Continuous-mode effects and photon-photon phase gate performance

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how the continuous-mode nature of photonic pulses affects the performance of quantum phase gates, revealing entanglement effects and bandwidth limitations that influence device efficiency.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of continuous-mode effects on single-photon pulse interactions and quantum gate performance in nonlinear media.

Findings

Continuous-mode effects significantly impact quantum gate fidelity.

Entanglement between wave-vector modes influences gate performance.

Finite bandwidth constrains the effectiveness of photon-photon interactions.

Abstract

The effects arising from the inherent continuous-mode nature of photonic pulses were poorly understood but significantly influence the performance of quantum devices employing photonic pulse interaction in nonlinear media. Such effects include the entanglement between the continuous wave-vector modes due to pulse interaction as well as the consequence of a finite system bandwidth. We present the first analysis on these effects for interactions between single-photon pulses, demonstrating their impact on the performance of quantum phase gates based on such process. Our study clarifies a realistic picture of this type of quantum devices.