New paper on a fully programmable photonic waveguide array published in Nature Communications

Congratulations to Yang and our collaborators! 

 

This work represents the first demonstration of precise control over independent Hamiltonian terms to realize quantum state evolutions in a large-scale reconfigurable photonic waveguide array. A series of experiments that implement different physical dynamics have been performed, equivalent to more than 2500 static devices. 

This breakthrough is significant because it enables the study of multiple condensed matter quantum dynamics with a single device. Compared to other state-of-the-art technologies, our platform with electro-optic control offers several advantages, including overcoming cross-talk limitations of thermo-optic control, providing a more effective coupling region, and requiring less bending area. This platform also enables ultra-fast and more precise control with lower power consumption. 

Furthermore, this new structure has a wide range of potential applications, such as simulating higher dimensional systems and processing quantum information. Variants of this new technology can be anticipated to replace the need to fabricate thousands of static devices, allowing for high-level control of the independent parameters. 

Fig. 1

Link to the article  

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-44185-z