Quantum Photonics Lab @ UNINA

Welcome

Welcome to the webpage of the Quantum Photonics Group of University of Naples Federico "II" . We study light as a physical system and investigate how to exploit the unique properties of photons for applications in fundamental physics and quantum technologies. Our activities are carried out in our laboratories, located in the Physics Department "E. Pancini" .

Structured light and quantum optics

Structured photons are nowadays an important resource in classical and quantum optics due to the richness of properties they show under propagation, focusing, and in their interaction with matter. Vectorial modes of light in particular, a class of modes where the polarization varies across the beam profile, are a useful tool in several areas ranging from microscopy to quantum communication. We explore the potential of quantum structured light in different directions, from quantum state engineering to fundamental studies on quantum features of light. We have, for instance, recently developed a technique based on structured light and the concept of quantum erasing, to engineer photon correlations in the transverse plane of an optical mode, with a potential impact in fields ranging from microscopy to quantum communications. You can find all details in our recent paper in Science Advances

Photonic systems for enhanced sensing

Photonic systems are an invaluable tool for fast, non-invasive and accurate measurement of physical quantities. Quantum resources, such as NOON states, allow one to push measurements precision towards the ultimate limit allowed by the laws of physics. Interestingly, it is also possible to develop quantum/inspired strategies to boost sensing performances using classical light beams. In the "photonic gears" scheme, for instance, one can encode NOON-like states in structured light beams obtaining transducers of angular or mechanical displacements with enhanced sensing performances. This technology provides a simple and fast way to achieve ultra-sensitive measurements and is fully compatible with further quantum enhancements. By exploiting this technique we have recently demonstrated a sub-nanometric resolution in the measurement of linear displacements between two maroscopic objects in ambient conditions.

Quantum information with photonic systems

Photons are a unique system for implementing qubits, fundamental units of quantum information, thanks to their availability at room temperature, resilience to decoherence and the ease of generation and manipulation of two dimensional photonic states. Moreover, photons travel really fast, thus providing a perfect system for quantum communications. On the other hand, generation, manipulation and measurement of high-dimensional photonic states, encoded in different degrees of freedom of light, allow one to go beyond the binary encoding of qubits. This, in turns, unlocks novel quantum information protocols as well as a practical tools for experimental foundational tests of quantum mechanics. For instance, it is possible to design special photonic states that are rotational invariant thanks to the joint action of different degrees of freedom. One can then develop compact schemes to control quantum interference in such a rotational invariant framework.