Experimentally simulating quantum walks with self-collimated light

In self-collimated photonic crystal, periodically arranged air holes of sub-wavelength scale provide flattened equi-frequency curves perpendicular to the ΓM direction, which allow light or photons propagating in a quasi-uniform medium without diffraction. Here we for the first time experimentally simulate four-step single-photon discrete time quantum walks with classical light in such a photonic crystal chip fabricated on silicon-on-insulator. Similarities between theoretical expectations and experimental results are higher than 0.98. The functional area is compact and can be extended to construct more complicated linear quantum circuits.

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