Ce travail porte sur le développement d'outils pour l'ingénierie quantique d'états non-classiques de la lumière. Trois axes différents sont étudiés qui, combinés ensembles, permettent d'obtenir un protocole efficace et polyvalent pour la génération d'états quantiques Ces états sont générés en tirant profit des avantages distincts des deux descriptions possibles de la lumière grâce à l'utilisation conjointe des variables discrètes et continues.Le premier axe repose sur la réalisation de superpositions arbitraires d’états de Fock à zéro et deux photons à partir de deux états à un photon indiscernables. Cette expérience permet, entre autre, de créer des superpositions d'états cohérents appelés états chats de Schrödinger optiques. Afin d'augmenter l'amplitude des états produits, une itération du procédé est possible.Pour pouvoir rendre possible cette itération, nous augmentons dans un premier temps le taux de production de notre ressource de base: le photon unique. Pour cela, nous installons deux cavités optiques synchrones qui permettent d'accroître la puissance crête des impulsions du laser, exaltant ainsi les effets non-linéaires à l'origine de la production des photons.Le dernier axe, consiste à réduire les problèmes liés à la création probabiliste des photons. Pour cela, une mémoire quantique a été implémentée, permettant de stocker puis d'extraire un photon sur demande. Le stockage d’états contenant un et deux photons a été réalisé. Ce dispositif permettra à terme, en synchronisant l'état stocké avec l'arrivée d'un autre photon, de créer des états chats à l'intérieur même de la cavité. / This work is focused on the development of tools for quantum state engineering of non-classical state of light. Three different directions are studied, which when combined, lead to efficient and versatile protocols towards the generation of quantum states. Those states are produced by taking advantage of both descriptions of the light: the discrete and continuous variables of the light.The first direction consists in the réalisation of arbitrary superpositions of zero and two-photon Fock states with two indistinguishable single-photon states. This protocol permits, among others, to create superpositions of coherent states called Schrödinger cat states. An iteration of the protocol could allow the growth of the amplitude of the state.To realize such iteration, we increase the production rate of our basic resource, namely, the single photon.To do so, we implement two synchronous cavities allowing the increase of the peak power of the laser pulses, which ultimately enhanced the non-linear effect at the origin of the photon creation.The last direction aims to solve the problems related to the probabilistic nature of the photon creation. In order to store and extract the single photons on demand, a quantum memory is implemented. The storage of single and two-photon states has been experimentally realized. This setup could allow in the near future, by synchronizing the state stored in the cavity with the income of another photon, to create a cat state inside the cavity itself.

Les évolutions récentes de la cryptographie quantique ont permis de proposer sur le marché des appareils de distribution quantique de clé secrète (QKD). Ceci est obtenu en utilisant soit des variables discrètes et des compteurs de photons (DV), soit des variables continues et des systèmes de détection cohérente (CV). Les avancées technologiques s'orientent maintenant vers la réalisation de dispositifs plus petits, moins chers, et plus commodes à utiliser.L'objectif de cette thèse est de mettre en oeuvre un protocole CV-QKD sur un circuit optique intégré en silicium, en utilisant une modulation Gaussienne d'états cohérents. Deux approches sont utilisées: dans la première l'émetteur Alice et le récepteur Bob sont sur le même circuit photonique (chip) pour une validation de principe, et dans la deuxième ils sont séparés.Les valeurs mesurées des paramètres de la communication permettent d'échanger une clé secrète. / During recent years there have been significant developments in quantum cryptography, bringing quantum key distribution (QKD) devices on the market. This can be done by using either discrete variables (DV) and photon counting, or continuous variables (CV) and coherent detection. Current technological evolutions are now aiming at developing smaller, cheaper and more user-friendly devices.This work focuses on the implementation of CV-QKD using silicon photonics techniques, which provide a high degree of integration. This is exploited to build an on-chip realization of a cryptographic protocol, using Gaussian modulation of coherent states. Two different approaches have been used, first by physically implementing the sender (Alice) and the receiver (Bob) on the same chip for validation purposes, and then by having them onto two separate chips. The measured communication parameters give the possibility to extract a secret key

[pt] Detectores de fótons únicos baseados em fotodiodos de avalanche (SPADs) são essenciais em aplicações que requerem alta resolução, como comunicações quânticas e metrologia quântica. O efeito da largura de janela de detecção temporal de fótons é pouco explorado, e não há estudos para a faixa de comprimentos de onda de interesse em telecomunicações em torno de: 1550 nm. Neste trabalho, apresenta-se uma proposta para análise de impacto da largura de janela de detecção de um SPAD de InGaAs/InP, realizando uma análise da estatística entre detecções consecutivas e da probabilidade de detecção de 0 ou 1 evento em função da atenuação óptica. Variou-se o número médio de fótons por janela medido pelo SPAD, e os resultados foram avaliados para os valores de 4 ns, 8 ns, 12 ns, 16 ns e 20 ns de largura de janela de detecção, sendo estimada a Incerteza de Medição Expandida para cada ensaio. Os resultados obtidos indicam uma faixa adequada de potência óptica para calibração de um SPAD com eficiência de detecção de 15 porcento e um tempo morto de 1 microssegundo, no intervalo de 10 nW a 0,15 nW. Nesta faixa de potência, os respectivos produtos associados ao efetivo número médio de fótons por janela de detecção correspondem aos valores de 190 x 10-(4) a 0,32 x 10(-4) (para 4 ns) e 140 x 10(-4) a 2,9 x 10(-4) (para 8 ns). Foram obtidos comportamentos lineares para os ajustes das curvas de calibração para larguras de janela de 4 ns e 8 ns. / [en] Single photon detectors based on avalanche photodiodes (SPADs) are essential in applications that require high resolution, such as quantum communications and quantum metrology. The effect of the width of photon detection gate is little explored, and there are no studies for the wavelength range of interest in telecommunications around 1550 nm. In this work, a proposal is presented for analyzing the impact of the detection gate width of an InGaAs/InP SPAD, performing a statistical analysis of consecutive detections and the probability detection of 0 or 1 events depending on the optical attenuation. The average number of photons per gate measured by the SPAD was varied, and the results were evaluated for the values of 4 ns, 8 ns, 12 ns, 16 ns and 20 ns of detection gate widths, and Expanded Measurement Uncertainty was estimated for each test. The results obtained indicate an adequate optical power range for calibrating a SPAD with a detection efficiency of 15 percent and dead – time of 1 microssecond, in the range of 10 nW to 0,15 nW. In this power range, the respective products, which are associated with an effective average number of photons per gate window, correspond to the values of 190 x 10(-4) to 0,32 x 10(-4) (for 4 ns) e 140 x 10(-4) to 2,9 x 10(-4) (for 8 ns). Linear behaviors were obtained for the adjustment of the calibration curves for gate widths of 4 ns and 8 ns.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / In the first part of this thesis, we investigate the propagation of quantum fluctuations in a nonlinear interferometer comprising under conditions of harmonic generation by computer simulations. This investigation assumes idealized conditions such as lossless and uniform nonlinear media, an ideal cavity and ideal photodetectors. After linearizing wave equations for harmonic generation with a coherent state input, we obtain equations for one dimensional spatial propagation of the mean field and quantum fluctuations for initial conditions set by arbitrary interferometer phase. We discover that fluctuations are de-squeezed in the X and Y quadratures as the interferometer phase is tuned. However, we discover that there is are quadratures P-Q obtained by rotating the X-Y quadratures for which squeezing is improved by factors of 10^9. We present a practical idea to implement rotation of X quadrature fluctuations to the Q quadrature by using an ideal empty optical cavity. Signal-to-Noise ratio of the nonlinear interferometer was calculated and compared with that of a linear interferometer with coherent state input. We calculated a maximum performance improvement of a factor of 60 for a normalized propagation length ζ0 = 3 under ideal conditions. In the second part of this thesis, we investigate experimentalarrangements to transfer atomic coherence from light to cesium atoms. We discuss the experimental arrangement to generate coherence under conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We measure a continuous wave EIT width of 7.18 MHz and present results for pulsed arrangements.

<div>Field-orthogonal temporal mode analysis of optical fields was recently developed to form a new framework of quantum information science. But so far, the exact profiles of the temporal modes are not known, which makes it difficult to achieve mode selection and de-multiplexing. A novel feedback-iteration method which, combined with the stimulated emission method, can give rise to the exact forms of the temporal mode structure of pulse-pumped spontaneous parametric processes both for high gain parametric process, which gives rise to quantum entanglement in continuous variables, and for the low gain case, which produces a two-photon entangled state for discrete variables.</div><div><br></div><div>For the temporal mode analysis in high gain situations, the common treatment of parametric interaction Hamiltonian does not consider the issue of time ordering problem of interaction Hamiltonian and thus leads to the inaccurate conclusion that the mode structure and the temporal mode functions do not change as the gain increases. We use an approach that is usually employed for treating nonlinear interferometers and avoids the time ordering issue. This allows us to derive an evolution equation in differential-integral form. Numerical solutions for high gain situations indicate a gain-dependent mode structure that has its mode distributions changed and mode functions broadened as the gain increases. This will enable us to have a complete picture of the mode structure of parametric processes and produce high quality quantum sources for a variety of applications of quantum technology.</div><div><br></div><div>To verify the feedback-iteration method which measures temporal mode structure directly, we measure the joint spectral density of photon pairs produced with the spontaneous parametric down-conversion process of a pulse-pumped PPKTP crystal. The measurement method is based on a stimulated emission process which significantly improves the measurement time and accuracy compared with old spectrally resolved photon coincidence measurement. With the measured joint spectral density, the amplitude of the temporal modes can be obtained with the mathematical tool of singular value decomposition and compared with those measured directly with the feedback-iteration method.</div><div><br></div><div>Because the parametric amplifier is in essence a linear four-port device, it couples and linearly mixes two inputs before amplifying and sending them to two output ports. We show that for quadrature phase amplitudes, a parametric amplifier can replace beam splitters to play the role of mixer. We apply this idea to a continuous-variable quantum state teleportation scheme in which a parametric amplifier replaces a beam splitter in the Bell measurement. We show that this scheme is loss-tolerant in the Bell measurement process and thus demonstrate the advantage of parametric amplifiers over beam splitter in the applications in quantum measurement.</div>

Integrated quantum photonic circuits have gained increasing interest in the field of quantum information, due to their compactness, the intrinsic stability and the potential scalability. Photons are the promising candidate for quantum information processing. Among all the optical platforms, femtosecond-laser waveguide writing technique has shown the extraordinary versatility in producing different components of a complete quantum system. In the last decade, femtosecond-laser writing has greatly expanded its applications in quantum technology. The aim of this thesis is to study and optimize the fundamental optical devices for integrated quantum circuits using femtosecond-laser waveguide writing technique. We investigate relevant theory of optical waveguides, the methods to fabricate and characterize laser-written waveguides in glass. In this work, we demonstrate the femtosecond-laser writing of integrated devices including Mach-Zehnder interferometer and path-encoded CNOT quantum gate. These devices can further serve as building blocks to produce complete integrated quantum system. / Integrerade kvantfotoniska kretsar har fått ett ökande intresse inom området kvantinformation, på grund av deras kompakthet, den inneboende stabiliteten och den potentiella skalbarheten. Fotoner är den lovande kandidaten för bearbetning av kvantinformation. Bland alla optiska plattformar har femtosekund-laservågledarskrivteknik visat den extraordinära mångsidigheten i att producera olika komponenter i ett komplett kvantsystem. Under det senaste decenniet har femtosekundlaserskrivning kraftigt utökat sina tillämpningar inom kvantteknologi. Syftet med denna avhandling är att studera och optimera de grundläggande optiska enheterna för integrerade kvantkretsar med hjälp av femtosekund-laservågledarskrivteknik. Vi undersöker relevant teori om optiska vågledare, metoderna för att tillverka och karakterisera laserskrivna vågledare i glas. I detta arbete demonstrerar vi femtosekundlaserskrivning av integrerade enheter inklusive Mach-Zehnder-interferometer och vägkodad CNOT-kvantgrind. Dessa enheter kan vidare fungera som byggstenar för att producera kompletta integrerade kvantsystem.

In dieser Arbeit wird das Design und die Präparation von nicht-klassischen Zuständen von Licht in verschiedenen Szenarien untersucht. Zunächst wird die theoretische Beschreibung eines Interferometers entwickelt, welches für die Messung der Teilchenaustauschphase von Photonen entworfen wurde. Die Analyse der experimentellen Daten offenbart den bosonischen Charakter von Photonen, sowie die geometrische Phase, welche mit dem physischen Austausch zweier Quantenzustände assoziiert ist. Nach dieser Feststellung der Austauschsymmetrie von Zweiphotonenzuständen folgt die Ausarbeitung der Theorie über die Propagation von Mehrphotonenzuständen in Multiportsystemen. Dabei offenbaren sich hoch-dimensionale, synthetische, gekoppelte Strukturen die sich aus der Mehrphotonenanregung von diskreten Systemen ergeben. Basierend auf diesen Resultaten wird eine konkrete Anwendung der Theorie im Kontext von nicht-hermitischen Systemen formuliert. Dabei ergeben sich sogenannte “exceptional points” höherer Ordnung, welche Anwendungen im Bereich der Sensorik finden und ferner nur im Raum der Photonenanzahlzustände von diskreten Systemen realisiert werden können. Neben der Sensorik ist der Transport von Lichtzuständen ein wichtiger Aspekt in der Verarbeitung von Quanteninformationen. In dieser Hinsicht werden hier Photonische Topologische Isolatoren untersucht, welche eine rückstreuungsfreie Propagation entlang ihrer Ränder erlauben. Es wird gezeigt, dass partiell kohärentes Licht, Gaussisch und Nicht-Gaussisch verschränkte Zweiphotonenzustände einen solchen topologischen Schutz genießen können. Dies gilt unter der Vorraussetzung, dass die Anfangsanregung in einem wohldefinierten Bereich des topologischen Schutzes liegt, wodurch das “klassische” Bandlücken-kriterium erweitert und gestärkt wird. / In this work we study the design and preparation of non-classical states of light in several scenarios. We begin by developing the theoretical description of an interferometer, which is designed to measure the particle exchange phase of photons. The analysis of the experimental data reveals the bosonic nature of photons, as well as the geometric phase associated with the physical exchange of the quantum states of two photons. Having established the exchange symmetry of two-photon states, we proceed to develop the theory of multi-photon states propagating in multi-port systems. We unveil the high- dimensional synthetic coupled structures that arise via the multi-photon excitation of discrete systems. Using these results, we formulate an application of the theory in the context of non-hermitian systems. We find so-called high-order exceptional points, which find applications in sensing and can only be achieved in the photon-number space of discrete systems. Apart from sensing, an important ingredient for the processing of quantum information is the transport of light states. In this regard, we consider photonic topological insulators, which allow the back-scattering-free propagation along their edges. We show that partially coherent light, Gaussian- as well as non-Gaussian two-photon entangled states can enjoy such a topological protection, provided that the initial excitations fit inside a well defined topological window of protection, which strengthens the “classical” band-gap protection criterion.

In dieser Arbeit werden einzelne atomare Defekte in hexagonalem Bornitrid (hBN) charakterisiert und mögliche Anwendungen aufgezeigt, welche die gefundenen herausragenden optischen Eigenschaften ausnutzen. Solche optisch aktiven Punktdefekte in Halbleitern bergen das Versprechen von skalierbaren und stabilen Einzelphotonenquellen, welche für eine Vielzahl von zukünftigen Anwendungen im Bereich der Quanteninformationstechnologie oder für Präzisionsmessungen benötigt werden. Dementsprechend groß ist das Interesse der Wissenschaftsgemeinde, was sich auch in der Anzahl der untersuchten Defektsysteme widerspiegelt. Das Besondere an dem hier vorliegenden System ist zum einen die Zweidimensonalität des Halbleiter-Wirtskristalls und zum anderen die enorme Helligkeit des Emitters, welche sich in bis zu sechs Millionen mit einem Mikroskop detektierten Photonen pro Sekunde niederschlägt. Darüber hinaus motivieren die Stabilität des Emitters bei Raumtemperatur und die schmale spektrale Linienbreite eine tiefgreifende Analyse dieses Neuzugangs zum Emitterzoo. / In this thesis, single atomic defects in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) are characterized and possible applications are shown, which take advantage of the outstanding optical properties found. Such optically active point defects in semiconductors hold the promise of scalable and stable single-photon sources, which are needed for a variety of future applications in quantum information technology or for precision measurements. The interest of the scientific community is correspondingly high, which is also reflected in the number of defect systems investigated. The special feature of the system presented here is on the one hand the two-dimensionality of the semiconductor host crystal and on the other hand the enormous brightness of the emitter, which is reflected in up to six million photons per second detected with a microscope. In addition, the stability of the emitter at room temperature and the narrow spectral width motivate a profound analysis of this new addition to the emitter zoo.

Wir untersuchen die Dynamik von offenen Quantensystemen sowohl im Gleichgewicht als auch im Nichtgleichgewicht. Unser Fokus liegt dabei auf der quantenoptischen Dispersionswechselwirkung zwischen einem mikroskopischen Teilchen und einer komplexen elektromagnetischen Umgebung. Wir sind der Meinung, dass Langzeitkorrelationen in dem System essenziell zum Verständnis der Dynamik des Teilchens beitragen können. Unter Langzeitkorrelationen verstehen wir die Beiträge zur Autokorrelationsfunktion von Quantenoperatoren, die als ein inverses Potenzgesetz in der Verzögerungszeit skalieren. Das Einbeziehen von Langzeitkorrelationen in unser theoretisches Modell sichert die Selbstkonsistenz unserer Beschreibung und ermöglicht es uns, die Rückkopplung der Umgebung auf das Teilchen vollständig zu berücksichtigen. Darüber hinaus erlaubt es uns die Vorhersage von bisher übersehenen Effekten und Mechanismen, die das Verhalten von Dispersionskräften im Gleichgewicht und Nichtgleichgewicht bestimmen. Unsere Beispiele reichen von der Wechselwirkungsentropie des magnetischen Casimir-Polder-Effekts, über den Einfluss von Materialeigenschaften und geometrischen Überlegungen auf experimentelle Aufbauten, bis hin zur Thermodynamik von Quantenreibung. Wir geben den Leser_innen außerdem eine Orientierungshilfe, wann und wie Langzeitkorrelationen in theoretische Modellbildungen einbezogen werden müssten und welche Auswirkungen im Zusammenhang mit quantenoptischen Dispersionskräften zu erwarten sind. / We explore the dynamics of open quantum systems in both equilibrium and nonequilibrium situations. Our focus lies on the quantum-optical dispersion interaction between a microscopic particle and a complex electromagnetic environment. We argue that long-time correlations in the system can be essential for understanding the dynamics of the particle. We define long-time correlations as those contributions to the autocorrelation function of quantum operators which scale as an inverse power law in the time delay. Incorporating long-time correlations into our theoretical model safeguards the self-consistency of our description and allows us to consider the full back-action of the environment on the particle. Moreover, it leads us to the prediction of previously overlooked effects and mechanisms determining dispersion forces in equilibrium and nonequilibrium. Our examples range from the interaction entropy of the magnetic Casimir-Polder effect, over the impact of material properties and geometric considerations for experimental setups, all the way down to the thermodynamics of quantum friction. We further provide the reader with a guideline when and how to include long-time correlations into theoretical models and what effects can be expected to emerge in the context of quantum-optical dispersion forces.

<p>  </p> <p>Low-dimensional materials (LDMs) are substances that have at least one dimension with thicknesses in the nanometer (nm) scale. They have attracted tremendous research interests in many fields due to their unique properties that are absent in bulk materials. For instance, in quantum optics/photonics, LDMs offer unique advantages for effective light extraction and coupling with photonic/plasmonic structures; in chemistry, the large surface-to-volume ratio of LDMs enables more efficient chemical processes that are useful for numerous applications. In this thesis, several types of LDMs are studied and engineered with the goal to improve their impact in plasmonic and quantum photonic applications. Two-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is receiving increasing attention in quantum optics/photonics as it hosts various types of quantum emitters that are promising for quantum computing, quantum sensing, etc. In the first study, we explore and demonstrate a radiation- and lithography-free route to deterministically create single-photon emitters (SPEs) in hBN by nanoindentation with an atomic force microscopy. The method applies to hBN on flat, chip-compatible silicon-based substrates, and an SPE yield of up to 36% is achieved. This marks an important step toward the deterministic creation and integration of hBN SPEs with photonic and plasmonic devices. In the second study, the recently discovered negatively charged boron vacancy (V_B^-) spin defect in hBN is investigated. V_B^- defects are optically active with spin properties suitable for sensing at extreme scales. To resolve the low brightness issue of V_B^- defects, we couple them with an optimized nano-patch antenna structure and observe emission intensity enhancement that is nearly an order of magnitude higher than previous reports. Our achievements pave the way for the practical integration of V_B^- defects for quantum sensing. Zero-dimensional nanodiamond is another important host material for solid-state SPEs. Specifically, the negatively charged silicon vacancy (SiV) center in nanodiamonds exhibits optical properties that are suitable for quantum information technologies. In the third study, we, for the first time, demonstrate the creation of single SiV centers in nanodiamonds with an average size of ~20 nm using ion implantation. Stable single-photon emission is confirmed at room temperature, with zero-phonon line (ZPL) wavelengths in the range of 730 – 803 nm. This confirms the feasibility of single-photon emitter creation in nanodiamonds with ion implantation, and offers new opportunities to integrate diamond color centers for hybrid quantum photonic systems. Finally, we have also explored using metal-semiconductor hybrid nanoparticles for plasmon-enhanced photocatalysis. A core-shell nanoparticle structure is synthesized, with titanium nitride (TiN) and titanium dioxide (TiO₂) being the core and shell material respectively. It is observed that such core-shell nanoparticles effectively catalyze the generation of single oxygen molecules under 700-nm laser excitation. The main mechanism behind is the hot electron injection from the TiN core to the TiO₂ shell. Considering the chemical inertness and low cost of TiN, TiN@TiO₂ NPs hold great potential as plasmonic photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy and other photocatalytic applications at red-to-near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths.</p>