2022/09/17 by Alessandro Laneve, Michele B. Rota, Laneve, Alessandro +25 · 1 citation
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) #Optics (physics.optics) #Quantum Computing Algorithms and Architecture #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #Quantum optics and atomic interactions #cond-mat.mes-hall #physics.optics #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2209.08324
arxiv created 2022/09/17 · openalex publication_date 2022/09/17 · arxiv updated 2022/09/20 · openalex created_date 2022/09/21 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The quest for the realization of effective quantum state discrimination strategies is of great interest for quantum information technology, as well as for fundamental studies. Therefore, it is crucial to develop new and more efficient methods to implement discrimination protocols for quantum states. Among the others, single photon implementations are more advisable, because of their inherent security advantage in quantum communication scenarios. In this work, we present the experimental realization of a protocol employing a time-multiplexing strategy to optimally discriminate among eight non-orthogonal states, encoded in the four-dimensional Hilbert space spanning both the polarization degree of freedom and photon energy. The experiment, built on a custom-designed bulk optics analyser setup and single photons generated by a nearly deterministic solid-state source, represents a benchmarking example of minimum error discrimination with actual quantum states, requiring only linear optics and two photodetectors to be realized. Our work paves the way for more complex applications and delivers a novel approach towards high-dimensional quantum encoding and decoding operations.