for quantum technologies, especially since we require little additional complexity compared to a joint spectral intensity measurement - essentially just the ability to detect at least two photons in each output port., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures

Nonlinear optical microscopy techniques have emerged as a set of successful tools for biological imaging. Stimulated emission microscopy belongs to a small subset of pump-probe techniques which can image non-fluorescent samples without requiring fluorescent labelling. However, its sensitivity has been shown to be ultimately limited by the quantum fluctuations in the probe beam. We propose and experimentally implement sub-shot-noise limited stimulated emission microscopy by preparing the probe pulse in an intensity-squeezed state. This technique paves the way for imaging delicate biological samples that have no detectable fluorescence with sensitivity beyond standard quantum fluctuations., Comment: The following article has been submitted to Applied Physics Letters

One of the central principles of quantum mechanics is that if there are multiple paths that lead to the same event, and there is no way to distinguish between them, interference occurs. It is usually assumed that distinguishing information in the preparation, evolution or measurement of a system is sufficient to destroy interference. For example, determining which slit a particle takes in Young's double slit experiment or using distinguishable photons in the two-photon Hong-Ou-Mandel effect allow discrimination of the paths leading to detection events, so in both cases interference vanishes. Remarkably for more than three independent quantum particles, distinguishability of the prepared states is not a sufficient condition for multiparticle interference to disappear. Here we experimentally demonstrate this for four photons prepared in pairwise distinguishable states, thus fundamentally challenging intuition of multiparticle interference., Comment: 23 pages, 18 figures

We review the concepts of temporal modes (TMs) in quantum optics, highlighting Roy Glauber's crucial and historic contributions to their development, and their growing importance in quantum information science. TMs are orthogonal sets of wave packets that can be used to represent a multimode light field. They are temporal counterparts to transverse spatial modes of light and play analogous roles - decomposing multimode light into the most natural basis for isolating statistically independent degrees of freedom. We discuss how TMs were developed to describe compactly various processes: superfluorescence, stimulated Raman scattering, spontaneous parametric down conversion, and spontaneous four-wave mixing. TMs can be manipulated, converted, demultiplexed, and detected using nonlinear optical processes such as three-wave mixing and quantum optical memories. As such, they play an increasingly important role in constructing quantum information networks., Comment: Accepted for publication in Physica Scripta, Focus Issue in memory of Roy Glauber

We present a new method for the spectral characterization of pulsed twin beam sources in the high gain regime, using cascaded stimulated emission. We show an implementation of this method for a ppKTP spontaneous parametric down-conversion source generating up to 60 photon pairs per pulse, and demonstrate excellent agreement between our experiments and our theory. This work enables the complete and accurate experimental characterization of high gain effects in parametric down conversion, including self and cross-phase modulation. Moreover, our theory allows the exploration of designs with the goal of improving the specifications of twin beam sources for application in quantum information, computation, sampling, and metrology.

Multi-photon interference in large multi-port interferometers is key to linear optical quantum computing and in particular to boson sampling. Silicon photonics enables complex interferometric circuits with many components in a small footprint and has the potential to extend these experiments to larger numbers of interfering modes. However, loss has generally limited the implementation of multi-photon experiments in this platform. Here, we make use of high-efficiency grating couplers to combine bright and pure quantum light sources based on ppKTP waveguides with silicon circuits. We interfere up to 5 photons in up to 15 modes, verifying genuine multi-photon interference by comparing the results against various models including partial distinguishability between photons.

We report a bright and tunable source of spectrally pure heralded single photons in the telecom O-Band, based on cross-polarized four wave mixing in a commercial birefringent optical fiber. The source can achieve a purity of 85%, heralding efficiency of 30% and high coincidences to accidentals ratio of 108. Furthermore, the possibility of building multiple identical sources is explored. Through the measurements of joint spectral intensities, we find that the fiber is homogeneous over atleast 45 centimeters and can potentially realize 4 identical sources. This paves the way for a cost-effective fiber-optic approach to implement multi-photon quantum optics experiments., Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures

A remarkable aspect of quantum theory is that certain measurement outcomes are entirely unpredictable to all possible observers. Such quantum events can be harnessed to generate numbers whose randomness is asserted based upon the underlying physical processes. We formally introduce, design and experimentally demonstrate an ultrafast optical quantum random number generator that uses a totally untrusted photonic source. While considering completely general quantum attacks, we certify and generate in real-time random numbers at a rate of $8.05\,$Gb/s with a rigorous security parameter of $10^{-10}$. Our security proof is entirely composable, thereby allowing the generated randomness to be utilised for arbitrary applications in cryptography and beyond. To our knowledge, this represents the fastest composably secure source of quantum random numbers ever reported., Comment: 37 pages, 7 figures. New substantial material has been added and the title was modified accordingly

Today's most widely used method of encoding quantum information in optical qubits is the dual-rail basis, often carried out through the polarisation of a single photon. On the other hand, many stationary carriers of quantum information - such as atoms - couple to light via the single-rail encoding in which the qubit is encoded in the number of photons. As such, interconversion between the two encodings is paramount in order to achieve cohesive quantum networks. In this paper, we demonstrate this by generating an entangled resource between the two encodings and using it to teleport a dual-rail qubit onto its single-rail counterpart. This work completes the set of tools necessary for the interconversion between the three primary encodings of the qubit in the optical field: single-rail, dual-rail and continuous-variable., Comment: Published in Quantum

Quantum memories are essential for large-scale quantum information networks. Along with high efficiency, storage lifetime and optical bandwidth, it is critical that the memory add negligible noise to the recalled signal. A common source of noise in optical quantum memories is spontaneous four-wave mixing. We develop and implement a technically simple scheme to suppress this noise mechanism by means of quantum interference. Using this scheme with a Raman memory in warm atomic vapour we demonstrate over an order of magnitude improvement in noise performance. Furthermore we demonstrate a method to quantify the remaining noise contributions and present a route to enable further noise suppression. Our scheme opens the way to quantum demonstrations using a broadband memory, significantly advancing the search for scalable quantum photonic networks., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures plus Supplementary Material

Topological photonics sheds light on some of the surprising phenomena seen in condensed matter physics that arise with the appearance of topological invariants. Optical waveguides provide a well-controlled platform to investigate effects that relate to different topological phases of matter, providing insight into phenomena such as topological insulators and superconductors by direct simulation of the states that are protected by the topology of the system. Here, we observe a mode associated with a topological defect in the bulk of a 2D photonic material by introducing a vortex distortion to an hexagonal lattice and analogous to graphene. These observations are made possible by advances in our experimental methods. We were able to manufacture uniform large two-dimensional photonic crystal structures, containing thousands of identical waveguides arranged in two dimensions, and we developed a new method to excite multiples of these waveguides with a well-defined light field. This allows us to probe the detailed spatial features of topological defect modes for the first time. The observed modes lie mid-gap at zero energy and are closely related to Majorana bound states in superconducting vortices. This is the first experimental demonstration of a mode that is a solution to the Dirac equation in the presence of a vortex, as proposed by Jackiw and Rossi.

Solid-state quantum emitters that couple coherent optical transitions to long-lived spin qubits are essential for quantum networks. Here we report on the spin and optical properties of individual tin-vacancy (SnV) centers in diamond nanostructures. Through cryogenic magneto-optical and spin spectroscopy, we verify the inversion-symmetric electronic structure of the SnV, identify spin-conserving and spin-flipping transitions, characterize transition linewidths, measure electron spin lifetimes and evaluate the spin dephasing time. We find that the optical transitions are consistent with the radiative lifetime limit even in nanofabricated structures. The spin lifetime is phononlimited with an exponential temperature scaling leading to $T_1$ $>$ 10 ms, and the coherence time, $T_2$ reaches the nuclear spin-bath limit upon cooling to 2.9 K. These spin properties exceed those of other inversion-symmetric color centers for which similar values require millikelvin temperatures. With a combination of coherent optical transitions and long spin coherence without dilution refrigeration, the SnV is a promising candidate for feasable and scalable quantum networking applications., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

Quantum correlation and its measurement are essential in exploring fundamental quantum physics problems and developing quantum enhanced technologies. Quantum correlation may be generated and manipulated in different spaces, which demands different measurement approaches corresponding to position, time, frequency and polarization of quantum particles. In addition, after early proof-of-principle demonstrations, it is of great demand to measure quantum correlation in a Hilbert space large enough for real quantum applications. When the number of modes goes up to several hundreds, it becomes economically unfeasible for single-mode addressing and also extremely challenging for processing correlation events with hardware. Here we present a general and large-scale measurement approach of Correlation on Spatially-mapped Photon-Level Image (COSPLI). The quantum correlations in other spaces are mapped into the position space and are captured by single-photon-sensitive imaging system. Synthetic methods are developed to suppress noises so that single-photon registrations can be faithfully identified in images. We eventually succeed in retrieving all the correlations with big-data technique from tens of millions of images. We demonstrate our COSPLI by measuring the joint spectrum of parametric down-conversion photons. Our approach provides an elegant way to observe the evolution results of large-scale quantum systems, representing an innovative and powerful tool added into the platform for boosting quantum information processing., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, comments welcome!

Direct UV-written waveguides are fabricated in silica-on-silicon with birefringence of $(4.9 \pm 0.2) \times 10^{-4}$, much greater than previously reported in this platform. We show that these waveguides are suitable for the generation of heralded single photons at telecommunication wavelengths by spontaneous four-wave mixing. A pulsed pump field at 1060 nm generates pairs of photons in highly detuned, spectrally uncorrelated modes near 1550 nm and 800 nm. Waveguide-to-fiber coupling efficiencies of 78-91% are achieved for all fields. Waveguide birefringence is controlled through dopant concentration of $\mathrm{GeCl_4}$ and $\mathrm{BCl_3}$ using the flame hydrolysis deposition process. The technology provides a route towards the scalability of silica-on-silicon integrated components for photonic quantum experiments., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures

Strong light-matter interactions are critical for quantum technologies based on light, such as memories or nonlinear interactions. Solid state materials will be particularly important for such applications, because of the relative ease of fabrication of components. Silicon vacancy centers (SiV) in diamond feature especially narrow inhomogeneous spectral lines, which are rare in solid materials. Here, we demonstrate resonant coherent manipulation, stimulated Raman adiabatic passage, and strong light-matter interaction via four-wave mixing of a weak signal field in an ensemble of SiV centers.

The development of large-scale optical quantum information processing circuits ground on the stability and reconfigurability enabled by integrated photonics. We demonstrate a reconfigurable 8x8 integrated linear optical network based on silicon nitride waveguides for quantum information processing. Our processor implements a novel optical architecture enabling any arbitrary linear transformation and constitutes the largest programmable circuit reported so far on this platform. We validate a variety of photonic quantum information processing primitives, in the form of Hong-Ou-Mandel interference, bosonic coalescence/anticoalescence and high-dimensional single-photon quantum gates. We achieve fidelities that clearly demonstrate the promising future for large-scale photonic quantum information processing using low-loss silicon nitride., Comment: Added supplementary materials, extended introduction, new figures, results unchanged

Quantum memory capable of storage and retrieval of flying photons on demand is crucial for developing quantum information technologies. However, the devices needed for long-distance links are quite different from those envisioned for local processing. Here, we present the first hybrid quantum memory enabled network by demonstrating the interconnection and simultaneous operation of two types of quantum memory: an atomic-ensemble-based memory and an all-optical loop memory. The former generates and stores single atomic excitations that can then be converted to single photons; and the latter maps incoming photons in and out on demand, at room-temperature and with a broad acceptance bandwidth. Interfacing these two types of quantum memories, we observe a well-preserved quantum cross-correlation, reaching a value of 22, and a violation of the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality up to 549 standard deviations. Furthermore, we demonstrate the creation and storage of a fully operable heralded photon chain state that can achieve memory-built-in combining, swapping, splitting, tuning and chopping single photons in a chain temporally. Such a quantum network allows atomic excitations to be generated, stored, and converted to broadband photons, which are then transferred to the next node, stored, and faithfully retrieved, all at high speed and in a programmable fashion., Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, 1 table

We propose and demonstrate a modular architecture for reconfigurable on-chip linear-optical circuits. Each module contains 10 independent phase-controlled Mach-Zehnder interferometers; several such modules can be connected to each other to build large reconfigurable interferometers. With this architecture, large interferometers are easier to build and characterize than with traditional, bespoke, monolithic designs. We demonstrate our approach by fabricating three modules in the form of UV-written silica-on-silicon chips. We characterize these chips, connect them to each other, and implement a wide range of linear optical transformations. We envisage that this architecture will enable many future experiments in quantum optics., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures

We report a single-stage bi-directional interface capable of linking Sr+ trapped ion qubits in a long-distance quantum network. Our interface converts photons between the Sr+ emission wavelength at 422 nm and the telecoms C-band to enable low-loss transmission over optical fiber. We have achieved both up- and down-conversion at the single photon level with efficiencies of 9.4% and 1.1% respectively. Furthermore we demonstrate noise levels that are low enough to allow for genuine quantum operation in the future., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

The current shift in the quantum optics community towards large-size experiments -- with many modes and photons -- necessitates new classical simulation techniques that go beyond the usual phase space formulation of quantum mechanics. To address this pressing demand we formulate linear quantum optics in the language of tensor network states. As a toy model, we extensively analyze the quantum and classical correlations of time-bin interference in a single fiber loop. We then generalize our results to more complex time-bin quantum setups and identify different classes of architectures for high-complexity and low-overhead boson sampling experiments.

Within the last two decades, Quantum Technologies (QT) have made tremendous progress, moving from Noble Prize award-winning experiments on quantum physics into a cross-disciplinary field of applied research. Technologies are being developed now that explicitly address individual quantum states and make use of the 'strange' quantum properties, such as superposition and entanglement. The field comprises four domains: Quantum Communication, Quantum Simulation, Quantum Computation, and Quantum Sensing and Metrology. One success factor for the rapid advancement of QT is a well-aligned global research community with a common understanding of the challenges and goals. In Europe, this community has profited from several coordination projects, which have orchestrated the creation of a 150-page QT Roadmap. This article presents an updated summary of this roadmap. Besides sections on the four domains of QT, we have included sections on Quantum Theory and Software, and on Quantum Control, as both are important areas of research that cut across all four domains. Each section, after a short introduction to the domain, gives an overview on its current status and main challenges and then describes the advances in science and technology foreseen for the next ten years and beyond.

We study the impact of experimental imperfections on a recently proposed protocol for performing quantum simulations of vibronic spectroscopy. Specifically, we propose a method for quantifying the impact of these imperfections, optimizing an experiment to account for them, and benchmarking the results against a classical simulation method. We illustrate our findings using a proof of principle experimental simulation of part of the vibronic spectrum of tropolone. Our findings will inform the design of future experiments aiming to simulate the spectra of large molecules beyond the reach of current classical computers., Comment: 11 pages

The heat engine, a machine that extracts useful work from thermal sources, is one of the basic theoretical constructs and fundamental applications of classical thermodynamics. The classical description of a heat engine does not include coherence in its microscopic degrees of freedom. By contrast, a quantum heat engine might possess coherence between its internal states. Although the Carnot efficiency cannot be surpassed, and coherence can be performance degrading in certain conditions, it was recently predicted that even when using only thermal resources, internal coherence can enable a quantum heat engine to produce more power than any classical heat engine using the same resources. Such a power boost therefore constitutes a quantum thermodynamic signature. It has also been shown that the presence of coherence results in the thermodynamic equivalence of different quantum heat engine types, an effect with no classical counterpart. Microscopic heat machines have been recently implemented with trapped ions, and proposals for heat machines using superconducting circuits and optomechanics have been made. When operated with standard thermal baths, however, the machines implemented so far have not demonstrated any inherently quantum feature in their thermodynamic quantities. Here we implement two types of quantum heat engines by use of an ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond, and experimentally demonstrate both the coherence power boost and the equivalence of different heat-engine types. This constitutes the first observation of quantum thermodynamic signatures in heat machines.

Photonics offers a route to fast and distributed quantum computing in ambient conditions, provided that photon sources and logic gates can be operated deterministically. Quantum memories, capable of storing and re-emitting photons on demand, enable quasi-deterministic operations by synchronising stochastic events. We recently interfaced a Raman-type quantum memory with a travelling-wave heralded photon source. Here we discuss the trade-space for the spectral characteristics of such sources, and we present measurements of our source, which represents a practical compromise enabling passive stability, high brightness in a single-pass configuration, high purity and good matching to our Cs vapour memory.

In this work, we demonstrate a new way to perform classical multiparty computing amongst parties with limited computational resources. Our method harnesses quantum resources to increase the computational power of the individual parties. We show how a set of clients restricted to linear classical processing are able to jointly compute a non-linear multivariable function that lies beyond their individual capabilities. The clients are only allowed to perform classical XOR gates and single-qubit gates on quantum states. We also examine the type of security that can be achieved in this limited setting. Finally, we provide a proof-of-concept implementation using photonic qubits, that allows four clients to compute a specific example of a multiparty function, the pairwise AND., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

We study different notions of quantum correlations in multipartite systems of distinguishable and indistinguishable particles. Based on the definition of quantum coherence for a single particle, we consider two possible extensions of this concept to the many-particle scenario and determine the influence of the exchange symmetry. Moreover, we characterize the relation of multiparticle coherence to the entanglement of the compound quantum system. To support our general treatment with examples, we consider the quantum correlations of a collection of qudits. The impact of local and global quantum superpositions on the different forms of quantum correlations is discussed. For differently correlated states in the bipartite and multipartite scenarios, we provide a comprehensive characterization of the various forms and origins of quantum correlations.

We demonstrate how boson sampling with photons of partial distinguishability can be expressed in terms of interference of fewer photons. We use this observation to propose a classical algorithm to simulate the output of a boson sampler fed with photons of partial distinguishability. We find conditions for which this algorithm is efficient, which gives a lower limit on the required indistinguishability to demonstrate a quantum advantage. Under these conditions, adding more photons only polynomially increases the computational cost to simulate a boson sampling experiment.

It has recently been shown that optical parametric oscillator (OPO) Ising machines, consisting of coupled optical pulses circulating in a cavity with parametric gain, can be used to probabilistically find low-energy states of Ising spin systems. In this work, we study optical Ising machines that operate under simplified Gaussian dynamics. We show that these dynamics are sufficient for reaching probabilities of success comparable to previous work. Based on this result, we propose modified optical Ising machines with simpler designs that do not use parametric gain yet achieve similar performance, thus suggesting a route to building much larger systems., Comment: 6 pages

A quantum theory of multiphase estimation is crucial for quantum-enhanced sensing and imaging and may link quantum metrology to more complex quantum computation and communication protocols. In this letter we tackle one of the key difficulties of multiphase estimation: obtaining a measurement which saturates the fundamental sensitivity bounds. We derive necessary and sufficient conditions for projective measurements acting on pure states to saturate the maximal theoretical bound on precision given by the quantum Fisher information matrix. We apply our theory to the specific example of interferometric phase estimation using photon number measurements, a convenient choice in the laboratory. Our results thus introduce concepts and methods relevant to the future theoretical and experimental development of multiparameter estimation., Comment: 4 pages + appendix, 2 figures

We numerically investigate the implementation of Haar-random unitarity transformations and Fourier transformations in photonic devices consisting of beam splitters and phase shifters, which are used for integrated photonics implementations of boson sampling. The distribution of reflectivities required to implement an arbitrary unitary transformation is skewed towards low values, and this skew becomes stronger the larger the number of modes. A realistic implementation using Mach-Zehnder interferometers is incapable of doing this perfectly and thus has limited fidelity. We show that numerical optimisation and adding extra beam splitters to the network can help to restore fidelity.

Models of quantum systems on curved space-times lack sufficient experimental verification. Some speculative theories suggest that quantum properties, such as entanglement, may exhibit entirely different behavior to purely classical systems. By measuring this effect or lack thereof, we can test the hypotheses behind several such models. For instance, as predicted by Ralph and coworkers [T C Ralph, G J Milburn, and T Downes, Phys. Rev. A, 79(2):22121, 2009, T C Ralph and J Pienaar, New Journal of Physics, 16(8):85008, 2014], a bipartite entangled system could decohere if each particle traversed through a different gravitational field gradient. We propose to study this effect in a ground to space uplink scenario. We extend the above theoretical predictions of Ralph and coworkers and discuss the scientific consequences of detecting/failing to detect the predicted gravitational decoherence. We present a detailed mission design of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Space QUEST (Space - Quantum Entanglement Space Test) mission, and study the feasibility of the mission schema., Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures, included radiation damage to detectors in appendix

Synthesised light sources need reliable diagnostics for effective application to sub-femtosecond control and probing. However, commonly employed self-referencing techniques for pulsed-field characterisation fail in the presence of wide spectral gaps, while direct sampling methods are limited to high intensities. Here, we introduce a new approach labelled SPectral-gap Immune Characterisation of Electric Fields (SPICE), which overcomes these barriers by means of multi-spectral shearing interferometry, using an unknown reference and a reconstruction algorithm that makes use of this redundant information to simultaneously reconstruct the reference and test pulse with high precision and accuracy. We envisage that this technique will help foster new applications for broadband sources.

Quantum interference of two independent particles in pure quantum states is fully described by the particles' distinguishability: the closer the particles are to being identical, the higher the degree of quantum interference. When more than two particles are involved, the situation becomes more complex and interference capability extends beyond pairwise distinguishability, taking on a surprisingly rich character. Here, we study many-particle interference using three photons. We show that the distinguishability between pairs of photons is not sufficient to fully describe the photons' behaviour in a scattering process, but that a collective phase, the triad phase, plays a role. We are able to explore the full parameter space of three-photon interference by generating heralded single photons and interfering them in a fibre tritter. Using multiple degrees of freedom - temporal delays and polarisation - we isolate three-photon interference from two-photon interference. Our experiment disproves the view that pairwise two-photon distinguishability uniquely determines the degree of non-classical many-particle interference.

We present an apparatus that converts every pulse of a pulsed light source to a pulse train in which the intensities of the different pulses are samples of the spatial or temporal frequency spectrum of the original pulse. In this way, the spectrum of the incident light can be measured by following the temporal response of a single detector. The apparatus is based on multiple round-trips inside a 2f- cavity-like mirror arrangement in which the spectrum is spread on the back focal plane, where after each round-trip a small section of the spectrum is allowed to escape. The apparatus is fibre-free, offers easy wavelength range tunability, and a prototype built achieves over 10% average efficiency in the near infra red. We demonstrate the application of the prototype for the efficient measurement of the joint spectrum of a non-degenerate bi-photon source in which one of the photons is in the near infra red., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures

Interference lies at the heart of the behavior of classical and quantum light. It is thus crucial to understand the boundaries between which interference patterns can be explained by a classical electromagnetic description of light and which, on the other hand, can only be understood with a proper quantum mechanical approach. While the case of two-mode interference has received a lot of attention, the multimode case has not yet been fully explored. Here we study a general scenario of intensity interferometry: we derive a bound on the average correlations between pairs of output intensities for the classical wavelike model of light, and we show how it can be violated in a quantum framework. As a consequence, this violation acts as a nonclassicality witness, able to detect the presence of sources with sub-Poissonian photon-number statistics. We also develop a criterion that can certify the impossibility of dividing a given interferometer into two independent subblocks., Comment: 5 + 3 pages, published version

Universal multiport interferometers, which can be programmed to implement any linear transformation between multiple channels, are emerging as a powerful tool for both classical and quantum photonics. These interferometers are typically composed of a regular mesh of beam splitters and phase shifters, allowing for straightforward fabrication using integrated photonic architectures and ready scalability. The current, standard design for universal multiport interferometers is based on work by Reck et al (Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, 58, 1994). We demonstrate a new design for universal multiport interferometers based on an alternative arrangement of beam splitters and phase shifters, which outperforms that by Reck et al. Our design occupies half the physical footprint of the Reck design and is significantly more robust to optical losses., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures

Interference between independent single photons is perhaps the most fundamental interaction in quantum optics. It has become increasingly important as a tool for optical quantum information science, as one of the rudimentary quantum operations, together with photon detection, for generating entanglement between non-interacting particles. Despite this, demonstrations of large-scale photonic networks involving more than two independent sources of quantum light have been limited due to the difficulty in constructing large arrays of high-quality single photon sources. Here, we solve the key challenge, reporting a novel array of more than eighteen near-identical, low-loss, high-purity, heralded single photon sources achieved using spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) on a silica chip. We verify source quality through a series of heralded Hong-Ou-Mandel experiments, and further report the experimental three-photon extension of the entire Hong-Ou-Mandel interference curves, which map out the interference landscape between three independent single photon sources for the first time., Comment: 16 pages including supplementary information