Implementing BosonSampling with time-bin encoding: Analysis of loss, mode mismatch, and time jitter

Publication Type:
Journal Article
Citation:
Physical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics, 2015, 92 (5)
Issue Date:
2015-11-17
Full metadata record
©2015 American Physical Society. It was recently shown by Motes, Gilchrist, Dowling, and Rohde [Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 120501 (2014)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.113.120501] that a time-bin encoded fiber-loop architecture can implement an arbitrary passive linear optics transformation. This was shown in the case of an ideal scheme whereby the architecture has no sources of error. In any realistic implementation, however, physical errors are present, which corrupt the output of the transformation. We investigate the dominant sources of error in this architecture - loss and mode mismatch - and consider how it affects the BosonSampling protocol, a key application for passive linear optics. For our loss analysis we consider two major components that contribute to loss - fiber and switches - and calculate how this affects the success probability and fidelity of the device. Interestingly, we find that errors due to loss are not uniform (unique to time-bin encoding), which asymmetrically biases the implemented unitary. Thus loss necessarily limits the class of unitaries that may be implemented, and therefore future implementations must prioritize minimizing loss rates if arbitrary unitaries are to be implemented. Our formalism for mode mismatch is generalized to account for various phenomenon that may cause mode mismatch, but we focus on two - errors in fiber-loop lengths and time jitter of the photon source. These results provide a guideline for how well future experimental implementations might perform in light of these error mechanisms.
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