Pub Date : 2026-03-06DOI: 10.1038/s41566-026-01871-w
David Pile
Amidst rapid performance improvements and industrial scaling of perovskite–silicon solar cells, researchers wait with bated breath for the outcome of reliable long-term testing. The latest updates, especially from China, were reported in Brisbane, Australia at the recent APSRC conference.
{"title":"Perovskite–silicon solar cells put to test","authors":"David Pile","doi":"10.1038/s41566-026-01871-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-026-01871-w","url":null,"abstract":"Amidst rapid performance improvements and industrial scaling of perovskite–silicon solar cells, researchers wait with bated breath for the outcome of reliable long-term testing. The latest updates, especially from China, were reported in Brisbane, Australia at the recent APSRC conference.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"20 3","pages":"252-253"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147363385","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Modern wireless technologies—spanning mobile communications to satellite links—rely on systems operating across disparate microwave bands. Although escalating data demands have driven the evolution from 2G to 6G, each generation has traditionally required dedicated, frequency-specific hardware, complicating multiband integration. This challenge intensifies at higher frequencies (5G and beyond), where conventional approaches incur prohibitive costs and power consumption in wireless terminals. Here we present a scalable and unified platform that supports all-generation (2G to 6G+) parallel wireless systems by combining photonic circuits with electronic metasurfaces. Using a self-synchronized dual-comb technique, we simultaneously generate over 60 reconfigurable microwave frequencies up to 100 GHz, with beamforming enabled by compact, low-power metasurfaces. This architecture facilitates all-generation wireless links with advanced modulation formats. Crucially, we demonstrate the direct drive of the wireless edge by data-centre silicon photonic transceivers, seamlessly merging data centre and wireless networks. Our solution unifies signal generation, processing and beamforming in a compact, cost-effective platform, offering a transformative foundation for future wireless systems. A unified optoelectronics platform comprising dual-comb generation, modulation and metasurface-enabled beam steering serves as a transmitter for any standards between 2G and 6G. This architecture reduces power usage and costs, enabling a direct link between edge data-centre devices and the wireless network.
{"title":"Multiband wireless systems based on microwave integrated photonics with metasurfaces","authors":"Yujun Chen, Jiahao Gao, Xuguang Zhang, Ke Zhang, Zixuan Zhou, Xiangpeng Zhang, Xiaoyu Zhang, Zheng Li, Jiafan Gao, Lei Zhang, Yikun Chen, Chengfei Shang, Cheng Wang, Lingyang Song, Boya Di, Lin Chang","doi":"10.1038/s41566-026-01863-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-026-01863-w","url":null,"abstract":"Modern wireless technologies—spanning mobile communications to satellite links—rely on systems operating across disparate microwave bands. Although escalating data demands have driven the evolution from 2G to 6G, each generation has traditionally required dedicated, frequency-specific hardware, complicating multiband integration. This challenge intensifies at higher frequencies (5G and beyond), where conventional approaches incur prohibitive costs and power consumption in wireless terminals. Here we present a scalable and unified platform that supports all-generation (2G to 6G+) parallel wireless systems by combining photonic circuits with electronic metasurfaces. Using a self-synchronized dual-comb technique, we simultaneously generate over 60 reconfigurable microwave frequencies up to 100 GHz, with beamforming enabled by compact, low-power metasurfaces. This architecture facilitates all-generation wireless links with advanced modulation formats. Crucially, we demonstrate the direct drive of the wireless edge by data-centre silicon photonic transceivers, seamlessly merging data centre and wireless networks. Our solution unifies signal generation, processing and beamforming in a compact, cost-effective platform, offering a transformative foundation for future wireless systems. A unified optoelectronics platform comprising dual-comb generation, modulation and metasurface-enabled beam steering serves as a transmitter for any standards between 2G and 6G. This architecture reduces power usage and costs, enabling a direct link between edge data-centre devices and the wireless network.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"20 3","pages":"348-356"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147346822","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Structured electromagnetic waves offer vast potential for both fundamental research and practical applications due to their rich degrees of freedom. However, exploiting these dimensions in the microwave regime has traditionally required substantial hardware and system complexity, where each dimension’s generation, construction and manipulation often necessitate disparate and specialized equipment. This complexity hampers the performance and scalability of structured microwaves, creating a major obstacle to their widespread adoption. Here we present a scheme for the full dimensional control of structured microwaves by leveraging a microcomb-driven microwave-photonic antenna array. Through the modulation of numerous mutually coherent optical comb lines, we realize the simultaneous and arbitrary manipulation of all dimensions of structured microwaves in a programmable manner by a set of hardware, notably reducing system complexity. With this method, we showcase functionalities previously unattainable for structured microwaves, including the synthesis of vortex microwaves with a huge quantity of modes, submicrosecond-scale spatiotemporal mode switching, broadband phase–frequency response tuning, large-angle two-dimensional beam steering and the most comprehensive multidimensional coupling capabilities. This breakthrough enables the creation of a structured-microwave integrated sensing and communication system, featuring an ultralarge communication spectral efficiency of 210 bit s−1 Hz−1 for 6G networks, as well as vortex sensing capable of detecting four-dimensional information.
{"title":"Full dimensional control of structured microwaves based on microcombs","authors":"Xiyao Song, Xiangpeng Zhang, Xinlu Gao, Ze Wang, Jiazhen Cai, Zengji Tu, Jingwen Dong, Shangyang Li, Zixuan Zhou, Jiajie Huang, Bo Ni, Tianyu Xu, Jianjun Wu, Zhennan Zheng, Zhangyuan Chen, Yanping Li, Qi-Fan Yang, Shanguo Huang, Wangzhe Li, Lin Chang","doi":"10.1038/s41566-026-01843-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-026-01843-0","url":null,"abstract":"Structured electromagnetic waves offer vast potential for both fundamental research and practical applications due to their rich degrees of freedom. However, exploiting these dimensions in the microwave regime has traditionally required substantial hardware and system complexity, where each dimension’s generation, construction and manipulation often necessitate disparate and specialized equipment. This complexity hampers the performance and scalability of structured microwaves, creating a major obstacle to their widespread adoption. Here we present a scheme for the full dimensional control of structured microwaves by leveraging a microcomb-driven microwave-photonic antenna array. Through the modulation of numerous mutually coherent optical comb lines, we realize the simultaneous and arbitrary manipulation of all dimensions of structured microwaves in a programmable manner by a set of hardware, notably reducing system complexity. With this method, we showcase functionalities previously unattainable for structured microwaves, including the synthesis of vortex microwaves with a huge quantity of modes, submicrosecond-scale spatiotemporal mode switching, broadband phase–frequency response tuning, large-angle two-dimensional beam steering and the most comprehensive multidimensional coupling capabilities. This breakthrough enables the creation of a structured-microwave integrated sensing and communication system, featuring an ultralarge communication spectral efficiency of 210 bit s−1 Hz−1 for 6G networks, as well as vortex sensing capable of detecting four-dimensional information.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"54 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":35.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147346815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-02-25DOI: 10.1038/s41566-026-01850-1
Omid Esmaeeli, Lukas Chrostowski, Sudip Shekhar
The isolation-free operation of photonic integrated circuits enables dense integration, reducing packaging costs and complexity. Most isolator replacements require a change in the silicon-on-insulator foundry process and suffer from large insertion loss. Most solutions focused on resonant devices, and measurements with modulated reflections have also been missing. Here we present a zero-process-change silicon photonic circuit that, when paired with an integrated distributed-feedback (DFB) laser, enhances the DFB’s immunity to continuous-wave and modulated parasitic reflections from multiple reflectors. The circuit generates intentional, controlled self-injection to stabilize laser dynamics and maintain operation. The silicon photonic circuit is complemented by an electro-optic feedback loop that dynamically adjusts the self-injection to preserve laser stability. The proposed circuit introduces an insertion loss of 1.67 dB and enables the DFB laser to tolerate back reflections as large as −7 dB and −12 dB from on-chip and off-chip reflectors, respectively. The DFB is hybrid integrated with the silicon photonic chip using a photonic wire bond. The isolator-free operation of the integrated laser in a high-speed optical link has been demonstrated, highlighting its potential for data communication applications. Researchers present silicon photonic circuit that, with an integrated distributed-feedback (DFB) laser, enhances the DFB’s immunity to continuous-wave and modulated parasitic reflections from multiple reflections. The isolator-free operation of the integrated laser in a high-speed optical link was demonstrated, highlighting potential for data communication applications.
{"title":"Isolator-free laser operation enabled by chip-scale reflections in zero-process-change silicon-on-insulator","authors":"Omid Esmaeeli, Lukas Chrostowski, Sudip Shekhar","doi":"10.1038/s41566-026-01850-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-026-01850-1","url":null,"abstract":"The isolation-free operation of photonic integrated circuits enables dense integration, reducing packaging costs and complexity. Most isolator replacements require a change in the silicon-on-insulator foundry process and suffer from large insertion loss. Most solutions focused on resonant devices, and measurements with modulated reflections have also been missing. Here we present a zero-process-change silicon photonic circuit that, when paired with an integrated distributed-feedback (DFB) laser, enhances the DFB’s immunity to continuous-wave and modulated parasitic reflections from multiple reflectors. The circuit generates intentional, controlled self-injection to stabilize laser dynamics and maintain operation. The silicon photonic circuit is complemented by an electro-optic feedback loop that dynamically adjusts the self-injection to preserve laser stability. The proposed circuit introduces an insertion loss of 1.67 dB and enables the DFB laser to tolerate back reflections as large as −7 dB and −12 dB from on-chip and off-chip reflectors, respectively. The DFB is hybrid integrated with the silicon photonic chip using a photonic wire bond. The isolator-free operation of the integrated laser in a high-speed optical link has been demonstrated, highlighting its potential for data communication applications. Researchers present silicon photonic circuit that, with an integrated distributed-feedback (DFB) laser, enhances the DFB’s immunity to continuous-wave and modulated parasitic reflections from multiple reflections. The isolator-free operation of the integrated laser in a high-speed optical link was demonstrated, highlighting potential for data communication applications.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"20 3","pages":"332-339"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147279609","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-02-20DOI: 10.1038/s41566-026-01848-9
Nathan Roberts, Brook Salter, Jack Binysh, Peter J. Mosley, Anton Souslov
The breaking and enforcing of symmetries is a crucial ingredient in designing topologically robust materials. In electronic and microwave systems, magnetic fields can break time-reversal symmetry to create Chern insulators. By contrast, at optical frequencies, natural materials cannot respond to magnetic fields, which presents a challenge for the scalable exploitation of topologically enhanced devices. Here we leverage the natural geometry of fibre to build a scalable photonic Chern insulator by twisting the fibre during fabrication. The twist inside optical fibre breaks an effective time-reversal symmetry and induces a pseudo-magnetic field, which we observe via photonic Landau levels. Unavoidably, this twist introduces a competing topology-destroying effect through a parabolic profile in the effective refractive index. Using simulations to guide experimental materials design, we discover the ‘Goldilocks’ regime where the real-space Chern invariant survives, guaranteeing topological protection against fabrication-induced disorder of any symmetry class. In this work, researchers build a scalable photonic Chern insulator by twisting a fibre during fabrication, breaking an effective time-reversal symmetry and inducing a pseudo-magnetic field. The team reveals a ‘Goldilocks’ regime that guarantees topological protection against fabrication-induced disorder of any symmetry class in the fibre cross-section.
{"title":"Twisted optical fibres as photonic topological insulators","authors":"Nathan Roberts, Brook Salter, Jack Binysh, Peter J. Mosley, Anton Souslov","doi":"10.1038/s41566-026-01848-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-026-01848-9","url":null,"abstract":"The breaking and enforcing of symmetries is a crucial ingredient in designing topologically robust materials. In electronic and microwave systems, magnetic fields can break time-reversal symmetry to create Chern insulators. By contrast, at optical frequencies, natural materials cannot respond to magnetic fields, which presents a challenge for the scalable exploitation of topologically enhanced devices. Here we leverage the natural geometry of fibre to build a scalable photonic Chern insulator by twisting the fibre during fabrication. The twist inside optical fibre breaks an effective time-reversal symmetry and induces a pseudo-magnetic field, which we observe via photonic Landau levels. Unavoidably, this twist introduces a competing topology-destroying effect through a parabolic profile in the effective refractive index. Using simulations to guide experimental materials design, we discover the ‘Goldilocks’ regime where the real-space Chern invariant survives, guaranteeing topological protection against fabrication-induced disorder of any symmetry class. In this work, researchers build a scalable photonic Chern insulator by twisting a fibre during fabrication, breaking an effective time-reversal symmetry and inducing a pseudo-magnetic field. The team reveals a ‘Goldilocks’ regime that guarantees topological protection against fabrication-induced disorder of any symmetry class in the fibre cross-section.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"20 3","pages":"324-331"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-026-01848-9.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146223207","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-02-19DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01830-x
Igor Aharonovich, Kenneth B. Crozier, Dragomir Neshev
Integrated quantum photonics has become a burgeoning field of research that encompasses quantum light sources, nonlinear materials, photonic resonators, optical interconnects and detectors. There is also a growing need for programmable devices that enable rapid reconfiguration of individual components in integrated quantum photonic chips. In this Review we present our vision for programmable quantum photonics and explain why we regard it as the next frontier in the field of quantum nanophotonics. We discuss state-of-the-art reconfigurable and tunable elements (for example, phase shifters and quantum light sources) and highlight the emergence of materials that offer a new toolkit for tunability and control (for example, van der Waals crystals). Programmable quantum circuitry will play a pivotal role in transitioning quantum optics from proof-of-concept demonstrations to robust technological solutions for the second quantum revolution. This Review covers state-of-the-art reconfigurable and tunable optical components and highlights the emergence of a set of materials that offer a new toolkit for tunability and control.
{"title":"Programmable integrated quantum photonics","authors":"Igor Aharonovich, Kenneth B. Crozier, Dragomir Neshev","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01830-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01830-x","url":null,"abstract":"Integrated quantum photonics has become a burgeoning field of research that encompasses quantum light sources, nonlinear materials, photonic resonators, optical interconnects and detectors. There is also a growing need for programmable devices that enable rapid reconfiguration of individual components in integrated quantum photonic chips. In this Review we present our vision for programmable quantum photonics and explain why we regard it as the next frontier in the field of quantum nanophotonics. We discuss state-of-the-art reconfigurable and tunable elements (for example, phase shifters and quantum light sources) and highlight the emergence of materials that offer a new toolkit for tunability and control (for example, van der Waals crystals). Programmable quantum circuitry will play a pivotal role in transitioning quantum optics from proof-of-concept demonstrations to robust technological solutions for the second quantum revolution. This Review covers state-of-the-art reconfigurable and tunable optical components and highlights the emergence of a set of materials that offer a new toolkit for tunability and control.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"20 3","pages":"254-265"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146223208","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-02-16DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01839-2
Taeyong Chang, Giorgio Adamo, Nikolay I. Zheludev
Label-free, far-field super-resolution imaging can be achieved by exploiting prior knowledge about an object, such as sparsity, or by using information accumulated from similar object classes. Here we show that simply knowing that an object is confined within a limited spatial extent is sufficient to surpass the Abbe–Rayleigh diffraction limit: for a fixed photon budget, smaller objects can be resolved with higher spatial resolution. To demonstrate this, we develop a limited-size object microscopy (LSOM) technique. The method relies on representing the coherently scattered field from the object within a limited field of view with Slepian–Pollak functions, a family of prolate spheroidal wavefunctions. The coefficients of such functions can then be recovered from diffraction-limited measurements. We experimentally demonstrate down to λ /8 resolution (where λ is the wavelength) for subwavelength structures and analyse the performance limits of the method using information theory. The technique requires no assumptions about the object’s shape or complexity and does not rely on labels, making it broadly applicable to the study of isolated nano-objects.
{"title":"Super-resolution imaging of limited-size objects","authors":"Taeyong Chang, Giorgio Adamo, Nikolay I. Zheludev","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01839-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-025-01839-2","url":null,"abstract":"Label-free, far-field super-resolution imaging can be achieved by exploiting prior knowledge about an object, such as sparsity, or by using information accumulated from similar object classes. Here we show that simply knowing that an object is confined within a limited spatial extent is sufficient to surpass the Abbe–Rayleigh diffraction limit: for a fixed photon budget, smaller objects can be resolved with higher spatial resolution. To demonstrate this, we develop a limited-size object microscopy (LSOM) technique. The method relies on representing the coherently scattered field from the object within a limited field of view with Slepian–Pollak functions, a family of prolate spheroidal wavefunctions. The coefficients of such functions can then be recovered from diffraction-limited measurements. We experimentally demonstrate down to <jats:italic>λ</jats:italic> /8 resolution (where <jats:italic>λ</jats:italic> is the wavelength) for subwavelength structures and analyse the performance limits of the method using information theory. The technique requires no assumptions about the object’s shape or complexity and does not rely on labels, making it broadly applicable to the study of isolated nano-objects.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"69 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":35.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146205479","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Scalable implementation of quantum networks and photonic processors demands integrated photonic memories with high efficiency, yet current integrated systems have been limited to storage efficiencies below 27.8%. Here we demonstrate highly efficient integrated quantum memories based on rare-earth-ion-doped crystals coupled with impedance-matched microcavities, realized in two novel architectures: 200-μm-thin membranes of Eu3+:Y2SiO5 integrated with fibre-based microcavities and waveguide-based cavities fabricated using femtosecond lasers. Our approach achieves reliable integrated quantum storage with record efficiencies of 80.3(7)% for weak coherent pulses and 69.8(1.6)% for telecom-heralded single photons, alongside the storage of 20 temporal modes with an average efficiency of 51.3(2)%. Moreover, the thin-membrane Eu3+:Y2SiO5 architecture enables spectrally tunable efficient quantum storage via variable strain, providing a flexible interface for quantum networks. By combining high efficiency, large multimode capacity and tunability, our devices establish a versatile hardware foundation for scalable quantum repeaters and chip-scale photonic processors.
{"title":"Efficient integrated quantum memory for light","authors":"Ruo-Ran Meng, Pei-Xi Liu, Xiao Liu, Tian-Xiang Zhu, Peng-Jun Liang, Chao Zhang, Zhong-Yang Tang, Hong-Zhe Zhang, Jin-Ming Cui, Ming Jin, Zong-Quan Zhou, Chuan-Feng Li, Guang-Can Guo","doi":"10.1038/s41566-026-01845-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-026-01845-y","url":null,"abstract":"Scalable implementation of quantum networks and photonic processors demands integrated photonic memories with high efficiency, yet current integrated systems have been limited to storage efficiencies below 27.8%. Here we demonstrate highly efficient integrated quantum memories based on rare-earth-ion-doped crystals coupled with impedance-matched microcavities, realized in two novel architectures: 200-μm-thin membranes of Eu3+:Y2SiO5 integrated with fibre-based microcavities and waveguide-based cavities fabricated using femtosecond lasers. Our approach achieves reliable integrated quantum storage with record efficiencies of 80.3(7)% for weak coherent pulses and 69.8(1.6)% for telecom-heralded single photons, alongside the storage of 20 temporal modes with an average efficiency of 51.3(2)%. Moreover, the thin-membrane Eu3+:Y2SiO5 architecture enables spectrally tunable efficient quantum storage via variable strain, providing a flexible interface for quantum networks. By combining high efficiency, large multimode capacity and tunability, our devices establish a versatile hardware foundation for scalable quantum repeaters and chip-scale photonic processors.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":35.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146152331","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
High-dimensional encoding of quantum information holds the potential to greatly increase the computational power of existing devices by enlarging the accessible state space for a fixed register size and by reducing the number of required entangling gates. However, qudit-based quantum computation remains far less developed than conventional qubit-based approaches, particularly for photons, which represent natural multilevel information carriers that play a crucial role in the development of quantum networks. A major obstacle for realizing quantum gates between two individual photons is the restriction of direct interaction between photons in linear media. In particular, essential logic components for quantum operations such as native qudit–qudit entangling gates are still missing for optical quantum information processing. Here we address this challenge by presenting a protocol for realizing an entangling gate—the controlled phase-flip gate—for two photonic qudits in an arbitrary dimension. We experimentally demonstrate this protocol by realizing a four-dimensional qudit–qudit controlled phase-flip gate, whose decomposition would require at least 13 two-qubit entangling gates. Our photonic qudits are encoded in orbital angular momentum, and we have developed a new active high-precision phase-locking technology to construct a high-dimensional orbital angular momentum beamsplitter that increases the stability of the controlled phase-flip gate, resulting in a process fidelity within a range of [0.71 ± 0.01, 0.85 ± 0.01]. Our experiment represents an important advance for high-dimensional optical quantum information processing and has the potential for wider applications beyond optical system.
{"title":"Heralded high-dimensional photon–photon quantum gate","authors":"Zhi-Feng Liu, Zhi-Cheng Ren, Pei Wan, Wen-Zheng Zhu, Zi-Mo Cheng, Jing Wang, Yu-Peng Shi, Han-Bing Xi, Marcus Huber, Nicolai Friis, Xiaoqin Gao, Xi-Lin Wang, Hui-Tian Wang","doi":"10.1038/s41566-026-01846-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-026-01846-x","url":null,"abstract":"High-dimensional encoding of quantum information holds the potential to greatly increase the computational power of existing devices by enlarging the accessible state space for a fixed register size and by reducing the number of required entangling gates. However, qudit-based quantum computation remains far less developed than conventional qubit-based approaches, particularly for photons, which represent natural multilevel information carriers that play a crucial role in the development of quantum networks. A major obstacle for realizing quantum gates between two individual photons is the restriction of direct interaction between photons in linear media. In particular, essential logic components for quantum operations such as native qudit–qudit entangling gates are still missing for optical quantum information processing. Here we address this challenge by presenting a protocol for realizing an entangling gate—the controlled phase-flip gate—for two photonic qudits in an arbitrary dimension. We experimentally demonstrate this protocol by realizing a four-dimensional qudit–qudit controlled phase-flip gate, whose decomposition would require at least 13 two-qubit entangling gates. Our photonic qudits are encoded in orbital angular momentum, and we have developed a new active high-precision phase-locking technology to construct a high-dimensional orbital angular momentum beamsplitter that increases the stability of the controlled phase-flip gate, resulting in a process fidelity within a range of [0.71 ± 0.01, 0.85 ± 0.01]. Our experiment represents an important advance for high-dimensional optical quantum information processing and has the potential for wider applications beyond optical system.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":35.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146152330","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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