Quantum cnot Gate with Actively Synchronized Photon Pairs

Controlling the synchronization of photons from probabilistic quantum sources plays a pivotal role in advancing efficient quantum information processing. We report the realization of a probabilistic entangling gate operating on actively synchronized photon pairs, using a quantum memory based on warm atomic vapor. We achieve a truth-table fidelity exceeding 85% and demonstrate Bell-inequality violation for all four Bell states. The reduction in visibility of the Hong-Ou-Mandel interference introduced by the storage process is identified as a primary factor limiting the gate fidelity. We derive an exact quantitative relation between Hong-Ou-Mandel visibility and gate fidelity for pure single photons, which applies to all photonic gates relying on interference, regardless of the physical platform.