Experimental access to higher-dimensional entangled quantum systems using integrated optics

© 2015 Optical Society of America. Integrated optics allows for the generation and control of increasingly complex photonic states on chip-based architectures. Here, we implement two entangled qutrits—a nine-dimensional quantum system—and demonstrate an exceptionally high degree of experimental control. The approach, which is conceptually different to common bulk optical implementations, is heavily based on methods of integrated in-fiber and on-chip technologies and further motivated by methods commonly used in today’s telecommunications industry. The system is composed of an in-fiber source creating entangled qutrit states of any amplitude and phase, and an on-chip integrated general Multiport enabling the realization of any desired local unitary transformation within the two qutrit nine-dimensional Hilbert space. The complete design is readily extendible toward higher dimensions with moderate increase in complex- ity. Ultimately, our scheme allows for complete on-chip integration. We demonstrate the flexibility and generality of our system by realizing a complete characterization of the two-qutrit space of higher-order Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen correlations.