Shashi Prabhakar

Eyal Rozenberg, Aviv Karnieli, Ofir Yesharim et al.

We propose a novel, physically-constrained and differentiable approach for the generation of D-dimensional qudit states via spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in quantum optics. We circumvent any limitations imposed by the inherently stochastic nature of the physical process and incorporate a set of stochastic dynamical equations governing its evolution under the SPDC Hamiltonian. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our model through the design of structured nonlinear photonic crystals (NLPCs) and shaped pump beams; and show, theoretically and experimentally, how to generate maximally entangled states in the spatial degree of freedom. The learning of NLPC structures offers a promising new avenue for shaping and controlling arbitrary quantum states and enables all-optical coherent control of the generated states. We believe that this approach can readily be extended from bulky crystals to thin Metasurfaces and potentially applied to other quantum systems sharing a similar Hamiltonian structures, such as superfluids and superconductors.

Sarika Mishra, Ayan Biswas, Satyajeet Patil et al.

Free space quantum communication assumes importance as it is a precursor for satellite-based quantum communication needed for secure key distribution over longer distances. Prepare and measure protocols like BB84 consider the satellite as a trusted device, which is fraught with security threat looking at the current trend for satellite-based optical communication. Therefore, entanglement-based protocols must be preferred, so that one can consider the satellite as an untrusted device too. The current work reports the implementation of BBM92 protocol, an entanglement-based QKD protocol over 200 m distance using an indigenous facility developed at Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, India. Our results show the effect of atmospheric aerosols on sift key rate, and eventually, secure key rate. Such experiments are important to validate the models to account for the atmospheric effects on the key rates achieved through satellite-based QKD.

P. Chithrabhanu, A. Aadhi, Salla Gangi Reddy et al.

We present a scheme to generate three particle hyper-entanglement utilizing polarization and orbital angular momentum (OAM) of a photon. We show that the generated state can be used to teleport a two-qubit state described by the polarization and the OAM. The proposed quantum system has also been used to describe a new efficient quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol. We give a sketch of the experimental arrangement to realize the proposed teleportation and the QKD.