Photonic fusion operations transform partial distinguishability
Abstract
Photonic fusion operations are a central primitive in photonic quantum information processing and are commonly characterized by their success probability and resource cost. Here, we identify an additional way in which different implementations of fusion operations differ, namely in how they transform partial distinguishability. We consider distinguishability originating both from imperfect entangled resource states and from imperfect single photons. We find that different successful fusion events can induce markedly different distinguishability transformations depending on the fusion protocol, heralding outcome, and error model. Under a collective resource-state error model, we identify a modification to an existing fusion protocol that improves the fidelity of the remaining state on average. Generally, however, these transformations adversely affect distinguishability, and many successful fusion outcomes are accompanied by distinguishability degradation. Our results show that partial distinguishability is dynamically shaped by interference and measurements and should be considered alongside overall fusion success probability when evaluating photonic fusion protocols.
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BibTeX
@misc{hoven2026photonic,
title = {{Photonic fusion operations transform partial distinguishability}},
author = {S. N. van den Hoven and G. B. Lamers and J. J. Renema},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.01019},
eprint = {2609.01019},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.01019},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Photonic fusion operations transform partial distinguishability
AU - S. N. van den Hoven
AU - G. B. Lamers
AU - J. J. Renema
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.01019
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.01019
AB - Photonic fusion operations are a central primitive in photonic quantum information processing and are commonly characterized by their success probability and resource cost. Here, we identify an additional way in which different implementations of fusion operations differ, namely in how they transform partial distinguishability. We consider distinguishability originating both from imperfect entangled resource states and from imperfect single photons. We find that different successful fusion events can induce markedly different distinguishability transformations depending on the fusion protocol, heralding outcome, and error model. Under a collective resource-state error model, we identify a modification to an existing fusion protocol that improves the fidelity of the remaining state on average. Generally, however, these transformations adversely affect distinguishability, and many successful fusion outcomes are accompanied by distinguishability degradation. Our results show that partial distinguishability is dynamically shaped by interference and measurements and should be considered alongside overall fusion success probability when evaluating photonic fusion protocols.
ER -