Tailor-made unitary operations using dielectric metasurfaces

Qubit operation belonging to unitary transformation is the fundamental operation to realize quantum computing and information processing. Here, we show that the complex and flexible light-matter interaction between dielectric metasurfaces and incident light can be used to perform arbitrary U(2) operations. By incorporating both coherent spatial-mode operation together with two polarizations on a single metasurface, we further extend the discussion to single-photon two-qubit U(4) operations. We believe the efficient usage of metasurfaces as a potential compact platform can simplify optical qubit operation from bulky systems into conceptually subwavelength elements. (C) 2021 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement

Automated summary

The complex and flexible light-matter interaction between dielectric metasurfaces and incident light can be used to perform quantum bit operations and extend to two-qubit operations. Efficient utilization of metasurfaces as a compact platform can simplify optical qubit operations.