Special Lecture to Celebrate World Quantum Day
Engineering Challenges for the Emerging Photonic Quantum Networks
Speaker: Prof. Prem Kumar (McCormick School of Engineering, Northwestern University.)
Future quantum photonic networks will require device functionalities that implicitly respect fundamental facts such as quantum information cannot be copied and cannot be measured precisely. A quantum repeater, for example—analog of an optical amplifier that enabled global reach of the ubiquitous Internet connectivity we enjoy today—is yet to be demonstrated, although recent years have seen tremendous progress. Many other device functionalities—switches, routers, format converters, etc.—would also be needed that do not unnecessarily disturb or corrupt the quantum information as it flows from one node of the internet to another. In recent years, my group has engineered many quantum-optical tools and techniques that fulfill the requirements for distributing quantum photonic information in a networked environment. In this talk, I will present our motivation, design, construction, characterization, and utilization of some example techniques for near-term networked quantum applications.
