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Photonic implementation of boson sampling: a review
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Boson sampling is a computational problem that has recently been proposed as a candidate to obtain an unequivocal quantum computational advantage. The problem consists in sampling from the output distribution of indistinguishable bosons in a linear interferometer. There is strong evidence that such an experiment is hard to classically simulate, but it is naturally solved by dedicated photonic quantum hardware, comprising single photons, linear evolution, and photodetection. This prospect has sti
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Photonic implementation of boson sampling:
a review
Daniel J. Brod,
a
Ernesto F. Galvão,
a
Andrea Crespi,
b,c
Roberto Osellame,
b,c
Nicolò Spagnolo,
d,
* and
Fabio Sciarrino
d
a
Universidade Federal Fluminense, Instituto de Física, Niterói, Brazil
b
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie, Milano, Italy
c
Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Fisica, Milano, Italy
d
Sapienza Università di Roma, Dipartimento di Fisica, Roma, Italy
Abstract. Boson sampling is a computational problem that has recently been proposed as a candidate to
obtain an unequivocal quantum computational advantage. The problem consists in sampling from the
output distribution of indistinguishable bosons in a linear interferometer. There is strong evidence that such
an experiment is hard to classically simulate, but it is naturally solved by dedicated photonic quantum
hardware, comprising single photons, linear evolution, and photodetection. This prospect has stimulated
much effort resulting in the experimental implementation of progressively larger devices. We review recent
advances in photonic boson sampling, describing both the technological improvements achieved and the
future challenges. We also discuss recent propo sals and implementations of variants of the original problem,
theoretical issues occurring when imperfections are considered, and advances in the development of suitable
techniques for validation of boson sampling experiments. We conclude by discussing the futur e application of
photonic boson sampling devices bey ond the original theoretical scope.
Keywords: boson sampling; multiphoton interference; quantum supremacy; quantum simulation; integrated photonics.
Received Dec. 5, 2018; accepted for publication Mar. 25, 2019; published online May 9, 2019.
© The Authors. Published by SPIE and CLP under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unpor ted License. Distribution or
reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.
[DOI: 10.1117/1.AP.1.3.034001]
1 Introduction
In recent years, much work has been directed to the develop-
ment of suitable technologies for scalable quantum computa-
tion. This effort is motivated by the promise of quantum
algorithmic speed-up, with a notable early example provided
by Shor’s algorithm for integer factoring.
1
Despite the tremen-
dous advances in quantum technologies
2–7
reported in the last
few years, the implementation of a large-scale universal quan-
tum computer is still far from our current capabilities. Hence,
intermediate milestones need to be identified in the long-
term effort toward harnessing the computational potential of
quantum systems. A first fundamental step in this direction
would be the achievement of the regime of quantum computa-
tional supremacy,
8
i.e., the experimental demonstration of a
quantum device capable of performing a computational task
unambiguously faster than present-day classical computers.
Within this framework, Aaronson and Arkhipov (AA)
9
for-
mulated a well-defined computational problem that they called
boson sampling. This problem consists in sampling from the
output distribution of n indistinguishable bosons that interfere
during the evolution through a Haar-random-chosen linear
network. In Ref. 9, strong evidence was provided that boson
sampling is an intractable problem for classical computers, as
it is related to the evaluation of permanents of matrices with
complex entries (a problem known, in computational complex-
ity terms, to belong to the #P-hard class
10
). On the other hand,
boson sampling can be tackled with a dedicated quantum hard-
ware, which, despite not being universal for quantum computa-
tion, is capable of implementing the required dynam ics. To this
end, one of the most suitable platforms is provided by photonic
systems, as the necessary elements (sources, linear evolution,
and detection) are available with present technology.
2
Given
the lack of error-correction—an issue shared by all current
*Address all correspondence to Nicolò Spagnolo, E-mail: nicolo.spagnolo@
uniroma1.it
Review Article
Advanced Photonics 034001-1 May∕Jun 2019
•
Vol. 1(3)
proposals for quantum computational supremacy
8
—it is an open
question whether current technology is capable of scaling boson
sampling to arbitrarily large sizes while maintaining a quantum
advantage, which has also motivated research in more robust
variants of the model.
11–17
Following these theoretical develop-
ments, a strong experimental effort was then initiated to realize
progressively larger instances of boson sampling experiments.
This is leading to a race aimed at reachi ng the quantum
advantage
18
regime in a photonic platform, namely the condition
where the experiment is outper forming a classical computer. In
parallel, theoretical work was required to define suitable meth-
ods to verify that a given device is sampling from the correct
distribution.
19
This is indeed a relevant issue since the very com-
plexity of the problem forbids the application of usual verifica-
tion methods, and classical simulations become progressively
intractable for the incre asing system size.
In this paper, we discuss recent advances in the field of pho-
tonic boson sampling, with particular attention to experimental
implementations and validation methods. The remainder of this
paper is organized as follows. In Sec. 2, we first provide a theo-
retical overview on the problem, discussing the computational
model, classical simulation algorithms, and conditions that turn
the system amenable to efficient classical simulation. Then in
Sec. 3, we discuss variants of the original task that have been
proposed to improve the efficiency of the quantum simulator,
without affecting the problem’s complexity. In Sec. 4, we review
the experimental implementations reported so far, discussing the
employed photonic platforms. In Sec. 5, we provide an over-
view of the validation techniques for boson sampling that have
been proposed and tested experimentally. In Sec. 6, we then
discuss the scalability of photonic platforms toward achieving
the quantum supremacy regime. Finally, we provide an outlook
in Sec. 7, where we also discuss recently highlighted applica-
tions of boson sampling in contexts different from the original
proposal.
2 Boson Sampling: Theoretical Overview
In this section, we review the theoretical underpinnings of the
boson sampling problem. In Sec. 2.1, we define the problem and
discuss its computational complexity. In Sec. 2.2, we review the
known classical simulation algorithms, and in Sec. 2.3 we dis-
cuss some regimes, in which the classical simulation of boson
sampling is known to becom e tractable.
2.1 Model
Consider a set of m modes with associated creation operators
a
†
i
, for i ¼ 1; …;m, satisfying bosonic commutation relations.
A Fock state of n photons in these modes can be written as
jSi¼js
1
s
2
…s
m
i¼
Y
m
i¼1
ða
†
i
Þ
s
i
s
i
!
j0i; (1)
where s
i
are the non-negative integers that count the number of
photons in each mode and
P
s
i
¼ n. When s
i
≤ 1 for all i, the
state is a no-collision state, meaning that there is no individual
mode containing two or more photons.
Consider now an m-mode linear-optical transformation (i.e.,
an interferometer) described by U ∈ SUðmÞ. Its action is fully
determined by the evolution of the creation operators:
a
†
i
→
X
m
j¼1
U
ij
a
†
j
: (2)
It follows
9,20,21,22
that the transition probability between an in-
put state jSi¼js
1
s
2
…s
m
i and an output state jTi¼jt
1
t
2
…t
m
i
can be written as
Pr½S → T¼
jPerðU
S;T
Þj
2
s
1
!…s
m
!t
1
!…t
m
!
; (3)
where U
S;T
is an n × n submatrix of U constructed by taking t
i
copies of the i’th row of U and s
j
copies of its j’th column,
9
and
PerðBÞ¼
X
σ∈S
n
Y
n
i¼1
b
i;σðiÞ
(4)
is the permanent
10
of matrix B, and S
n
is the symmetric group.
Since the permanent is, in general, hard to compute,
10
Eq. (3)
underpins the complexity of a particular class of linear optical
experiments. In complexity theory terms, the permanent is
#P-hard,
10
and the best known classical algorithm for computing
it, due to Ryser, takes Oðn2
n
Þ steps for an n × n matrix. The
connection to complexity theory was noted by Troyansky
and Tishby
21
who attempted to leverage Eq. (3) to build a quan-
tum-mechanical algorithm to compute permanents. They real-
ized that their algorithm was not efficient, as exponentially
many experimental samples would be needed to produce a suf-
ficiently good approximation. AA explored this connection fur-
ther by shifting to sampling problems, where the computational
task is to produce a sample from some probability distribution
sufficiently close to the ideal one.
9
We now outline the argument
of AA, emphasizing the requirements it raises for experimental
demonstrations of boson sampling. Further developments that
attempted to soften the initial requirements are reviewed in
Sec. 3.
The standard boson sampling setup
9
consists of the following
ingredients (see Fig. 1).
(i) Preparation of a n-photon, m-mode input state, with each
mode containing either zero or one photon. Without loss of
generality, we can choose an input state with a single pho-
ton in each of the first n modes. Having more photons per
input mode means choosing repeated columns in the sub-
matrix of Eq. ( 3 ), which is likely to make the permanent
easier to compute (in the situation where all photons are
input in the same mode, the computation becomes trivial).
(ii) An m-mode interferometer described by an m-
dimensional Haar-random unitary operator U, where
m ¼ O ðn
2
Þ. An arbitrary interferometer can be built as
a circuit with Oðm
2
Þ two-mode elements and depth
OðmÞ.
23,24
Since only some input modes are occupied,
it is possible to reduce this further to a circuit of OðmnÞ
elements and depth Oðn log mÞ.
9
The randomness of U
has two main purposes. The first is so U does not have
any special structure that a classical simulation algorithm
could exploit. The second is that, for Haar-random uni-
taries in Oðn
2
Þ modes, the outcomes are dominated by
no-collision events due to the bosonic birthday paradox.
9,25
(iii) Photon detectors on every output. Given (ii), it suffices for
them to be bucket detectors, i.e., to only distinguish be-
tween vacuum and nonvacuum states.
Brod et al.: Photonic implementation of boson sampling: a review
Advanced Photonics 034001-2 May∕Jun 2019
•
Vol. 1(3)
Let D be the probability distribution predicted by quantum
mechanics for the no-collision outcomes of such an experiment,
and let k · k represent the total variation distance (TVD).
9
The main result of AA states (up to two additional complexity-
theoretic conjectures) that, if a classical algorithm existed that
could produce a sample from any distribution D
0
such that
kD − D
0
k < ϵ; (5)
in time polyðn; 1∕ϵÞ, the polynomial hierarchy (PH) would col-
lapse to the third level. Since PH is a tower of complexity classes
that is strongly believed to be infinite, the result of AA provides
strong evidence against the possibility of an efficient classical
simulation of boson sampling.
The proposal of AA uses an approximate notion of simula-
tion, as seen in Eq. (5). Thus one could attempt a classical sim-
ulation using an algorithm for approximating the permanent,
rather than Ryser’s exact algorithm. The problem with this ap-
proach is that it can be shown that the permanent would also be
#P-hard to approximate on the worst case
9
to the required pre-
cision. One classical algorithm to approximate the permanent is
due to Gurvits.
26
It takes time Oðn
2
∕ϵ
2
Þ to compute the perma-
nents of the n × n matrices in a boson sampling distribution to
precision ϵ. This is not sufficient to give a simulation of boson
sampling because there we typically have exponentially many
permanents that are exponentially small, and so approximating
them to a nontrivial precision via this algorithm would take
exponential time.
In very broad strokes, the argument of AA is as follows. If U
is a Haar-random matrix and m ¼ Oðn
2
Þ, it can be proven that
n × n submatrices of U look approximately Gaussian. Since
Gaussian matrices do not seem to possess any special structure
that a classical algorithm could exploit, it is reasonable to con-
jecture that, with high probability, the permanent of a Gaussian
matrix is among the hardest ones to compute (this is the perma-
nent-of-Gaussians conjecture). However, if a classical algorithm
could sample from a distribution ϵ-close in TVD to the ideal
one, it would have to be approximating most probabilities very
well. Using an algorithm attributable to Stockmeyer,
27
it would
then be possible to solve a #P-hard problem inside BPP
NP
, which
is a complexity class that resides inside the third level of the PH.
Using a theorem due to Toda,
28
this would imply that the entire
hierarchy would have to collapse to its third level. This result,
thus, establishes that boson sampling is hard to simulate, even
in an approxi mate sense, up to three conjectures that: (i) PH is
infinite, (ii) permanents of Gaussian matrices are #P-hard to
approximate, and (iii) permanents of Gaussian matrices are
not too concentrated around zero. The third conjecture is
more technical but is necessary to relate two versions of the
problem of approximating permanents of Gaussian matrices:
to within additive and multiplicative errors.
2.2 Simulation Algorithms
The AA argument provides evidence that any boson sampling
simulation on a classical computer must take a time which
grows exponentially with the number of photons n. It is impor-
tant to find the best classical algorithms for boson sampling
simulation. This will help to establish the goals for experimen-
tally demonstrating unequivocal quantum computational advan-
tage. From a more practical point of view, simulation algorithms
are required for analyzing current, small-scale implementations.
Optimal simulation algorithms also help clarify how inevitable
experimental imperfections affect the computational power of
the model; this includes partial photon distinguishability and
photon loss. In this section, we review known classical simula-
tion algorithms for boson sampling.
The brute-force approach for simulating boson sampling
would involve calculating the probabilities associated with all
input–output possibilities (in case we are using the variable-
input, scattershot approach to boson sampling, see Sec. 3.1).
Doing this for n photons in m ¼ n
2
modes with Ryser’s algo-
rithm, and for all
n
2
n
input–output combinations, would take
Oðn2
n
Þ
n
2
n
time steps. As regards space (memory) usage, it is
not necessary to store all calculated permanents.
29
This brute-
force approach is computationally intensive in the extreme;
we now review recently proposed algorithms that have consid-
erably improved on this.
(a) (b)
Fig. 1 Boson sampling and its corresponding photonic implementation. (a) Conceptual scheme of
the boson sampling task. The output probabilities after the scattering process are related to the
evaluation of permanents of n × n submatrices of U , obtained by selecting rows and column of the
matrix U describing the linear transformation. A classical simulation then requires the evaluation of
hard-to-compute matrix permanents. (b) Photonic approach to building a quantum device that
solves the boson sampling task. The three main building blocks are: (i) n photon sources for input
state generation, (ii) m-mode linear interferometer, composed of beam splitters and phase
shifters, implementing the selected unitary transformation U, and (iii) detectors on each of the
output modes.
Brod et al.: Photonic implementation of boson sampling: a review
Advanced Photonics 034001-3 May∕Jun 2019
•
Vol. 1(3)
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