Multimode quantum interference of photons in multiport integrated devices.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 21364563.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms1228 and PMC identifier 3072100.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC-ND.
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Abstract
Photonics is a leading approach in realizing future quantum technologies and recently, optical waveguide circuits on silicon chips have demonstrated high levels of miniaturization and performance. Multimode interference (MMI) devices promise a straightforward implementation of compact and robust multiport circuits. Here, we show quantum interference in a 2 × 2 MMI coupler with visibility of V=95.6 ± 0.9%. We further demonstrate the operation of a 4 × 4 port MMI device with photon pairs, which exhibits complex quantum interference behaviour. We have developed a new technique to fully characterize such multiport devices, which removes the need for phase-sensitive measurements and may find applications for a wide range of photonic devices. Our results show that MMI devices can operate in the quantum regime with high fidelity and promise substantial simplification and concatenation of photonic quantum circuits.