Title: Resolution of 100 photons and quantum generation of unbiased random numbers

Abstract

Macroscopic quantum phenomena, such as observed in superfluids and superconductors, have led to promising technological advancements and some of the most important tests of fundamental physics. At present, quantum detection of light is mostly relegated to the microscale, where avalanche photodiodes are very sensitive to distinguishing single-photon events from vacuum but cannot differentiate between larger photon-number events. Beyond this, the ability to perform measurements to resolve photon numbers is highly desirable for a variety of quantum information applications including computation, sensing, and cryptography. True photon-number resolving detectors do exist, but they are currently limited to the ability to resolve on the order of 10 photons, which is too small for certain proposals. In this work, we extend photon measurement into the mesoscopic regime by implementing a detection scheme based on multiplexing highly quantum-efficient transition-edge sensors to accurately resolve photon numbers between zero and 100. Further, we then demonstrate the use of our system by implementing a quantum random number generator with no inherent bias. This method is based on sampling a coherent state in the photon-number basis and is robust against environmental noise, phase and amplitude fluctuations in the laser, loss and detector inefficiency as well as eavesdropping. Beyond truemore » random number generation, our detection scheme serves as a means to implement quantum measurement and engineering techniques valuable for photonic quantum information processing.« less

Authors:

Eaton, Miller  ^[1];

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Eaton, Miller"
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0001-6374-5032"

Hossameldin, Amr  ^[1];

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Hossameldin, Amr"
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0002-4342-8870"

Birrittella, Richard J. ^[2]; Alsing, Paul M. ^[3]; Gerry, Christopher C.  ^[4];

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Gerry, Christopher C."
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0002-4390-6721"

Dong, Hai ^[5]; Cuevas, Chris ^[5]; Pfister, Olivier ^[1]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (United States)
2. Air Force Research Lab. (AFRL), Rome, NY (United States); National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC (United States)
3. Air Force Research Lab. (AFRL), Rome, NY (United States)
4. City Univ. of New York (CUNY), NY (United States)
5. Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF), Newport News, VA (United States)

Publication Date:

Mon Dec 19 00:00:00 EST 2022

Research Org.:

Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF), Newport News, VA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP); USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; National Science Foundation (NSF)

OSTI Identifier:

1959777

Report Number(s):

JLAB-PHY-22-3747; arXiv:2205.01221; DOE/OR/23177-5637
Journal ID: ISSN 1749-4885; TRN: US2312911

Grant/Contract Number:  

AC05-06OR23177; LDRD21-17; DMR-1839175; PHY-1820882

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Nature Photonics

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 17; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 1749-4885

Publisher:

Nature Publishing Group

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY