Complex optical photon states with entanglement shared among several modes are critical to improving our fundamental understanding of quantum mechanics and have applications for quantum information processing, imaging, and microscopy. We demonstrate that optical integrated Kerr frequency combs can be used to generate several bi- and multiphoton entangled qubits, with direct applications for quantum communication and computation. Our method is compatible with contemporary fiber and quantum memory infrastructures and with chip-scale semiconductor technology, enabling compact, low-cost, and scalable implementations. The exploitation of integrated Kerr frequency combs, with their ability to generate multiple, customizable, and complex quantum states, can provide a scalable, practical, and compact platform for quantum technologies.

Large arrays of uniform, precisely tunable, open-access optical microcavities with mode volumes as small as 2.2 μm(3) are reported. The cavities show clear Hermite-Gauss mode structure and display finesses up to 460, in addition to quality (Q) factors in excess of 10,000. The cavities are attractive for use in quantum optics applications, such as single atom detection and efficient single photon sources, and have potential to be extended for experiments in the strong coupling regime.

, J. M. (2013). Measurement of the full stress tensor in a crystal using photoluminescence from point defects: The example of nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond.

Abstract. We report the photoluminescence characteristics of a colour centre in diamond grown by plasma-assisted chemical vapour deposition. The colour centre emits with a sharp zero-phonon line at 2.330 eV (λ = 532 nm) and a lifetime of 3.3 ns, thus offering potential for a high-speed singlephoton source with green emission. It displays a vibronic emission spectrum with a Huang-Rhys parameter of 2.48 at 77 K. Hanbury-Brown and Twiss measurements reveal that the electronic level structure of the defect includes a metastable state that can be populated from the optically excited state.

We present a model describing the use of ultra-short strong pulses to control the population of the excited level of a two-level quantum system. In particular, we study an off-resonance excitation with a few cycles pulse which presents a smooth phase jump i.e. a change of the pulse's phase which is not step-like, but happens over a finite time interval. A numerical solution is given for the time-dependent probability amplitude of the excited level. The control of the excited level's population is obtained acting on the shape of the phase transient, and other parameters of the excitation pulse.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures this version is a rewriting of the previous one, with several change