Topologically-protected quantum logic gates with valley-Hall photonic crystals.

Topological photonics provide a promising way to realize more robust optical devices against some defects and environmental perturbations. Quantum logic gates are fundamental units of quantum computers, which are widely used in future quantum information processing. Thus, constructing robust universal quantum logic gates is an important way forward to practical quantum computing. However, the most important problem to be solved is how to construct the quantum-logic-gate-required 2×2 beam splitter with topological protection. Here, we report the first experimental realization of the topologically-protected contra-directional coupler, which can be employed to realize the quantum logic gates, including control-NOT and Hadamard gates, on the silicon photonic platform. These quantum gates not only have high experimental fidelities but also exhibit a certain degree of tolerances against certain types of defects. Our work paves the way for the development of practical optical quantum computations and signal processing. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.