Reversible Optical Isolators and Quasi-Circulators Using a Magneto-Optical Fabry-Pérot Cavity

Nonreciprocal optical devices are essential for laser protection,modern optical communication and quantum information processing by enforcing one-way light propagation.The conventional Faraday magneto-optical nonreciprocal devices rely on a strong magnetic field,which is provided by a permanent magnet.As a result,the isolation direction of such devices is fixed and severely restricts their applications in quantum networks.In this work,we experimentally demonstrate the simultaneous one-way transmission and unidirectional reflection by using a magneto-optical Fabry-Pérot cavity and a magnetic field strength of 50 mT.An optical isolator and a three-port quasi-circulator are realized based on this nonreciprocal cavity system.The isolator achieves an isolation ratio of up to 22 dB and an averaged insertion loss down to 0.97 dB.The quasi-circulator is realized with a fidelity exceeding 99% and an overall survival probability of 89.9%,corresponding to an insertion loss of~0.46 dB.The magnetic field is provided by an electromagnetic coil,thereby allowing for reversing the light circulating path.The reversible quasi-circulator paves the way for building reconfigurable quantum networks.

Surpassing the standard quantum limit of optical imaging via deep learning

The sensitivity of optical measurement is ultimately constrained by the shot noise to the standard quantum limit.It has become a common concept that beating this limit requires quantum resources.A deep-learning neural network free of quantum principle has the capability of removing classical noise from images,but it is unclear in reducing quantum noise.In a coincidence-imaging experiment,we show that quantum-resource-free deep learning can be exploited to surpass the standard quantum limit via the photon-number-dependent nonlinear feedback during training.Using an effective classical light with photon flux of about 9×10^(4) photons per second,our deep-learning-based scheme achieves a 14 dB improvement in signal-to-noise ratio with respect to the standard quantum limit.

Liquid crystal devices for vector vortex beams manipulation and quantum information applications [Invited]

Vector vortex beams(VVBs) have attracted significant attention in both classical and quantum optics. Liquid crystal(LC),beyond its applications in information display, has emerged as a versatile tool for manipulating VVBs. In this review, we focus on the functions and applications of typical LC devices in recent studies on controlling the space-variant polarized vortex light. Manipulation of VVBs through patterned nematic LC optical elements, patterned cholesteric LC optical elements, self-assembled defects, and LC spatial light modulators is discussed separately. Moreover, LC-based novel optical applications in the field of quantum information are reviewed.

High-dimensional entanglement generation based on a Pancharatnam–Berry phase metasurface

High-dimensional entanglement is of great importance in quantum communications and can be realized by encoding information on multiple degrees of freedom(Do Fs)of the photons.Conventionally,the realization of such high-dimensional entanglement involves different combinations of bulky optical elements.In this work,we present the use of a single dielectric metasurface to generate high-dimensional entanglement by modulating multi-Do Fs of photons.By sending one of the polarization-entangled photons to interact with the metasurface,we encode path,spin angular momentum,and orbital angular momentum information to the original state.We achieve a four-qubit quantum state in the experiment.To verify it,we experimentally demonstrate the nonlocal correlations between the two photons by recording the correlated images,and we also perform a quantum state tomography measurement.This scheme can be applied to on-chip quantum state manipulation,which is promising in quantum communication with integrated components.