Foundations and Applications of Hyperentanglement

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。纠缠“奇异”的非局域连接，可以存在于量子系统之间是关键资源，在大多数量子信息处理（QIP）的应用，纠缠光子是在许多这些应用中的量子信息的中心载体。在这个项目中，将探索同时以几种不同方式纠缠的“超纠缠”系统的现象，推动光学QIP在几个领域的前沿，包括量子通信，量子计量学和量子计算。超纠缠态使量子力学基础的新研究成为可能，甚至是一种全新的“隐藏”纠缠，这可能对信息的鲁棒安全编码产生重要影响。最后，将这种量子态应用于增强成像和纳米光子器件表征是一个特别令人兴奋的可能结果。 除了探索利用光子实现小规模量子处理器的潜在变革性方法外，这项研究还有可能在QIP的“传统”领域之外产生更广泛的影响。例如，单光子多量子比特态应该能够实现改进的光学计量学：将单光子耦合到单量子“天线”的能力将是光学物理学的重大进步，例如，在纳米光子学和单分子物理学中。此外，这些实验的基本光学简单性使它们非常适合在本科实验室中采用，从而在更早的年龄和更广泛的背景下为学生带来量子信息现象的现实。更进一步，还将开发一系列相关实验，作为博物馆展览的一部分，向公众介绍干涉和量子叠加现象。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Entanglement "the bizarre" nonlocal connection that can exist between quantum systems is the critical resource in most quantum information processing (QIP) applications, and entangled photons are the central carriers of quantum information in many of these applications. In this project the phenomenon of "hyperentanglement" systems that are simultaneously entangled in several different ways will be explored, pushing the frontier of optical QIP in several areas, including quantum communication, quantum metrology, and quantum computing. Hyperentangled states enable new investigations of the foundations of quantum mechanics, and even an entirely new kind of "hidden" entanglement, which could have important implications for robust secure encoding of information. Finally, the application of such quantum states for enhanced imaging and nanophotonic device characterization is a particularly exciting possible result. In addition to exploring a potentially transformative method for implementing small-scale quantum processors with photons, this research has the potential for broader impact beyond the "traditional" areas of QIP. For example, the single-photon multi-quantum-bit states should enable improved optical metrology: the ability to couple a single photon to a single quantum "antenna" would be a major advance in optical physics, with relevance, e.g., in nanophotonics and single-molecule physics. Moreover, the underlying optical simplicity of these experiments makes them well suited for adoption in undergraduate laboratories, bringing the realities of quantum information phenomena to students at an earlier age and in broader contexts. Taking this a step further, the development of a connected series of experiments as part of a museum exhibit to introduce the general public to the phenomena of interference and quantum superposition, will also be pursued.