OP: Collaborative Research: Quantum Zeno Photonics on Chip

摘要标题：用于可扩展光学和光子学技术的量子Zeno光子学片上技术非技术摘要：先进的光学和光子学技术采用超低强度光束，如单个或几个光子，有望为通信、计算、传感和许多其他应用创造革命性的体系结构。为了开发这样的技术，非常需要用于产生和处理光子信号的强大工具。到目前为止，在展示其运作原则方面取得了令人鼓舞的进展。然而，现有的方法面临着根本性的挑战，如光子发射和量子态退相干的随机性，以及技术困难，如大的设置体积和对低温住房的需求。这些问题构成了开始对社会产生影响的光子技术的主要障碍，而设备的可扩展性和大规模生产力是其先决条件。该项目试图通过将量子Zeno封锁与新开发的用于氢化非晶硅的光子电路技术相结合来解决这个问题，量子Zeno封锁对应于非线性光学中一种相当未被探索的操作模式，该技术具有特殊的光学特性。这项研究建立在坚实的实验和理论基础上，有望为实际的光子应用和全光信息处理提供高度集成的、可批量生产的器件。该项目将由来自史蒂文斯理工学院的物理学和约翰·霍普金斯大学的电气和计算机工程的研究人员共同实施。通过这个跨学科项目获得的知识将传播到许多教育领域，包括通过巴尔的摩小学3-5年级STEM成就外展计划，以及侧重于低收入和代表性不足群体的大学生的史蒂文斯技术充实计划。技术摘要：该方案将量子Zeno阻塞(非线性光学中的Zeno效应)引入可扩展的纳米光子系统，从而为先进的光学和光子学技术开发了一个实用的平台。Zeno效应是一种违反直觉的现象，由量子力学的测量假设决定。它之前的研究经常用来说明量子力学的特殊性质，但几乎没有实际意义。利用一种新兴的氢化非晶硅多层集成光子电路技术，该项目将探索光学可重构的、基于Zeno的芯片上光子处理。由于氢化非晶硅的优异光学性质，人们将开发出具有极大的非线性、低损耗、抑制背景噪声、减少双光子吸收和自由载流子效应的新型光子器件。通过量子Zeno封锁，物理上永远不会重叠的单个光子之间将确定地(例如，不使用后选择)实现“无相互作用”的量子逻辑门。这种奇特的实现消除了通常存在于竞争光子设备中的有害相位噪声和量子态退相干，使其对可扩展的量子计算特别有吸引力。同样的效应可以扰乱参数光子对散射过程中的高阶动力学，从而根据需要产生纯单光子和纠缠光子。在芯片上，室温和独特的多层集成，建议的器件特别有希望建立在高度集成的光子学基础上的大规模量子应用。

Abstract Title: Quantum Zeno Photonics on Chip for Scalable Optics and Photonics TechnologiesNontechnical Abstract: Advanced optics and photonics technologies deploying ultralow-intensity light beams, such as a single or few photons, promise to create revolutionary architectures for communications, computation, sensing, and many other applications. To develop such technologies, robust tools for generation and processing of photonic signals are highly desirable. Thus far, encouraging progress has been made in demonstrating the principle of their operation. However, the existing approaches suffer from fundamental challenges' such as stochasticity in photon emission and quantum-state decoherence' and technical difficulties, like a large setup volume and the need for cryogenic housing. Those issues have constituted a major road block towards commencing societally-impactful photonic technologies for which device scalability and mass productivity are a prerequisite. This project seeks to address this problem by marrying quantum Zeno blockade, which corresponds to a rather unexplored regime of operation in nonlinear optics, with a newly developed photonic circuiting technique for hydrogenated amorphous silicon of exceptional optical properties. Built upon solid experimental and theoretical grounds, this research is expected to deliver highly integrated, mass producible devices for practical photonic applications and all-optical information processing. The project will be carried out collaboratively by researchers from physics at Stevens Institute of Technology and electrical and computer engineering at Johns Hopkins University. Knowledge gained through this interdisciplinary project will be disseminated onto many areas of education, including through the STEM Achievement in Baltimore Elementary Schools outreach program for grades 3-5, and through Stevens Technical Enrichment Program focusing on college students from low income and under-represented groups. Technical Abstract:This proposal introduces quantum Zeno blockade' a Zeno effect in nonlinear optics' into scalable nano-photonic systems, thereby developing a practical platform for advanced optics and photonics technologies. The Zeno effect is a counterintuitive phenomenon dictated by the measurement postulate of quantum mechanics. Its previous studies often served to illustrate the peculiar nature of quantum mechanics but had little practical relevance. Exploiting an emerging multilayer-integrated photonic circuiting technique for hydrogenated-amorphous silicon, this project will explore optically-reconfigurable, Zeno-based photonic processing on chip. Owing to the outstanding optical properties of hydrogenated-amorphous silicon, new photonic devices will be developed that have exceptionally large nonlinearity, low loss, suppressed background noise, and reduced two-photon absorption and free-carrier effects. Through quantum Zeno blockade, an "interaction-free" quantum logical gate will be realized deterministically (e.g., without using post selection) between single photons that never physically overlap. This exotic realization eliminates the detrimental phase noise and quantum state decoherence usually present in competing photonic devices, making it particularly appealing for scalable quantum computing. The same effect can disrupt high-order dynamics during parametric photon-pair scattering, thereby generating pure single and entangled photons on demand. On chip, room temperature, and uniquely multilayer-integrated, the proposed devices are particularly promising for large-scale quantum applications built on highly-integrated photonics.