Experimental boson sampling in arbitrary integrated photonic circuits

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates multi-photon interference in a 5-mode integrated photonic circuit with precise control over 25 parameters, advancing the development of quantum computational and communication technologies.

Contribution

It introduces novel 3D manufacturing techniques for arbitrary interferometers and confirms quantum interference predictions with three photons.

Findings

Successful control of 25 parameters in a 5-mode interferometer

Experimental confirmation of three-photon quantum interference

Potential for scalable quantum computing and communication applications

Abstract

Photons naturally solve the BosonSampling problem: sample the outputs of a multi-photon experiment in a linear-optical interferometer. This is strongly believed to be hard to do on a classical computer, and motivates the development of technologies that enable precise control of multi-photon interference in large interferometers. Here we report multi-photon experiments in a 5-mode integrated interferometer. We use novel three-dimensional manufacturing techniques to achieve simultaneous control of 25 independent parameters that describe an arbitrary interferometer. We characterize the chip using one- and two-photon experiments, and confirm the quantum mechanical predictions for three-photon interference. Scaled up versions of this setup are the most promising way to demonstrate the computational capability of quantum systems, and may have applications in high-precision measurements and quantum communication.