Ultrafast Quantum Photonics: Beating Decoherence with Light

Ultrafast optical pulses - femtoseconds to picoseconds in duration - are gaining interest for quantum processing due to their potential to encode information in brief time-bins, especially in scenarios with rapid decoherence.

The development of two essential components for optical quantum technologies are discussed: an optical Kerr effect switch in single-mode fibres and a fibre cavity photon memory. The switch controls single photon routing without adding noise, while the memory addresses a key scaling challenge by temporarily storing quantum states without loss of coherence, enabling quantum process synchronization.

We then explore the application of these components in photonic quantum processing and quantum sensing, including random walks and more general processing, as well as quantum enhanced ranging and approaches to imaging and spectroscopy using correlated photons.

Speaker: Benjamin Sussman, Adjunct Professor, Univeristy of Ottowa