Connections to quantum computing
One currently active field of research is the use of linear optics versus the use of nonlinear optics in quantum computing. For example, one model of linear optical quantum computing, the KLM model, is universal for quantum computing, and another model, the boson sampling-based model, is believed to be non-universal (for quantum computing) yet still seems to be able to solve some problems exponentially faster than a classical computer.
The specific nonlinear transformation 
, (called "a gate" when using computer science terminology) presented above, plays an important role in optical quantum computing: on the one hand, it is useful for deriving a universal set of gates, and on the other hand, with (only) linear-optical devices and post-selection of specific outcomes plus a feed-forward process, it can be applied with high success probability, and be used for obtaining universal linear-optical quantum computing, as done in the KLM model.
In computational complexity theory, bounded-error quantum polynomial time (BQP) is the class of decision problems solvable by a quantum computer in polynomial time, with an error probability of at most 1/3 for all instances. It is the quantum analogue to the complexity class BPP.
Nonlinear optics (NLO) is the branch of optics that describes the behaviour of light in nonlinear media, that is, media in which the polarization density P responds non-linearly to the electric field E of the light. The non-linearity is typically observed only at very high light intensities (values of atomic electric fields, typically 108 V/m) such as those provided by lasers. Above the Schwinger limit, the vacuum itself is expected to become nonlinear. In nonlinear optics, the superposition principle no longer holds.
In physics, specifically in quantum mechanics, a coherent state is the specific quantum state of the quantum harmonic oscillator, often described as a state which has dynamics most closely resembling the oscillatory behavior of a classical harmonic oscillator. It was the first example of quantum dynamics when Erwin Schrödinger derived it in 1926, while searching for solutions of the Schrödinger equation that satisfy the correspondence principle. The quantum harmonic oscillator arise in the quantum theory of a wide range of physical systems. For instance, a coherent state describes the oscillating motion of a particle confined in a quadratic potential well. The coherent state describes a state in a system for which the ground-state wavepacket is displaced from the origin of the system. This state can be related to classical solutions by a particle oscillating with an amplitude equivalent to the displacement.
A beam splitter is an optical device that splits a beam of light in two. It is a crucial part of many optical experimental and measurement systems, such as interferometers, also finding widespread application in fibre optic telecommunications.
In physics, a squeezed coherent state is a quantum state that is usually described by two non-commuting observables having continuous spectra of eigenvalues. Examples are position and momentum of a particle, and the (dimension-less) electric field in the amplitude and in the mode of a light wave. The product of the standard deviations of two such operators obeys the uncertainty principle:
The superposition principle, also known as superposition property, states that, for all linear systems, the net response caused by two or more stimuli is the sum of the responses that would have been caused by each stimulus individually. So that if input A produces response X and input B produces response Y then input produces response.
Photon polarization is the quantum mechanical description of the classical polarized sinusoidal plane electromagnetic wave. An individual photon can be described as having right or left circular polarization, or a superposition of the two. Equivalently, a photon can be described as having horizontal or vertical linear polarization, or a superposition of the two.
In physics, a quantum amplifier is an amplifier that uses quantum mechanical methods to amplify a signal; examples include the active elements of lasers and optical amplifiers.
Cavity quantum electrodynamics is the study of the interaction between light confined in a reflective cavity and atoms or other particles, under conditions where the quantum nature of light photons is significant. It could in principle be used to construct a quantum computer.
The Hong–Ou–Mandel effect is a two-photon interference effect in quantum optics that was demonstrated in 1987 by three physicists from the University of Rochester: Chung Ki Hong (홍정기), Zheyu Ou (区泽宇), and Leonard Mandel. The effect occurs when two identical single-photon waves enter a 1:1 beam splitter, one in each input port. When the temporal overlap of the photons on the beam splitter is perfect, the two photons will always exit the beam splitter together in the same output mode, meaning that there is zero chance that they will exit separately with one photon in each of the two outputs giving a coincidence event. The photons have a 50:50 chance of exiting (together) in either output mode. If they become more distinguishable, the probability of them each going to a different detector will increase. In this way, the interferometer coincidence signal can accurately measure bandwidth, path lengths, and timing. Since this effect relies on the existence of photons and the second quantization it can not be fully explained by classical optics.
In physics, the no-deleting theorem of quantum information theory is a no-go theorem which states that, in general, given two copies of some arbitrary quantum state, it is impossible to delete one of the copies. It is a time-reversed dual to the no-cloning theorem, which states that arbitrary states cannot be copied. This theorem seems remarkable, because, in many senses, quantum states are fragile; the theorem asserts that, in a particular case, they are also robust. Physicist Arun K. Pati along with Samuel L. Braunstein proved this theorem.
In quantum optics, an optical phase space is a phase space in which all quantum states of an optical system are described. Each point in the optical phase space corresponds to a unique state of an optical system. For any such system, a plot of the quadratures against each other, possibly as functions of time, is called a phase diagram. If the quadratures are functions of time then the optical phase diagram can show the evolution of a quantum optical system with time.
A parametric process is an optical process in which light interacts with matter in such a way as to leave the quantum state of the material unchanged. As a direct consequence of this there can be no net transfer of energy, momentum, or angular momentum between the optical field and the physical system. In contrast a non-parametric process is a process in which any part of the quantum state of the system changes.
In quantum mechanics, the cat state, named after Schrödinger's cat, is a quantum state composed of two diametrically opposed conditions at the same time, such as the possibilities that a cat be alive and dead at the same time.
Linear Optical Quantum Computing or Linear Optics Quantum Computation (LOQC) is a paradigm of quantum computation, allowing universal quantum computation. LOQC uses photons as information carriers, mainly uses linear optical elements, or optical instruments to process quantum information, and uses photon detectors and quantum memories to detect and store quantum information.
The Dolinar Receiver is a device based upon the Kennedy receiver that may be used to discriminate between two or more low-amplitude coherent states of light using displacements and adaptive measurements. The ability to discriminate signals encoded in coherent light has applications in communications where losses are unavoidable, such as transmission along fiber optics cable, through the atmosphere, or across deep space.
Boson sampling constitutes a restricted model of non-universal quantum computation introduced by S. Aaronson and A. Arkhipov after the original work of L. Troyansky and N. Tishby, that explored possible usage of boson scattering to evaluate expectation values of permanents of matrices. The model consists of sampling from the probability distribution of identical bosons scattered by a linear interferometer. Although the problem is well defined for any bosonic particles, its photonic version is currently considered as the most promising platform for a scalable implementation of a boson sampling device, which makes it a non-universal approach to linear optical quantum computing. Moreover, while not universal, the boson sampling scheme is strongly believed to implement computing tasks which are hard to implement with classical computers by using far fewer physical resources than a full linear-optical quantum computing setup. This makes it an ideal candidate for demonstrating the power of quantum computation in the near term.
The KLM scheme or KLM protocol is an implementation of linear optical quantum computing (LOQC), developed in 2000 by Emanuel Knill, Raymond Laflamme and Gerard J. Milburn. This protocol makes it possible to create universal quantum computers solely with linear optical tools. The KLM protocol uses linear optical elements, single-photon sources and photon detectors as resources to construct a quantum computation scheme involving only ancilla resources, quantum teleportations and error corrections.
Optical cluster states are a proposed tool to achieve quantum computational universality in linear optical quantum computing (LOQC). As direct entangling operations with photons often require nonlinear effects, probabilistic generation of entangled resource states has been proposed as an alternative path to the direct approach.
SU(1,1) interferometry is a technique that uses parametric amplification for splitting and mixing of electromagnetic waves for precise estimation of phase change and achieves the Heisenberg limit of sensitivity with fewer optical elements than conventional interferometric techniques.
