• Accepted Paper

Temporal-mode engineering of microwave photons for mode-selective quantum state transfer

Keika Sunada, Takeaki Miyamura, Kohei Matsuura, Zhiling Wang, Jesper Ilves, Shingo Kono, and Yasunobu Nakamura

Phys. Rev. Applied - Accepted 30 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/wdgy-txz7

Abstract

Quantum communication between distant superconducting qubits on separate chips using itinerant microwave photons has been studied to realize distributed quantum information processing. To enhance information capacity and fault tolerance in quantum networks, it is beneficial to encode a large quantity of quantum information using auxiliary degrees of freedom of these photons. In this work, we experimentally investigate the use of temporal modes of photon wave packets. Through the photon-shaping technique with a fixed-frequency transmon qubit, we generate single microwave photons in four orthogonal temporal modes propagating along a waveguide. We demonstrate mode-selective absorption across orthogonal modes via the time-reversed process of emission, achieving absorption efficiencies exceeding 0.89 for mode-matched cases, while remaining below 0.13 for orthogonal modes. Photons rejected by a given receiver mode can remain mutually orthogonal, enabling selective absorption at subsequent receivers in future multi-node architectures. These results highlight the feasibility of temporal-mode engineering for constructing a higher-dimensional orthogonal basis for multiplexed quantum networks.

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