Interfacing scalable photonic platforms: solid-state based multi-photon interference in a reconfigurable glass chip

Abstract

Scaling-up optical quantum technologies requires to combine highly efficient multi-photon sources and integrated waveguide components. Here, we interface these scalable platforms: a quantum dot based multi-photon source and a reconfigurable photonic chip on glass are combined to demonstrate high-rate three-photon interference. The temporal train of single-photons obtained from a quantum emitter is actively demultiplexed to generate a 3.8 kHz three-photon source, which is then sent to the input of a tuneable tritter circuit, demonstrating the on-chip quantum interference of three indistinguishable single-photons. Pseudo number-resolving photon detection characterising the output distribution shows that this first combination of scalable sources and reconfigurable photonic circuits compares favourably in performance with respect to previous implementations. A detailed loss-budget shows that merging solid-state based multi-photon sources and reconfigurable photonic chips could allow ten-photon experiments on chip at ${\sim}40$ Hz rate in a foreseeable future.