LTAT.00.015 (6 ECTS)
QIP Light — Quantum Information Processing with Photons
In this course, students will learn the basics of discrete (single-photon) and continuous (coherent-state) variable quantum information processing. It covers enough of the physics of "quantum light" (modes and bosonic (commutator) algebra, coherent states, linear optics, squeezed states, homodyne & heterodyne measurement, single photons, photon detection & counting, entangled photons) to convey a thorough mathematical understanding of its use in transmitting and processing quantum information, i.e., quantum computing/communication based on both single photons and continuous variables.
While the physics is straightforward, the organization of the information-processing related content is still ongoing. Here are some keywords that deserve to be covered in depth.
- Continuous variable quantum computing
- Continuous variable quantum key distribution [without security proofs ...]
- Decoy-BB88 quantum key distribution [... just the physical realization]
- Single-photon quantum computing (measurement-based, gate-based)
- Entanglement swapping
- Entanglement distillation
- Cat state based qubits and quick intro to Amazon's (also Alice & Bob's) proposal for a quantum computer (based on cat states of phonons (Wikipedia))
We will qip it light, i.e., we will not cover the interaction of light with matter (in the sense of trapped ions, Rydberg atoms, NV-centers, ...). Maybe next year 🙂.
Requirements
- MTAT.07.024 (QKD, mixed states)
Course Organization
In theory courses (generally speaking) there should be on-paper exercises for students to solve. Difficulties encountered with the reading material as well as the solutions to the exercises are discussed in meetings with other students and the instructor.
For this course, textbooks are outdated while original research is too difficult or spread over dozens of papers. Hence, the reading material for this course will be created by the instructor from scratch, in parallel to the course.
There will an entry exam to check the background in math & quantum mechanics.
Instructor: