All-Optical Routing of Single Photons by a One-Atom Switch Controlled by a Single Photon

Abstract

The prospect of quantum networks, in which quantum information is carried by single photons in photonic circuits, has long been the driving force behind the effort to achieve all-optical routing of single photons. Here we realize the most basic unit of such a photonic circuit: a single-photon activated switch, capable of routing a photon from any of its two inputs to any of its two outputs. Our device is based on a single 87Rb atom coupled to a fiber-coupled, chip-based microresonator, and is completely all-optical, requiring no other fields beside the in-fiber single-photon pulses. Nonclassical statistics of the control pulse confirm that a single reflected photon toggles the switch from high reflection (65%) to high transmission (90%), with average of ~1.5 control photons per switching event (~3 including linear losses). The fact that the control and target photons are both in-fiber and practically identical makes this scheme compatible with scalable architectures for quantum information processing.

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• Multiple Fano interferences due to waveguide-mediated phase-coupling between atoms
• Fiber ring resonator with nanofiber section for chiral cavity quantum electrodynamics and multimode strong coupling
• Theory of microwave single-photon detection using an impedance-matched $\Lambda$ system
• Chiral light-matter interactions using spin-valley states in transition metal dichalcogenides
• Induced cavities for photonic quantum gates
• Nonlinear photon-atom coupling with 4Pi microscopy
• Many-body decoherence dynamics and optimised operation of a single-photon switch
• Microtoroid cavity QED with fiber overcoupling and strong atom-field coupling: a single-atom quantum switch for coherent light fields
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• Spin Photonics in 3D Whispering Gallery Mode Resonators
• Unveiling the curtain of superposition: Recent gedanken and laboratory experiments
• Generalized quantum interference of correlated photon pairs
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• Feasible Surface Plasmon Routing Based on The Self-assembled InGaAs/GaAs Semiconductor Quantum Dot Located between Two Silver Metallic Waveguides