Topologically protected entangled photonic states

• Main Authors: Wang Michelle, Doyle Cooper, Bell Bryn, Collins Matthew J., Magi Eric, Eggleton Benjamin J., Segev Mordechai, Blanco-Redondo Andrea
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: De Gruyter 2019-05-01
• Series: Nanophotonics
• Subjects: topological photonics; entanglement; nanophotonics; silicon photonics
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1515/nanoph-2019-0058
• ISSN: 2192-8606; 2192-8614

Entangled multiphoton states lie at the heart of quantum information, computing, and communications. In recent years, topology has risen as a new avenue to robustly transport quantum states in the presence of fabrication defects, disorder, and other noise sources. Whereas topological protection of single photons and correlated photons has been recently demonstrated experimentally, the observation of topologically protected entangled states has thus far remained elusive. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the topological protection of spatially entangled biphoton states. We observe robustness in crucial features of the topological biphoton correlation map in the presence of deliberately introduced disorder in the silicon nanophotonic structure, in contrast with the lack of robustness in non-topological structures. The topological protection is shown to ensure the coherent propagation of the entangled topological modes, which may lead to robust propagation of quantum information in disordered systems.