Eur. Phys. J. D (2016) 70: 93
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2016-60724-6

Regular Article

Information-holding quantum router of single photons using natural atom

¹ Department of Applied Physics, East China Jiaotong University, Nanchang 330013, P.R. China
² State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonances and Atomic and Molecular Physics, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, P.R. China
³ Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada

^a e-mail: aixichen@ecjtu.jx.cn

Received: 22 December 2015
Received in final form: 24 February 2016
Published online: 19 April 2016

Abstract

In a quantum network, a quantum router can play a key role that involves exchanging quantum information (quantum states) among different parties. In this paper, we propose a single-photon quantum router by using a four-level atom that is embedded in quantum multi-channels, which are composed of coupled-resonator waveguides. Single photons can be guided from one quantum channel to another by controlling an on-demand classical field. The fidelity of the routing atom recovers to a maximum after a time evolution cycle of the system; thus, the fidelity of the information-carrying single photon reaches unit at the same time. For the first time, we demonstrate that quantum information carried by single photons can be perfectly held after a quantum router.