Quantum noise in large-scale coherent nonlinear photonic circuits

TL;DR

This paper introduces a semiclassical simulation method for analyzing quantum noise in large-scale nonlinear photonic circuits, demonstrating its effectiveness and scalability in complex circuit scenarios.

Contribution

A novel semiclassical simulation approach for large-scale photonic circuits with Kerr nonlinearity, enabling efficient quantum noise analysis and scalability assessment.

Findings

Semiclassical results agree with full quantum simulations in relevant regimes.

Quantum fluctuations do not increase as signals propagate, supporting scalability.

Error rates depend on photon number, influencing circuit performance.

Abstract

A semiclassical simulation approach is presented for studying quantum noise in large-scale photonic circuits incorporating an ideal Kerr nonlinearity. A circuit solver is used to generate matrices defining a set of stochastic differential equations, in which the resonator field variables represent random samplings of the Wigner quasi-probability distributions. Although the semiclassical approach involves making a large-photon-number approximation, tests on one- and two-resonator circuits indicate satisfactory agreement between the semiclassical and full-quantum simulation results in the parameter regime of interest. The semiclassical model is used to simulate random errors in a large-scale circuit that contains 88 resonators and hundreds of components in total, and functions as a 4-bit ripple counter. The error rate as a function of on-state photon number is examined, and it is observed that the quantum fluctuation amplitudes do not increase as signals propagate through the circuit, an important property for scalability.