Coherent Perfect Absorption Of Single Photons In A Fiber Network.pdf

The article presents a demonstration of coherent perfect absorption (CPA) of single photons in an optical fiber network using a plasmonic metamaterial.

Key Points:

CPA: This phenomenon allows for the complete absorption of a single photon with zero loss, achieving unity absorption probability.

Plasmonic Metamaterial: A thin, subwavelength absorber made of artificial nanostructures that exhibits nonlinear optical properties essential for CPA.

Fiber Network Integration: The metamaterial is integrated into an optical fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer, enabling all-optical processing within a standard telecom infrastructure.

Quantum Control: The researchers demonstrate both coherent perfect transmission and absorption in the quantum regime, controlling the phase shift between the two output ports of the absorber using single photon states.

Postselection Technique: To overcome phase fluctuations inherent to fiber networks, they employ a data postselection procedure that enhances interference visibility comparable to free-space experiments.

Potential Applications:

The study paves the way for:

Quantum Light Manipulation: Controlling and manipulating quantum states of light (entangled states, weak coherent states, NOON states) within fiber networks.

Dissipative Quantum Information Processing: Using CPA for single-photon switching, filtering, and measurement in optical fibers.

Integration with Telecom Systems: Bringing the capabilities of quantum optics to existing telecom infrastructures.