Fully integrated quantum frequency processor on a silicon chip

Abstract Frequency-bin encoding has recently emerged as a powerful approach for photonic quantum information processing, offering high dimensionality, gate-parallelization, and compatibility with existing telecommunication infrastructure. However, its scalable deployment has so far been hindered by the lack of an integrated platform capable of unifying quantum state generation, coherent frequency mixing, and programmable spectral control. Here, we report a fully integrated quantum frequency processor, monolithically integrating on the same silicon photonic chip a microresonator-based biphoton quantum frequency comb source, a pump-rejection filter, high-speed phase modulators, and a four-channel, line-by-line pulse shaper. We demonstrate key functionalities, such as tunable frequency beamsplitters with success probabilities exceeding 94% and fidelities above 99.9%, as well as the ability to synthesize more general single-qubit gates. Finally, we generate and coherently manipulate high-dimensional frequency-bin entangled states entirely on chip, showcasing control over two-photon quantum walks and performing on-chip frequency-bin quantum state tomography of a Bell-state with a fidelity of 95.7(3)%. By integrating all key functional elements on the same 4 × 7 mm 2 chip, with the possibility of scaling to a larger number of modes, our work marks an important step toward large-scale frequency-domain photonic processors for both classical and quantum applications.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2026-09-15
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77287-5
Primary Topic
Quantum Information and Cryptography
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Fully integrated quantum frequency processor on a silicon chip

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Nature Communications
Quantum Information and Cryptography
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Fully integrated quantum frequency processor on a silicon chip

Léopold Virot, Elena Rovetta, Massimo Borghi, Antonio Fincato, Sara Congia, Daniele Bajoni, Matteo Galli, Frederic Boeuf
article en

Abstract

Abstract Frequency-bin encoding has recently emerged as a powerful approach for photonic quantum information processing, offering high dimensionality, gate-parallelization, and compatibility with existing telecommunication infrastructure. However, its scalable deployment has so far been hindered by the lack of an integrated platform capable of unifying quantum state generation, coherent frequency mixing, and programmable spectral control. Here, we report a fully integrated quantum frequency processor, monolithically integrating on the same silicon photonic chip a microresonator-based biphoton quantum frequency comb source, a pump-rejection filter, high-speed phase modulators, and a four-channel, line-by-line pulse shaper. We demonstrate key functionalities, such as tunable frequency beamsplitters with success probabilities exceeding 94% and fidelities above 99.9%, as well as the ability to synthesize more general single-qubit gates. Finally, we generate and coherently manipulate high-dimensional frequency-bin entangled states entirely on chip, showcasing control over two-photon quantum walks and performing on-chip frequency-bin quantum state tomography of a Bell-state with a fidelity of 95.7(3)%. By integrating all key functional elements on the same 4 × 7 mm 2 chip, with the possibility of scaling to a larger number of modes, our work marks an important step toward large-scale frequency-domain photonic processors for both classical and quantum applications.

Nature Communications
University of Pavia (IT), Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR), STMicroelectronics (France) (FR), Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pavia (IT), Laboratoire d'Électronique des Technologies de l'Information (FR), Université Grenoble Alpes (FR)
European Commission
Industry, innovation and infrastructure
Openalex Percentile: Top 87%
Quantum Information and Cryptography
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