Factoring numbers with a single interferogram

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PhysRevA.83.020304.pdf (219.78 KB)

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https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevA.83.020304

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https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.83.020304
 http://hdl.handle.net/11603/39981

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UMBC Physics Department
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Author/Creator ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1963-3057

Date

2011-02-25

Type of Work

journal articles
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Citation of Original Publication

Tamma, Vincenzo, Heyi Zhang, Xuehua He, Augusto Garuccio, Wolfgang P. Schleich, and Yanhua Shih. “Factoring Numbers with a Single Interferogram.” Physical Review A 83, no. 2 (2011): 020304. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.83.020304.

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©2011 American Physical Society.

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UMBC Quantum Optics Lab

Abstract

We construct an analog computer based on light interference to encode the hyperbolic function f (ζ ) ≡ 1/ζ into a sequence of skewed curlicue functions. The resulting interferogram when scaled appropriately allows us to find the prime number decompositions of integers. We implement this idea exploiting polychromatic optical interference in a multipath interferometer and factor seven-digit numbers. We give an estimate for the largest number that can be factored by this scheme.