Time-Frequency Continuous-Variable Quantum Teleportation with Single Photons
Abstract
Quantum teleportation, a key building block for quantum technologies, enables distant parties, Alice and Bob, to transfer an unknown quantum state using entanglement, local operations, and classical communication. In this work, we propose a quantum teleportation protocol for single-photon time-frequency continuous variables, where time is the time of arrival at a detector. We detail the operational requirements of the protocol, notably the nonlinear interactions needed for the photon-photon time-frequency entangling gate. By explicitly treating the detector position as the reference frame for time of arrival, we show that, even with ideal classical and quantum channels, the input-output fidelity is not unity unless the receiving party can correct the detector-position mismatch. This results in a trade-off between teleportation fidelity and the temporal bandwidth of the input photon wavepacket. The protocol itself can be used for remote detector synchronization. In particular, we show that time-frequency cat and Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill states provide an internal temporal ruler through fidelity revivals. We further derive the classical and best-copy fidelity thresholds for single-photon Gaussian wavepackets, finding that the relevant vacuum-equivalent shot noise is input-dependent, in contrast with quadrature-based continuous-variable quantum teleportation. Our proposal derives from a quantum theory of space-time events, whereafter we establish space as a reference for the time degree of freedom, thereby grounding our work in ongoing research on reference frames and superselection rules in quantum optics and quantum information. Beyond protocols harnessing time-frequency continuous variables of single photons, this work points toward remote synchronization in quantum communication architectures.
Related
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BibTeX
@misc{meguebel2026timefrequency,
title = {{Time-Frequency Continuous-Variable Quantum Teleportation with Single Photons}},
author = {Mohamed Meguebel and Nadia Belabas and Nicolas Fabre},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.16198},
eprint = {2610.16198},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.16198},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Time-Frequency Continuous-Variable Quantum Teleportation with Single Photons
AU - Mohamed Meguebel
AU - Nadia Belabas
AU - Nicolas Fabre
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/12
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.16198
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.16198
AB - Quantum teleportation, a key building block for quantum technologies, enables distant parties, Alice and Bob, to transfer an unknown quantum state using entanglement, local operations, and classical communication. In this work, we propose a quantum teleportation protocol for single-photon time-frequency continuous variables, where time is the time of arrival at a detector. We detail the operational requirements of the protocol, notably the nonlinear interactions needed for the photon-photon time-frequency entangling gate. By explicitly treating the detector position as the reference frame for time of arrival, we show that, even with ideal classical and quantum channels, the input-output fidelity is not unity unless the receiving party can correct the detector-position mismatch. This results in a trade-off between teleportation fidelity and the temporal bandwidth of the input photon wavepacket. The protocol itself can be used for remote detector synchronization. In particular, we show that time-frequency cat and Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill states provide an internal temporal ruler through fidelity revivals. We further derive the classical and best-copy fidelity thresholds for single-photon Gaussian wavepackets, finding that the relevant vacuum-equivalent shot noise is input-dependent, in contrast with quadrature-based continuous-variable quantum teleportation. Our proposal derives from a quantum theory of space-time events, whereafter we establish space as a reference for the time degree of freedom, thereby grounding our work in ongoing research on reference frames and superselection rules in quantum optics and quantum information. Beyond protocols harnessing time-frequency continuous variables of single photons, this work points toward remote synchronization in quantum communication architectures.
ER -