This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
Entanglement "the bizarre" nonlocal connection that can exist between quantum systems is the critical resource in most quantum information processing (QIP) applications, and entangled photons are the central carriers of quantum information in many of these applications. In this project the phenomenon of "hyperentanglement" systems that are simultaneously entangled in several different ways will be explored, pushing the frontier of optical QIP in several areas, including quantum communication, quantum metrology, and quantum computing. Hyperentangled states enable new investigations of the foundations of quantum mechanics, and even an entirely new kind of "hidden" entanglement, which could have important implications for robust secure encoding of information. Finally, the application of such quantum states for enhanced imaging and nanophotonic device characterization is a particularly exciting possible result.
In addition to exploring a potentially transformative method for implementing small-scale quantum processors with photons, this research has the potential for broader impact beyond the "traditional" areas of QIP. For example, the single-photon multi-quantum-bit states should enable improved optical metrology: the ability to couple a single photon to a single quantum "antenna" would be a major advance in optical physics, with relevance, e.g., in nanophotonics and single-molecule physics. Moreover, the underlying optical simplicity of these experiments makes them well suited for adoption in undergraduate laboratories, bringing the realities of quantum information phenomena to students at an earlier age and in broader contexts. Taking this a step further, the development of a connected series of experiments as part of a museum exhibit to introduce the general public to the phenomena of interference and quantum superposition, will also be pursued.
