Time Reversal of Arbitrary Photonic Temporal Modes via Nonlinear Optical Frequency Conversion

Single-photon wave packets can carry quantum information between nodes of a quantum network. An important general operation in photon-based quantum information systems is blind reversal of a photon's temporal wave-packet envelope, that is, the ability to reverse an envelope without knowing the temporal state of the photon. We present an all-optical means for doing so, using nonlinear-optical frequency conversion driven by a short pump pulse. This scheme allows for quantum operations such as a temporal-mode parity sorter. We also verify that the scheme works for arbitrary states (not only single-photon ones) of an unknown wave packet.