Collaborative Research: Programmable chip-scale quantum photonics platform based on frequency-comb cluster-states for multicasting quantum networks

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The field of quantum information science and technology hinges on unique quantum mechanical phenomena such as entanglement to enable unprecedented capabilities for communication, sensing, and computing. Among these technologies, quantum communication is foreseen to create broad near-term impacts as seen in recent quantum testbeds, teleportation, and entanglement distribution experiments. It is also envisaged to underpin future's fully connected quantum computers, quantum sensors, and a global secure communication network. Mainstream quantum communication platforms, however, rely on expensive, unscalable bulk optics components that impede their widespread deployment. While recent work on integrated quantum communication devices opens a new route to the development of compact quantum-communication systems, an integrated quantum photonics platform encompassing multiple, functional modules on a single chip to generate and process large-scale entanglement remains elusive. This collaborative project will develop a room-temperature integrated quantum photonics platform that incorporates quantum communication modules for scalable generation, processing, multicasting, and detection of large-scale multipartite entanglement in a quantum communication network. This project will leverage the nanofabrication and testing expertise at UCLA and the Interdisciplinary Quantum Information Research and Engineering (INQUIRE) testbed at the University of Arizona (UA) to demonstrate the capability of utilizing a highly compact and mass producible integrated platform to generate, multicast, and detect large-scale entanglement in a real-world setting. The outcome of the project will lay the foundation for future's quantum internet comprised of compact devices linked by large-scale multipartite entanglement. This project will educate and train the next-generation workforce for quantum information science and technology. Specifically, undergraduate and graduate students will grasp essential knowledge and expertise of nanophotonics and quantum information science and technology. They will gain hands-on experience while undertaking research in the INQUIRE testbed. This project will also provide opportunities for various industrial partners to be exposed to state-of-the-art tools grown out of nanophotonics and quantum information science and technology.Technical: The team will follow a system-level design approach for the integrated quantum photonics platform. The project will advance knowledge through a new quantum encoding-and-decoding paradigm that will be seamlessly incorporated into a physical architecture to offer intrinsic protection against loss. The physical architecture will consist of programmable quantum sources, processing units, and receivers using the silicon nitride material system that offer dramatic functionalities. Through ��(3 four-wave mixing in microring resonators and Mach-Zehnder interferometers, the silicon nitride chipset section will produce and process quantum signals with high fidelity and low loss. The silicon nitride section will also provide a classical frequency comb to serve as the pump for the microring resonators and phase references for the Mach-Zehnder interferometers. Programming of the quantum sources, processing units, and receivers will be by modulating the classical comb spectral lines in an integrated hybrid silicon section. In our frequency comb cluster system, the quantum signals will be immune to the programming-induced loss and disturbance. The integrated quantum photonics platform will be programmed to support two system-level quantum communication implementations: 1) a high-rate secure communication system based on quantum illumination; and 2) an entanglement multicasting and purification demonstration.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.