Citation for the 2019 (the 7th) Nishina Asia Award
Chao-Yang Lu(Professor of Physics, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Science at Microscale,
University of Science and Technology of China)
For his outstanding contributions to quantum information science with single photons
Quantum mechanics allows a new type of information, quantum information, represented byquantum states that can be superposition of states. Quantum computation, quantum
cryptography, quantum communication and quantum sensing are applications of quantum
information to perform tasks that are impossible or inefficient with classical counterparts.
Physical implementation of quantum information processing requires manipulations ofsystems at the quantum scale and the manipulation technology has been rapidly developing
since the 1990s. At the same time, quantum information science, the study of the novel andsometimes counterintuitive phenomena, such as quantum entanglement, of these quantum
systems has emerged and is progressing rapidly. Quantum information science provides
new understanding of physics in terms of how the nature of quantum mechanics enables orlimits information processing.
Quantum optics is one of the main platforms for quantum information science andtechnology because single photons are robust against noise. Dr. Chao-Yang Lu has been
making many groundbreaking contributions to experimental quantum information science
with single photons where quantum information is encoded in the modes of single photon
states since the late 2000s starting from his work on generation of quantum multi-photonentanglement.

Among his many important contributions, the four recent references onsolid-state single photon sources [1, 2], on quantum teleportation [3], and on opticalquantum computation [4] should be particularly highlighted.
Single photon sources with high purity, high indistinguishability and high efficiency ondemand are the key elements to take advantage of quantum information processing withsingle photons. However, fulfilling all of these requirements is still demanding and had notbeen fully achieved. In 2013, Dr. Lu and his collaborators created single photon sources
generating pulsed single photons on demand with near unity indistinguishability using a selfassembled InGaAs quantum dot embedded in a planar microcavity [1].

Dr. Lu and his

collaborators made another step in 2015 when they achieved quantum teleportation ofquantum information encoded in two distinct degrees of freedom, the spin and orbital
angular momentum of a single photon [2] for the first time.

Quantum teleportationtransmits quantum information by utilizing quantum entanglement and is a fundamental
component for many quantum information tasks including quantum repeaters required forlong-distance quantum communication. Furthermore, Dr. Lu’s group successfully createdon-demand single photon sources with simultaneously high purity, distinguishability andefficiency in 2016 [3].

Using these single photon sources, he and his collaborators

demonstrated an experimental realization of a quantum computing algorithm, boson
sampling for up to 5 photons in 2017 [4], which was a significant step toward exhibiting aquantum advantage of quantum computers.
As presented, Dr. Lu has made many breakthroughs in quantum information science withsingle photons and has been instrumental in establishing Asian leadership of the global fieldof quantum information science. For these reasons, Dr. Lu strongly deserves the Nishina
Asia Award.
References:
1. On-demand semiconductor single-photon source with near-unity indistinguishability, Y.M. He, Y. He, Y.-J. Wei, D. Wu, M. Atatüre, C. Schneider, S. Höfling, M. Kamp, C.-Y. Lu & J.W. Pan, Nature Nanotechnology 8, 213–217 (2013)
2. Quantum teleportation of multiple degrees of freedom of a single photon, X.-L. Wang,X.-D. Cai, Z.-E. Su, M.-C. Chen, D. Wu, L. Li, N.-L. Liu, C.-Y. Lu & J.-W. Pan, Nature 518, 516–519 (2015)
3. On-Demand Single Photons withHigh

Extraction

Efficiency

andNear-Unity

Indistinguishability from a Resonantly Driven Quantum Dot in a Micropillar, X. Ding, Y. He,Z.-C. Duan, N. Gregersen, M.-C. Chen, S. Unsleber, S. Maier, C. Schneider, M. Kamp, S.
Höfling, C.-Y. Lu, and J.-W. Pan, Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 020401 (2016)
4. High-efficiency multiphoton boson sampling, H. Wang, Y. He, Y.-H. Li, Z.-E. Su, B. Li, H.-L.
Huang, X. Ding, M.-C. Chen, C. Liu, J. Qin, J.-P. Li, Y.-M. He, C. Schneider, M. Kamp, C.-Z.
Peng, S. Höfling, C.-Y. Lu & J.-W. Pan, Nature Photonics 11, 361–365 (2017)