Quantum networks enabled by quantum optics
Harry J. Kimble · 2013
Summary form only given. Quantum networks offer opportunities for the exploration of physical systems that have not heretofore existed in the natural world with applications to quantum computation, communication, metrology, and quantum many-body physics [1]. As illustrated in Fig. 1, a quantum network is created by generating and storing quantum states locally in quantum nodes. These nodes interact over quantum channels to enable entanglement to be spread across the network.In my presentation [2], I will provide an overview of quantum networks from formal to physical. I will discuss research at Caltech for the laboratory realization of small networks composed of atoms that interact strongly by way of single photons [3-6]. The goal is to achieve lithographic quantum optical circuits, for which atoms are trapped near microand nano-scopic dielectric structures and “wired” together by photons propagating through the circuit elements. Single atoms and atomic ensembles can endow quantum functionality for otherwise linear optical circuits and thereby the capability to build quantum networks component by component.