Abstract

Programmable unitary transformations on integrated photonics platforms are becoming a powerful tool for quantum computing, machine learning, and optical communications. A major challenge is dealing with the fabrication errors of these circuits, which can degrade performance. One common approach uses a mesh of Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZIs) to decompose arbitrary unitary transformations into U(2) transformations [1]. While this architecture is mathematically clear and provides an explicit method for determining the phase shifts in each MZI, it is also sensitive to fabrication errors, and ongoing research is focused on finding ways to correct these errors.

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