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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Cavity-based optical switching via phase modulation in warm rubidium vapor

G. Booton1, T. Wasawo1, W. O. C. Davis2, C. McGarry1,3, K. R. Rusimova1, A. O. C. Davis1, J. Nunn4, and P. J. Mosley1,4

  • 1Department of Physics, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, United Kingdom
  • 2School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  • 3School of Physics, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  • 4ORCA Computing Ltd., 30 Eastbourne Terrace, London W2 6LA, United Kingdom

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Phys. Rev. A 113, L051701 – Published 20 May, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/r7xf-lptn

Abstract

Optical switching remains a key outstanding challenge for scalable photonic quantum computing due to the trade-off between speed, bandwidth, and loss. Quantum photonics demands all three to enable high computational clock rates and resource-efficient scaling to large systems. We present a cavity-based optical switch that overcomes this limitation, demonstrating a rise time of 22 ns, an insertion loss of 2.4 dB, and an extinction ratio of 17.5, which bridges the gap between speed and efficiency in photonic switching. All-optical control is achieved via phase modulation of a signal field detuned from the near-degenerate two-photon absorption ladder in warm rubidium vapor. The ultimate performance of our switch will find applications in active multiplexing, loop-based quantum memory, and feed-forward for quantum error-correction protocols.

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Phys. Rev. A 113, L051701– Published 20 May, 2026
  • Received 13 August 2025
  • Accepted 28 April 2026
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