No Arabic abstract
A quantum memristor is a resistive passive circuit element with memory engineered in a given quantum platform. It can be represented by a quantum system coupled to a dissipative environment, in which a system-bath coupling is mediated through a weak measurement scheme and classical feedback on the system. In quantum photonics, such a device can be designed from a beam splitter with tunable reflectivity, which is modified depending on the results of measurements in one of the outgoing beams. Here, we show that a similar implementation can be achieved with frequency-entangled optical fields and a frequency mixer that, working similarly to a beam splitter, produces state superpositions. We show that the characteristic hysteretic behavior of memristors can be reproduced when analyzing the response of the system with respect to the control, for different experimentally-attainable states. Since memory effects in memristors can be exploited for classical and neuromorphic computation, the results presented in this work provides the first steps of a novel route towards constructing quantum neural networks in quantum photonics.
We propose the interaction of two quantum memristors via capacitive and inductive coupling in feasible superconducting circuit architectures. In this composed system the input gets correlated in time, which changes the dynamic response of each quantum memristor in terms of its pinched hysteresis curve and their nontrivial entanglement. In this sense, the concurrence and memristive dynamics follow an inverse behavior, showing maximal values of entanglement when the hysteresis curve is minimal and vice versa. Moreover, the direction followed in time by the hysteresis curve is reversed whenever the quantum memristor entanglement is maximal. The study of composed quantum memristors paves the way for developing neuromorphic quantum computers and native quantum neural networks, on the path towards quantum advantage with current NISQ technologies.
Technology based on memristors, resistors with memory whose resistance depends on the history of the crossing charges, has lately enhanced the classical paradigm of computation with neuromorphic architectures. However, in contrast to the known quantized models of passive circuit elements, such as inductors, capacitors or resistors, the design and realization of a quantum memristor is still missing. Here, we introduce the concept of a quantum memristor as a quantum dissipative device, whose decoherence mechanism is controlled by a continuous-measurement feedback scheme, which accounts for the memory. Indeed, we provide numerical simulations showing that memory effects actually persist in the quantum regime. Our quantization method, specifically designed for superconducting circuits, may be extended to other quantum platforms, allowing for memristor-type constructions in different quantum technologies. The proposed quantum memristor is then a building block for neuromorphic quantum computation and quantum simulations of non-Markovian systems.
Realising a global quantum network requires combining individual strengths of different quantum systems to perform universal tasks, notably using flying and stationary qubits. However, transferring coherently quantum information between different systems is challenging as they usually feature different properties, notably in terms of operation wavelength and wavepacket. To circumvent this problem for quantum photonics systems, we demonstrate a polarisation-preserving quantum frequency conversion device in which telecom wavelength photons are converted to the near infrared, at which a variety of quantum memories operate. Our device is essentially free of noise which we demonstrate through near perfect single photon state transfer tomography and observation of high-fidelity entanglement after conversion. In addition, our guided-wave setup is robust, compact, and easily adaptable to other wavelengths. This approach therefore represents a major building block towards advantageously connecting quantum information systems based on light and matter.
We demonstrate a different scheme to perform optical sectioning of a sample based on the concept of induced coherence [Zou et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 67, 318 (1991)]. This can be viewed as a different type of optical coherence tomography scheme where the varying reflectivity of the sample along the direction of propagation of an optical beam translates into changes of the degree of first-order coherence between two beams. As a practical advantage the scheme allows probing the sample with one wavelength and measuring photons with another wavelength. In a bio-imaging scenario, this would result in a deeper penetration into the sample because of probing with longer wavelengths, while still using the optimum wavelength for detection. The scheme proposed here could achieve submicron axial resolution by making use of nonlinear parametric sources with broad spectral bandwidth emission.
A novel method of macroscopically entangled light-pair generation is presented for a quantum laser using randomness-based deterministic phase control of coherent light in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI). Unlike the particle nature-based quantum correlation in conventional quantum mechanics, the wave nature of photons is applied for collective phase control of coherent fields, resulting in a deterministically controllable nonclassical phenomenon. For the proof of principle, the entanglement between output light fields from an MZI is examined using the Hong-Ou-Mandel-type anticorrelation technique, where the anticorrelation is a direct evidence of the nonclassical features in an interferometric scheme. For the generation of random phase bases between two bipartite input coherent fields, a deterministic control of opposite frequency shifts results in phase sensitive anticorrelation, which is a macroscopic quantum feature.