A photon–photon quantum gate based on Rydberg interactions

The interaction between Rydberg states of neutral atoms is strong and long-range, making it appealing to put it to use in the context of quantum technologies. Recently, first applications of this idea have been reported in the fields of quantum computation 1 and quantum simulation 2 – 4 . Furthermor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature physics 2019-02, Vol.15 (2), p.124-126
Main Authors: Tiarks, Daniel, Schmidt-Eberle, Steffen, Stolz, Thomas, Rempe, Gerhard, Dürr, Stephan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/766/36/1121
639/766/400/482
639/766/483/2802
639/766/483/481
Atomic
Classical and Continuum Physics
Complex Systems
Computer simulation
Condensed Matter Physics
Letter
Mapping
Mathematical and Computational Physics
Molecular
Neutral atoms
Optical and Plasma Physics
Photons
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Quantum theory
Rydberg states
Theoretical
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Summary:The interaction between Rydberg states of neutral atoms is strong and long-range, making it appealing to put it to use in the context of quantum technologies. Recently, first applications of this idea have been reported in the fields of quantum computation 1 and quantum simulation 2 – 4 . Furthermore, electromagnetically induced transparency allows one to map these Rydberg interactions to light 5 – 15 . Here we exploit this mapping and the resulting interaction between photons to realize a photon–photon quantum gate 16 , 17 , demonstrating the potential of Rydberg systems as a platform also for quantum communication and quantum networking 18 . We measure a controlled-NOT truth table with a fidelity of 70(8)% and an entangling-gate fidelity of 63.7(4.5)%, both post-selected upon detection of a control and a target photon. The level of control reached here is an encouraging step towards exploring novel many-body states of photons or for future applications in quantum communication and quantum networking 18 . Strong and long-range interactions between Rydberg states of neutral atoms can be mapped to light via electromagnetically induced transparency, realizing a photon–photon quantum gate for quantum communications and networking.
ISSN:1745-2473
1745-2481
DOI:10.1038/s41567-018-0313-7