Robust, scalable Hong-Ou-Mandel manifolds in quantum optical ring resonators

Abstract

Quantum Information Processing, from cryptography to computation, based upon linear quantum optical circuit elements relies heavily on the ability offered by the Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) Effect to route photons from separate input modes into one of two common output modes. Specifically, the HOM Effect accomplishes the path entanglement of two photons at a time such that no coincidences are observed in the output modes of a system exhibiting the effect. In this paper, we prove in principle that a significant increase in the robustness of the HOM Effect can be accomplished in a scalable, readily manufactured nanophotonic system comprised of two waveguides coupled, on chip, to a ring resonator. We show that by operating such a device properly, one can conditionally bunch coincident input photons in a way that is far more robust and controllable than possible with an ordinary balanced beam splitter.