Ultrafast Pulse Shaping Approaches to Quantum Computing

Quantum computing exploits the quantum-mechanical nature of matter to exist in multiple possible states simultaneously. This new approach promises to revolutionize the present form of computing. As an approach to quantum computing, we discuss ultrafast laser pulse shaping, in particular, the acousto-optic modulator based Fourier-Transform pulse-shaper, which has the ability to modulate tunable high power ultrafast laser pulses. We show that optical pulse shaping is an attractive route to quantum computing since shaped pulses can be transmitted over optical hardware and the same infrastructure can be used for computation and optical information transfer. We also address the problem of extending coherence-times for optically induced processes.