Ultra-long quantum walks via spin–orbit photonics
Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: The possibility of fine-tuning the couplings between optical modes is a key requirement in photonic circuits for quantum simulations. In these architectures, emulating the long-time evolution of particles across large lattices requires sophisticated setups that are often intrinsically lossy. Here we report ultra-long photonic quantum walks across several hundred optical modes, obtained by propagating a light beam through very few closely stacked liquid-crystal metasurfaces. By exploiting spin–orbit effects, these implement space-dependent polarization transformations that mix circularly polarized optical modes carrying quantized transverse momentum. As each metasurface implements long-range couplings between distant modes, by using only a few of them we simulate quantum walks up to 320 discrete steps without any optical amplification, far beyond state-of-the-art experiments. To showcase the potential of this method, we experimentally demonstrate that in the long time limit a quantum walk affected by dynamical disorder generates maximal entanglement between two system partitions. Our platform grants experimental access to large-scale unitary evolutions while keeping optical losses at a minimum, thereby paving the way to massive multi-photon multi-mode quantum simulations.
Source: Optica
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,208
Funders: Fundación Cellex, “la Caixa” Foundation, Centres de Recerca de Catalunya, European Commission, Generalitat de Catalunya, Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Narodowe Centrum Nauki, Narodowym Centrum Nauki, QuantERA, FUNDACIÓ Privada MIR-PUIG, Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, European Research Council, Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca, European Regional Development Fund, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, H2020 European Institute of Innovation and Technology
Awards: G1175115578, G1255325603, G148081399, G1622782223, Junior Leader la Caixa Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme: Shaping the new generation of leaders in research, G1888088267, G1908469581, G1909050264, G1953887145, G2038104832, G2064873908, G210041235, G2163055958, G2236380367, G2262748287, G2355262757, G2357050330, G2601397997, G2673512141, G2744780120, G2763573136, G288263039, G2918952967, G3005324705, G300979063, G3176176206, G3257784381, G3261693824, G3288897321, G3302599245, G3323999484, G3375376170, G34346518, G3480869486, G3522231704, G3546882995, G355572793, G3639969887, G3674674691, G3681454997, G3729210810, G3939077204, G4042783231, G408490004, G410571670, G4160207744, G4179535065, G425668148, G4353981422, G4391008399, G4442677895, G451917667, G4526231891, G4571205363, G4630312626, G4993383890, G5080475149, G5178665745, G5195188938, G5426121769, G5505639174, G5539308778, G5554424168, G5806516646, G5852091828, G5955501538, G5967599077, G598773271, G6079324567, Structured electric-dipole-based chirality, G6343838365, G6482940084, G6573142848, G6656126374, G6662880077, G6740521169, G6790183914, G69051668, G7021218639, G7084132465, G7084143925, G7226647862, G7407602803, G7425137858, G7466406081, G7566941767, G7731791180, G8023785571, G8180681537, G8191894158, G8283979283, G8306300202, G853839195, G8637226926, Optical Topologic Logic, G8676624529, G8684520763, G885552189, G929308097, G948124368
OpenAlex ID: W4312137355