A Toolbox for Linear Optics in a 1D Lattice via Minimal Control

TL;DR

This paper presents a minimal control scheme to implement linear optics operations in a 1D lattice, enabling quantum interference effects like Hong-Ou-Mandel and Mach-Zehnder interferometry with robustness to interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a simple local impurity control method to realize linear optics analogs in a 1D lattice, facilitating quantum operations without moving particles.

Findings

Demonstrates Hong-Ou-Mandel interference between distant sites.

Implements a tunable Mach-Zehnder interferometer in a lattice.

Shows robustness of the scheme against inter-particle interactions.

Abstract

Tight binding lattices offer a unique platform in which particles may be either static or mobile depending on the potential barrier between the sites. How to harness this mobility in a many-site lattice for useful operations is still an open question. We show how effective linear optics-like operations between arbitrary lattice sites can be implemented by a minimal local control which introduces a local impurity in the middle of the lattice. In particular we show how striking is the difference of the two possible correlations with and without the impurity. Our scheme enables the observation of the Hong-Ou-Mandel effect between distant wells without moving them next to each other with, e.g., tweezers. Moreover, we show that a tunable Mach-Zehnder interferometer is implemented adding a step-like potential, and we prove the robustness of our linear optics scheme to inter-particle interactions.