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 by operating a specific nanophotonic device properly, one can conditionally ``bunch'' coincident input photons in a way that is more configurable than with an ordinary 50:50 beam splitter, while maintaining the inherent scalability of such an on-chip device.