Engineering a C-phase quantum gate: optical design and experimental realization

A two qubit quantum gate, namely the C-phase, has been realized by exploiting the longitudinal momentum (i.e. the optical path) degree of freedom of a single photon. The experimental setup used to engineer this quantum gate represents an advanced version of the high stability closed-loop interferometric setup adopted to generate and characterize 2-photon 4-qubit phased Dicke states. Some experimental results, dealing with the characterization of multipartite entanglement of the phased Dicke states are also discussed in detail.