A high-fidelity and large-scale reconfigurable photonic processor for NISQ applications

TL;DR

This paper presents a large-scale, high-fidelity reconfigurable photonic processor using multimode fiber and wavefront shaping, suitable for NISQ quantum applications, demonstrating stable performance over time.

Contribution

It introduces an innovative design combining multimode fiber mode mixing with wavefront shaping for scalable, high-fidelity optical quantum processing.

Findings

Achieved over 93% fidelity in 8-input, 38-output configurations.

Maintained stable performance over 10 days without re-calibration.

Built inside a standard server rack for practical deployment.

Abstract

Reconfigurable linear optical networks are a key component for the development of optical quantum information processing platforms in the NISQ era and beyond. We report the implementation of such a device based on an innovative design that uses the mode mixing of a multimode fiber in combination with the programmable wavefront shaping of a SLM. The capabilities of the platform are explored in the classical regime. For up to 8 inputs and a record number of 38 outputs, we achieve fidelities in excess of 93%, and losses below 6.5dB. The device was built inside a standard server rack to allow for real world use and shows consistent performance for 2x8 circuits over a period of 10 days without re-calibration.