Experimental approaches to quantum input-output networks

Since the development of input-output and cascaded quantum optic theory in the 1980s and 90s, much progress has been made in expanding this approach to far more complex networks. In particular, it is now possible to model many modular components simultaneously connected in series, parallel, and feeding back on each other via far-field quantum and/or classical signals. In this talk, I will review some of the experimental work in free-space optics, integrated photonics, and superconducting microwave systems that have leveraged these techniques to model networks beyond simple cascaded interconnections. Looking to the future, I believe that these modeling techniques will have an even greater experimental impact as they evolve and hybridize with other approaches in quantum and classical electronics, for example.