DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of group I (claims 12-15) in the reply filed on 06/16/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Objections
Claim(s) 15 is/are objected to because of the following informalities: “the second frequency is a frequency enabling quantum memory storage” should read “a second frequency is a frequency enabling quantum memory storage.” Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Munro et al., US-20090097862-A1 (hereinafter “Munro ‘862”) in view of Meyers et al., US-20130308956-A1 (hereinafter “Meyers ‘956”) and Harrison et al., US-20120093521-A1 (hereinafter “Harrison ‘521”).
Per claim 12 (independent):
Munro ‘862 discloses: An on-demand photon source, comprising:
an entanglement photon source configured to output first and second photons, respectively, at a first frequency;
a first quantum memory device configured to receive and store the first entangled photon;
a second quantum memory device configured to receive and store the second entangled photon
(FIG. 1A, [0019], Quantum repeaters or stations 160-0 to 160-N are sometimes generically referred to herein as quantum repeaters 160 (first and second quantum memory devices, that is, at least two quantum memory devices); FIG. 1B, [0018], One exemplary quantum repeater is based on hybrid light-matter systems, where light is used for quantum state transfer and matter systems (quantum memory devices) are used for quantum memory. In one particular entanglement process, a bright "probe pulse" (generated by an on-demand photon source; including at least one photon) interacts with a first matter qubit at one station, is transmitted on an optical network, and then interacts with a second matter qubit at a next station. Sequentially or in parallel, multiple probe pulses (output first and second photons) can similarly interact with respective pairs of matter qubits, where each pair including one qubit at each of the two stations; [0027], transmitter portion 120 includes matter systems 110, a state rotation system 118 capable performing state transformations on matter systems 110, a light source 122 (an entanglement photon source) capable of producing a probe pulse ... Transmitter portion 120 would typically include about 16 matter systems 110 that can independently be entangled with respective matter systems 130 in receiver portion 140; [0028], Each matter system 110 or 130 (quantum memory devices) in an exemplary embodiment of the invention is a system having quantum states
|
0
and
|
1
) suitable for the basis states of a qubit ... each matter system 110 or 130 corresponds to a single electron that is bound in an atom 112 or 132, and basis states
|
0
and
|
1
) correspond to spin projection Eigen states of the electron; [0032], the result of the measurement indicates whether those two matter systems 110 and 130 are in a quantum state having a component providing the desired entanglement; note that for long-distance communication, a plurality of quantum repeaters each include one or more matters systems serving as quantum memories, that is, the first and second quantum memory devices, and each matter system stores an entangled quantum state established, that is, receive and store the first and second entangled photons, through interactions and measurement with the probe pulse, thereby allowing subsequent entanglement swapping; FIG. 2, [0035], . The dispersive interaction light-matter interaction can be modeled by an evolution operator
U
^
of Equation 1, where Ω is a coupling constant and at and
a
+
are respectively the creation and annihilation operators for photons of the frequency used in the probe – at a first frequency; an operating frequency for light-matter interaction).
Munro ‘862 does not disclose but Meyers ‘956 discloses: an entanglement photon source configured to output first and second entangled photons (FIG. 10, [0152], a qubit Q1 of converted data is transferred to the receiver as a photon state. Bold dashed arrowed lines indicate the travel paths of individual portions of an entangled photon pair generated by the entangled photon source 250 (an entanglement photon source). Filled eight-sided stars P1 and P2 (outputted first and second entangled photons) indicate each part of an entangled photon pair. The dotted line between the stars represents the entanglement of the two photons).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Munro ‘862 with the transferring of a qubit of converted data to the receiver as a photon state and wherein a classical channel transmits two bits to indicate how to measure the remaining photon via an entangled photon pair generated by an entangled photon source as taught by Meyers ‘956 because it transfers an unknow qubit state between nodes without directly transmitting the original qubit over the entire distance, thereby this enables reliable long-distance communication. Additionally, Meyers ‘956 is analogous to the claimed invention because it teaches quantum data compression and transmission that are preferably performed using photons as quantum particle qubits [0104].
Munro ‘862 in view of Meyers ‘956 does not disclose but Harrison ‘521 discloses: a controller configured to direct the first and second quantum memory devices to output, in temporal synchronization, the respective first and second stored and entangled photons (FIG. 8, [0106], The quantum repeater ... build an end-to-end (E2E) entanglement between qubits in left and right end nodes of a chain of nodes whose intermediate nodes are quantum repeaters (including the first and second quantum memory devices outputting the respective first and second stored and entangled photons). Building an E2E entanglement on the "Quasi Asynchronous" basis involves a cycle-trigger signal being propagated along the chain of nodes from one end node thereby to enable each repeater along the chain to carry out one top-level cycle of operation in which it initiates a local merge operation (by outputting the respective first and second stored and entangled photons; the local-link entanglement (LLE) caused by outputting the respective first and second stored and entangled photons must be established before the corresponding merge operation (i.e., entanglement swapping) is initiated) when left and right qubits of the repeater are known to be, or are expected to be, leftward and rightward entangled respectively; [0109], Thus, at time t3 repeater QR2 effects its merge (indicated by circled ' M1' in FIG. 8) to form extended entanglement 87, at time t6 repeater QR4 effects its merge (indicated by circled "M2") in form extended entanglement 88, and finally at time t7 repeater QR3 effects its merge (indicated by circled 'M3') to combine extended entanglements 87 and 88 into E2E entanglement 89 (illustrates that merge operations M1, M2, and M3 are performed sequentially over time, that is, in temporal synchronization); [0041], the quantum state of the qubit concerned (the respective first and second stored and entangled photons) is transferred to nuclear spin (the first and second quantum memory devices) which has a much longer useful lifetime (typically of the order of a second, cumulatively). The quantum state can be later transferred back to electron spin thr a subsequent light field interaction (such as to perform a merge of two entanglements, described below) – indicates that each quantum repeater (and corresponding nodes) stores an entangled quantum state, that is, for later outputting the respective first and second stored and entangled photons, in electron and/or nuclear spins).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Munro ‘862 in view of Meyers ‘956 with the quasi-asynchronous operating cycle in which local-link entanglements are successively established, followed by sequential merge operations to extend the entanglement across multiple quantum repeater nodes as taught by Harrison ‘521 because this approach enables efficient end-to-end entanglement distribution while allowing successive operating cycles to proceed without waiting for completion of preceding merge operations [0106]-[0107]. Additionally, Harrison ‘521 is analogous to the claimed invention because it teaches creating an extended entanglement between two qubits which are located in respective end nodes [0057].
Claim(s) 13 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Munro ‘862 in view of Meyers ‘956 and Harrison ‘521 and Kuzmich et al., US-20080258049-A1 (hereinafter “Kuzmich ‘049”).
Per claim 13 (dependent on claim 12):
Munro ‘862 in view of Meyers ‘956 and Harrison ‘521 discloses the elements detailed in the rejection of claim 12 above, incorporated herein by reference.
Munro ‘862 in view of Meyers ‘956 and Harrison ‘521 does not disclose but Kuzmich ‘049 discloses: The on-demand photon source according to claim 12, wherein the first frequency is compatible with telecommunication optical fiber transmission (FIG. 1, [0037], a quantum communications system. System 100 includes a first fiber 105, an interface 110, a storage element 115, and a second fiber 120; [0038], in order to efficiently transmit and store data corresponding to the signals (e.g. the first signal or the second signal), the signals may be transmitted through the fibers within a certain frequency range (e.g. the telecommunication wavelength window.) (telecommunication optical fiber transmission) In this way the frequency may be chosen that minimizes dissipation of the signal in the fiber ... Via atomic cascade emission, for example, an entangled pair of photons may be generated (by the on-demand photon source). A first one (the first frequency) of the entangled pair may be ideal for long-distance quantum communication (e.g. in the telecommunication wavelength window – compatible with telecommunication optical fiber transmission) The other one of the entangled pair of photons may be suited for mapping to a long-lived atomic memory (e.g. storage element 115.)).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Munro ‘862 in view of Meyers ‘956 and Harrison ‘521 with the atomic cascade emission for generating an entangled pair of photons, where two photons whose wavelength is different has been emitted as taught by Kuzmich ‘049 because in this way the frequency may be chosen that minimizes dissipation of the signal in the fiber [0038]. Additionally, Kuzmich ‘049 is analogous to the claimed invention because it teaches a quantum communications system [FIG. 1].
Per claim 15 (dependent on claim 12):
Munro ‘862 in view of Meyers ‘956 and Harrison ‘521 discloses the elements detailed in the rejection of claim 12 above, incorporated herein by reference.
Munro ‘862 in view of Meyers ‘956 and Harrison ‘521 does not disclose but Kuzmich ‘049 discloses: The on-demand photon source according to claim 12, wherein the second frequency is a frequency enabling quantum memory storage (FIG. 1, [0037], a quantum communications system. System 100 includes a first fiber 105, an interface 110, a storage element 115, and a second fiber 120; [0038], in order to efficiently transmit and store data corresponding to the signals (e.g. the first signal or the second signal), the signals may be transmitted through the fibers within a certain frequency range (e.g. the telecommunication wavelength window.) In this way the frequency may be chosen that minimizes dissipation of the signal in the fiber ... Via atomic cascade emission, for example, an entangled pair of photons may be generated (by the on-demand photon source). A first one of the entangled pair may be ideal for long-distance quantum communication (e.g. in the telecommunication wavelength window.) The other one (the second frequency) of the entangled pair of photons may be suited for mapping to a long-lived atomic memory (e.g. storage element 115) – enabling quantum memory storage).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Munro ‘862 in view of Meyers ‘956 and Harrison ‘521 with the atomic cascade emission for generating an entangled pair of photons, where two photons whose wavelength is different has been emitted as taught by Kuzmich ‘049 because in this way the frequency may be chosen as a memory-compatible photon for efficient storage in an atomic quantum memory [0042].
Claim(s) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Munro ‘862 in view of Meyers ‘956 and Harrison ‘521 and Radnaev, A. G., et al. "A quantum memory with telecom-wavelength conversion." Nature Physics 6.11 (2010): 894-899. (Year: 2010)(hereinafter “Radnaev ‘010”).
Per claim 14 (dependent on claim 12):
Munro ‘862 in view of Meyers ‘956 and Harrison ‘521 discloses the elements detailed in the rejection of claim 12 above, incorporated herein by reference.
Munro ‘862 in view of Meyers ‘956 and Harrison ‘521 does not disclose but Radnaev ‘010 discloses: The on-demand photon source according to claim 12, wherein at least one of the first or second quantum memory devices is configured to perform frequency conversion from the first frequency to a second frequency ([pg. 894], In a fibre-based quantum information network, telecom-wavelength transmission between quantum memory elements (the first and second quantum memory devices) is required to minimize absorption ... We report its demonstration by converting to telecom wavelength near-infrared light emitted on a ground-state transition. The conversion is achieved with a diamond configuration of atomic transitions, in an optically thick gas of cold rubidium (an example of quantum memory devices). The quantum memory is also realized with cold rubidium ... By measuring quantum correlations of light fields before and after telecom down-conversion, transmission and up-conversion (frequency conversion from the first frequency to a second frequency), we demonstrate a basic memory element for a scalable, long-distance quantum network).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Munro ‘862 in view of Meyers ‘956 and Harrison ‘521 with the frequency conversion in and out of the telecom window by means of excited-state transitions in an auxiliary cold rubidium sample (memory devices) as taught by Radnaev ‘010 because a fibre-based network of such memory elements could potentially increase the scale of terrestrial quantum information processing to previously unattainable distances [pg.898]. Additionally, Radnaev ‘010 is analogous to the claimed invention because it teaches converting the signal photons produced by the write process into light of telecom wavelength [Conversion], pg.894.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Gray et al., US-20170163415-A1– a quantum key generation system comprises two photon detector units and two photon entanglement chains coupled by multicore fiber links configured for non-uniform photon propagation delay. The chains utilize quantum repeaters and terminating quantum memories to generate measurable entangled particles for the detector units.
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/SANGSEOK PARK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2499
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