ExpandQISE:Track 1: Photonic Lattices for Robust All-Optical Quantum Devices

非技术描述：量子信息科学及其相关技术有可能产生通信、传感和计算的突破性技术。该项目的主要研究人员最近的发现表明，多光子系统中的量子相互作用提供了以前所未有的速度处理大量信息的潜力。然而，现实量子光子技术的成功演示在很大程度上取决于开发出对耗散环境具有健壮性的平台的可能性。这项研究介绍并实验表征了一种新的基于光子晶格中多光子相互作用的强健量子器件，该器件具有工程耗散机制。该项目培养了一支训练有素的量子信息科学劳动力队伍，起源于德克萨斯州南部的里奥格兰德山谷。这是通过许多跨学科的教育和外联活动实现的，包括德克萨斯大学里奥格兰德山谷(UTRGV)、路易斯安那州立大学(LSU)和加州大学洛杉矶分校(UCLA)之间的学者学院。技术描述：多光子系统中可能发生的多重散射和干涉相互作用为量子信息科学与工程(QISE)的突破性技术提供了潜力。然而，发展现实量子技术的一个主要障碍是任何量子系统在耗散环境中的消相干。在这个项目中，UTRGV、路易斯安那州立大学和加州大学洛杉矶分校的QISE研究先驱团队引入并实验表征了一种新的健壮量子光子器件。这种方法利用了多光子系统中非厄米哈密顿量在例外点处的宇称和时间反转对称性破缺的独特特征，并通过新的多光子相互作用提供了对退相干的精细控制，这在传统量子光学中是无法解释的。这个创新的想法是通过设计损耗来增加量子光子设备的通道容量。这项研究将多光子散射的动力学从其基础物理引入到用于信息处理的复杂量子器件的开发中。它首次证明了非厄米系统在量子光子晶格设计中的潜力，其中非经典多粒子动力学被保留下来。这一范式是通过引入新的理论和计算工具、多粒子态传输协议的实验实现以及通过光子晶格中的量子态层析来验证它们来实现的。该项目的实验里程碑利用了美国独特的实验能力，例如纠缠多光子态的来源和用于表征多粒子系统的新颖检测方案。该项目的教育活动在UTRGV、路易斯安那州立大学和加州大学洛杉矶分校之间建立了一条学术管道，为所有参与该项目的学生建立了一个奖学金学院。UTRGV现有的本科生和研究生一级的外联活动正在转变，以便为QISE中代表人数不足的少数群体的教育创造新的机会。该项目是在UTRGV建立可持续的QISE研究和教育的核心，以促进南得克萨斯州里奥格兰德山谷地区研究生教育的文化变革。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Non-Technical Description:Quantum information science and its related technologies have the potential to generate breakthrough technologies for communication, sensing, and computing. Recent discoveries by the principal investigators of this project demonstrate that quantum interactions in multiphoton systems offer the potential to process large amounts of information with unprecedented speeds. However, successful demonstration of realistic quantum photonic technologies significantly depends on the possibility of developing platforms that are robust against dissipative environments. This research introduces and experimentally characterizes a new paradigm of robust quantum devices based on multiphoton interactions in photonic lattices with engineered dissipative mechanisms. The project develops a highly trained workforce in quantum information science that originates in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas. This is accomplished by numerous, interdisciplinary education and outreach activities, including a Scholar Academy between the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), the Louisiana State University (LSU), and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Technical Description:The multiple scattering and interference interactions that can take place in multiphoton systems offer the potential for breakthrough technologies in Quantum Information Science and Engineering (QISE). However, a major obstacle in developing realistic quantum technologies is the decoherence of any quantum system when exposed to dissipative environments. In this project, a pioneering team in QISE research at UTRGV, LSU, and UCLA introduces and experimentally characterizes a new paradigm of robust quantum photonic devices. This approach exploits the distinctive features of the parity and time-reversal symmetry breaking at exceptional points of non-Hermitian Hamiltonians in multiphoton systems, and provides exquisite control of decoherence through novel multiphoton interactions that have not been accounted for in conventional quantum optics. The innovative idea is to engineer losses to increase the channel capacity of a quantum photonic device. This research takes the dynamics of multiphoton scattering from its fundamental physics to the development of complex quantum devices for information processing. It demonstrates for the first time the potential of non-Hermitian systems for the design of quantum photonic lattices in which nonclassical multiparticle dynamics is preserved. This paradigm is realized by introducing new theoretical and computational tools, the experimental implementation of multiparticle state transport protocols, and their verification through quantum state tomography in photonic lattices. The experimental milestones of this project exploit unique experimental capabilities in the United States, such as sources of entangled multiphoton states and novel detection schemes for the characterization of multiparticle systems. The educational activities of this project create an academic pipeline between UTRGV, LSU, and UCLA in terms of a Scholar Academy for all students participating in the project. Existing undergraduate and graduate-level outreach activities at UTRGV are transformed to create new opportunities for the education of underrepresented minority groups in QISE. This project serves as a nucleus to establish sustainable QISE research and education at UTRGV to contribute to a cultural change in graduate education in the Rio Grande Valley region in South Texas.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.