Quantum information was born from the merging of classical information and quantum physics. Its main objective consists of understanding the quantum nature of information and learning how to process it by using physical systems which operate by following quantum mechanics laws. Quantum simulation is a fundamental instrument to investigate phenomena of quantum systems dynamics, such as quantum transport, particle localizations and energy transfer, quantum-to-classical transition, and even quantum improved computation, all tasks that are hard to simulate with classical approaches. Within this framework integrated photonic circuits have a strong potential to realize quantum information processing by optical systems.
We employ integrated quantum devices implemented via the femtosecond laser-writing technique to perform optical simulations of different quantum phenomena. For instance, disorder effects in quantum walks can lead to localization effects, where entanglement in the polarization degree of freedom have been exploited to mimic bosonic and fermionic behaviors in the two-particle regime. Integrated platform have also enabled the quantum simulation of transport phenomena in a quantum maze, as well the simulation and the verification of entanglement growth in a spin chain after a quench. Furthermore, integrated circuits have enabled the experimental investigation of quantum decay and Fano resonance in photonic lattices. These investigations show that this approach represents a flexible platform to perform optical simulation of different physical systems.
A. Crespi, F. V. Pepe, P. Facchi, F. Sciarrino, P. Mataloni, H.i Nakazato, S. Pascazio, and R. Osellame Experimental Investigation of Quantum Decay at Short, Intermediate, and Long Times via Integrated Photonics, Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 130401 (2019)
I. Pitsios, L. Banchi, A. S. Rab, M. Bentivegna, D. Caprara, A. Crespi, N. Spagnolo, S. Bose, P. Mataloni, R. Osellame, F. Sciarrino, Photonic Simulation of Entanglement Growth After a Spin Chain Quench. Nature Communications 8, 1569 (2017)
F. Caruso, A. Crespi, A. G. Ciriolo, F. Sciarrino, R. Osellame, Fast escape of a quantum walker from an integrated photonic maze, Nature Communications 7, 11682 (2016)
A. Crespi, L. Sansoni, G. Della Valle, A. Ciamei, R. Ramponi, F. Sciarrino, P. Mataloni, S. Longhi, R. Osellame, Particle Statistics Affects Quantum Decay and Fano Interference, Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 090201 (2015)
A. Crespi, R. Osellame, R. Ramponi, V. Giovannetti, R. Fazio, L. Sansoni, F. De Nicola, F. Sciarrino, P. Mataloni, Anderson localization of entangled photons in an integrated quantum walk, Nature Photonics 7, 322–328 (2013)