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The HIP project aims at conducting exploratory research, both
theoretical and experimental, on new concepts of quantum information
involving integrated atomic and optical systems. It departs from
"traditional approaches" to quantum information processing based on
purely optical or atomic systems by investigating hybrid devices capable
to carry out efficient interchange between photonic and atomic qubits.
The guiding idea of the project is to combine atomic and optical
systems, to merge and optimize them in new patterns to achieve the
successful implementation of quantum information protocols. The
challenge addressed by the project is to overcome the difficulties
facing the development of quantum information processors beyond the
present small-scale implementations. The task is to reconcile the
contrasting requirements of scaling, single site addressability, and
efficient communication between the different parts of the
processors.Thus motivated, the key objective of the project will be the
development of novel schemes for medium- and large-scale quantum
information processing by the experimental realization of elementary
hybrid atom-photon devices, and the development of schemes for their
integration on platforms capable of being miniaturized and scaled up in
functional networks.
Main efforts will be dedicated to the theoretical study and the
experimental realization of integrated atom chips allowing for optimized
conversions between atomic and photonic qubits and the storage of
quantum information with high efficiency. In parallel, exploratory
investigations will be aimed at determining architectures suited for the
integration of optical micro-cavities on atom chip structures, and to
single out optimal configurations for scalability and future production
of large functional arrays. HIP aims at demonstrating that networked
arrays of atom-optical systems coupled by fibers and integrated on chips
intrinsically support basic properties and tasks such as long-distance
entanglement, distributed quantum computation, and long-distance
communication protocols that are highly robust against noise and
imperfections, and are intrinsically suited for optimized control of
interactions, even at the level of single-site addressing.
Different routes to and designs of scalable networks of integrated
atom-optical systems capable of processing quantum information with high
efficiency will be thoroughly compared and contrasted, in order to
determine optimal strategies and approaches. Compared to traditional
schemes, the great advantage that we expect in developing atom chips
structures designed for the integration of atomic and optical devices is
the experimental controllability at all stages of the process against
the effects of noise, imperfections, and decoherence. Moreover,
chip-based structure are naturally amenable to integration,
miniaturization, and scalability. Therefore, in parallel with the
experimental realization of atom-chip based quantum memories and quantum
communication protocols, exploratory experimental investigations will be
carried out as well, aimed at determining architectures suited for the
integration of optical micro-cavities on atom chip structures, and to
single out the optimal configurations allowing for scalability and
production of large functional arrays.
The realization of this part of the project, identified with Work
Package 1, will pave the way to the miniaturization, integration, and
production of scalable networks of hybrid atom-optical systems coupled
by fibers.
A parallel and interdependent research line of the project will be the
theoretical investigation of the potentialities of atom-cavity-fiber
compounds as basic devices for quantum information technology. Main
efforts will be dedicated to the study of long-distance entanglement,
distributed quantum computation, and long-distance communication
protocols robust against decoherence and with optimized control of
interactions at the level of single-site addressing. Principal goal of
these investigations is the demonstration that these properties are
intrinsically implementable in such integrated atom-optical systems.
Moreover, the great advantages of the recently demonstrated
simulatability of interacting matter qubits by atom-optical composites
realized in arrays of coupled micro-cavities will be fully exploited to
simulate complex many-qubit systems and specifically applied to the
realization of quantum information tasks. The theoretical analysis will
thus motivate and guide the experimental efforts towards shaping those
integrated atom-cavity devices that could be best suited for quantum
information processing. The realization of this part of the project,
identified with Work Package 2, will establish the framework both for
potentialities and limits of quantum information processing with hybrid,
integrated atom-optical resources.
At the same time, a further large portion of theoretical studies will be
needed in order to qualify and interpret the experimental results in the
light of state, process, and parameter estimation, and thus assess the
degree of success of each experimental achievement through each stage of
realization of the project. In fact, the success of experimental
demonstrations with small-scale systems will be assessed by developing
and applying powerful theoretical methods for quantitative state and
process verification. The crucial importance of quantitative
verification for any research program on the development of quantum
information technologies will be fully recognized in the HIP project,
and an entire portion of the project, identified with Work Package 3,
will be dedicated to it.
Successful carrying out of the project will yield, as main final output,
scalable designs for atom-chip based arrays of coupled optical
micro-cavities, and will pave the way to the future realistic
implementation of quantum information networks with fully integrated and
miniaturized quantum devices.
Work package 1: Hybrid quantum information
and quantum memories with integrated atom chips
Work package 2: Distributed quantum
computation and communication with hybrid atom-cavity-fibre systems
Work package 3: State and process
verification and reconstruction
Work package 4: Project management
Work package 5: Knowledge dissemination |
