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Description
Can you character count: We study a minimalistic framework for the realization of photonic unitary transformations based on thin phase gratings interleaved with free-space propagation. The problem of realizing a unitary transformation on a given number of modes is expressed as a simple matrix model in transverse momentum space. This approach drastically reduces the number of system parameters compared to general multiplane light converters. We demonstrate the optimization of the system parameters to target $d\times d$ unitary transformations on the diffraction orders for $d=2$ to $d=5$. The effect of the number of diffraction-propagation layers on the performance of the optical system is examined, showing that it can achieve unitary transformations such as the discrete Fourier transform, (generalized) Pauli gates, and the $T$-gate with high accuracy given a sufficient number of layers.
| Keyword-1 | Unitary Operations |
|---|---|
| Keyword-2 | Gratings |
| Keyword-3 | Optical computing |