Counterpropagating generalized Mach Zehnder interferometer
Photons can propagate concurrently in two different directions along optical paths in a generalized Mach Zehnder interferometer (GMZI). A counterpropagating GMZI can include a first set of input ports and a second set of input ports, a first set of output ports and a second set of output ports, and optical components interconnected to form a GMZI that can selectably establish a first optical path between one of the first set of input ports and one of the first set of output ports and a second optical path between one of the second set of input ports and one of the second set of output ports. The first optical path and the second optical path can include an overlapping portion though which photons on the first and second optical paths propagate in opposing directions.
1. A circuit comprising:
a plurality of input ports to receive photons, the plurality of input ports including a first set of input ports and a second set of input ports;
a plurality of output ports to output photons, the plurality of output ports including a first set of output ports and a second set of output ports; and
a plurality of optical components including a plurality of active phase shifters, the plurality of optical components interconnected to form a generalized Mach Zehnder interferometer (GMZI) configured to selectably establish a first optical path between one of the input ports of the first set of input ports and one of the output ports of the first set of output ports and a second optical path between one of the input ports of the second set of input ports and one of the output ports of the second set of output ports,
wherein the first optical path and the second optical path include an overlapping portion that includes at least one of the active phase shifters and wherein a propagation direction through the overlapping portion along the first optical path is counter to a propagation direction through the overlapping portion along the second optical path.
2. The circuit of claim 1 wherein the input ports are coupled to a photon source that provides photons concurrently to one or more input ports of the first set of input ports and to one or more input ports of the second set of input ports.
3. The circuit of claim 1 wherein the first set of output ports includes exactly one output port and the second set of output ports includes exactly one output port.
4. The circuit of claim 1 wherein each of the first set of input ports and each of the second set of output ports includes a number (N) of input ports that is at least equal to 2 and each of the first set of output ports and the second set of output ports includes a number of output ports equal to the number N.
5. The circuit of claim 1 wherein the GMZI is a Hadamard-type GMZI.
6. The circuit of claim 1 wherein the input ports in the first set of input ports have a one-to-one correspondence with the input ports in the second set of input ports and the output ports in the first set of output ports have a one-to-one correspondence with the output ports in the second set of output ports.
7. The circuit of claim 6 wherein the GMZI is a Hadamard-type GMZI and the one-to-one correspondence is determined based on a configuration of the active phase shifters associated with an identity transform.
8. The circuit of claim 6 wherein:
the plurality of input ports are configured to receive a plurality of qubits in a dual-rail encoding having a first waveguide that maps to a first logical state of the qubit and a second waveguide that maps to a second logical state of the qubit;
the first waveguide for each qubit is coupled to a respective one of the input ports in the first set of input ports; and
the second waveguide for each qubit is coupled to the corresponding one of the input ports in the second set of input ports.
9. The circuit of claim 8 wherein each of the first set of input ports and each of the second set of output ports includes at least two input ports and each of the first set of output ports and the second set of output ports includes exactly one output port.
10. The circuit of claim 9 wherein the circuit further comprises:
control logic coupled to the GMZI and configured to select one of the qubits received at the input ports to propagate to the output ports.
11. The circuit of claim 8 wherein each of the first set of input ports and each of the second set of output ports includes a number (N) of input ports that is at least equal to 2 and each of the first set of output ports and the second set of output ports includes a number of output ports equal to the number N.