Continuous-variable multipartite entanglement in an integrated microcomb

Abstract

The generation of large-scale entangled states is crucial for quantum technologies, such as quantum computation1, communication2 and metrology3. Integrated quantum photonics that enables on-chip encoding, processing and detection of quantum light states offers a promising platform for the generation and manipulation of large-scale entangled states4,5. Generating entanglement between qubits encoded in discrete variables within single photons is challenging, owing to the difficulty of making single photons interact on photonic chips6–11. Devices that operate with continuous variables are more promising, as they enable the deterministic generation and entanglement of qumodes, in which information is encoded in light quadratures. Demonstrations so far have been limited to entanglement between two qumodes12–20. Here we report the deterministic generation of a continuous-variable eight-mode entanglement on an integrated optical chip. The chip delivers a quantum microcomb that produces multimode squeezed-vacuum optical frequency combs below the threshold. We verify the inseparability of our eight-mode state and demonstrate supermode multipartite entanglement over hundreds of megahertz sideband frequencies through violation of the van Loock–Furusawa criteria. By measuring the full matrices of nullifier correlations with sufficiently low off-diagonal noises, we characterize multipartite entanglement structures, which are approximate to the expected cluster-type structures for finite squeezing. This work shows the potential of continuous-variable integrated photonic quantum devices for facilitating quantum computing, networking and sensing. Deterministic generation of a continuous-variable eight-mode entanglement on an integrated optical chip is reported.