Boson sampling with non-identical single photons

Abstract

The boson sampling problem has triggered a lot of interest in the scientific community because of its potential of demonstrating the computational power of quantum interference without the need of non-linear processes. However, the intractability of such a problem with any classical device relies on the realization of single photons approximately identical in their spectra. In this paper we discuss the physics of boson sampling with non-identical single photon sources, which is strongly relevant in view of scalable experimental realizations and triggers fascinating questions in complexity theory.