Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42106317›Full record

ArticleNature communications2026

Emulation of coherent absorption of Fock-state quantum light in a programmable linear photonic circuit.

Govind Krishna, Jun Gao, Sam O'Brien, Rohan Yadgirkar, Venkatesh Deenadayalan, Stefan Preble, Val Zwiller, Ali W Elshaari

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Govind KrishnaDepartment of Applied Physics, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. govindk@kth.se.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0009-3580-5929
Jun GaoDepartment of Applied Physics, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. jungao@hust.edu.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0009-5417-9599
Sam O'BrienDepartment of Applied Physics, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
Rohan YadgirkarDepartment of Applied Physics, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
Venkatesh DeenadayalanDepartment of Electrical and Microelectronic Engineering, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 14623, USA.
Stefan PrebleDepartment of Electrical and Microelectronic Engineering, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 14623, USA.
Val ZwillerDepartment of Applied Physics, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5726-1063
Ali W ElshaariDepartment of Applied Physics, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. elshaari@kth.se.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7004-9665

Funding

Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse (Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation) WACQT
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Non-Hermitian quantum systems, governed by nonunitary evolution, offer powerful tools for manipulating quantum states through engineered loss. A prime example is coherent absorption, where quantum states undergo phase-dependent partial or complete absorption in a lossy medium. Here, we demonstrate a fully programmable implementation of nonunitary transformations that emulate coherent absorption of quantum light using a programmable integrated linear photonic circuit, with loss introduced via coupling to an ancilla mode. Probing the circuit with a single-photon dual-rail state reveals phase-controlled coherent tunability between perfect transmission and perfect absorption. A two-photon NOON-state input, by contrast, exhibits switching between deterministic single-photon absorption and probabilistic two-photon absorption. Across a broad range of input phases and circuit configurations, we observe nonclassical effects including anti-coalescence and bunching, together with continuous and coherent tuning of output Fock-state probability amplitudes. Classical Fisher information analysis reveals phase sensitivity peaks of 1 for single-photon states and 3.4 for NOON states, exceeding the shot-noise limit of 2 and approaching the Heisenberg limit of 4 for two-photon states. The experiment integrates quantum state generation, programmable photonic circuitry, and photon-number-resolving detection, establishing ancilla-assisted circuits as powerful platforms for programmable quantum state engineering, filtering, multiplexed sensing, and nonunitary quantum simulation.

Identifiers

PMID42106317
PMCPMC13157496

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.