2026-09-11 清華大学
Fig. 1: Concept and experimental implementation of Fock-space optics
＜関連情報＞
- https://www.tsinghua.edu.cn/en/info/1245/15038.htm
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-026-03370-9
大規模量子状態のスケーラブルな操作のためのフォック空間における光学原理 Principles of optics in Fock space for the scalable manipulation of large quantum states
Yifang Xu,Yilong Zhou,Ziyue Hua,Lida Sun,Jie Zhou,Weiting Wang,Weizhou Cai,Hongwei Huang,Lintao Xiao,Guangming Xue,Haifeng Yu,Ming Li,Chang-Ling Zou & Luyan Sun
Nature Physics Published:09 July 2026
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-026-03370-9
Abstract
The principles of wave optics provide elegant and scalable control over classical light in spatial and temporal domains. However, in the quantum regime, engineering Fock states of photons has been largely restricted to only a few photons at a time, hindered by the computational and experimental challenges of large Hilbert spaces. Here we introduce a conceptual framework of wave propagation in the quantum domain by treating the photon number in a microwave resonator as a synthetic dimension. In the large-photon limit, the coupling between adjacent Fock states becomes approximately uniform, allowing us to establish an analogy to light propagation. Using a superconducting cavity, we experimentally demonstrate Fock-space analogues of optical propagation, refraction, lensing, dispersion and interference with up to 180 photons. By mapping intuitive optical concepts onto the domain of high-dimensional quantum state engineering, our work provides an approach to scalable control of large-scale quantum systems with thousands of photons and advanced bosonic information processing.
