Modular quantum-to-quantum Bernoulli factory in an integrated photonic processor

Abstract

Generation and manipulation of randomness is a relevant task for several applications of information technology. It has been shown that quantum mechanics offers some advantages for this type of task. A promising model for randomness manipulation is provided by Bernoulli factories—protocols capable of changing the bias of Bernoulli random processes in a controlled way. At first, this framework was proposed and investigated in a fully classical regime. Recent extensions of this model to the quantum case showed the possibility of implementing a wider class of randomness manipulation functions. We propose a Bernoulli factory scheme with quantum states as the input and output, using a photonic-path-encoding approach. Our scheme is modular and universal and its functioning is truly oblivious of the input bias—characteristics that were missing in earlier work. We report on experimental implementations using an integrated and fully programmable photonic platform, thereby demonstrating the viability of our approach. These results open new paths for randomness manipulation with integrated quantum technologies.