Reconfigurable Silicon Photonic Chip for the Generation Of Frequency-Bin-Entangled Qudits

Quantum optical microcombs in integrated ring resonators generate entangled photon pairs over many spectral modes, and allow the preparation of high-dimensional qudit states. Ideally, those sources should be programmable and have a high generation rate, with comb lines tightly spaced for the implementation of efficient qudit gates based on electro-optic frequency mixing. While these requirements cannot all be satisfied by a single resonator device, for which there is a trade-off between the high generation rate and tight bin spacing, a promising strategy is the use of multiple resonators, each generating photon pairs in specific frequency bins via spontaneous four-wave mixing. Based on this approach we present a programmable silicon photonics device for the generation of frequency-bin-entangled qudits, in which bin spacing, qudit dimension, and the bipartite quantum state can be reconfigured on chip. Using resonators with a radius of 22 & mu;m, we achieve a high brightness [about MHz/(mW)2] per comb line with a bin spacing of 15 GHz, and fidelities above 85% with maximally entangled Bell states up to a Hilbert space dimension of 16. By individually addressing each spectral mode, we realize states that cannot be generated on chip using a single resonator. We measure the correlation matrices of maximally entangled two-qubit and two-qutrit states on a set of mutually unbiased bases, finding fidelities exceeding 98%, and indicating that the source can find application in high-dimensional secure communication protocols.

Automated summary

Quantum optical microcombs in integrated ring resonators can generate entangled photon pairs over many spectral modes and allow the preparation of high-dimensional qudit states. We present a programmable silicon photonics device that can reconfigure the bin spacing, qudit dimension, and bipartite quantum state on chip. By individually addressing each spectral mode, we achieve states that cannot be generated on chip using a single resonator.