  Quantum photonic integrated circuits (QPICs) based on dielectric waveguides
have been widely used in linear optical quantum computation. Recently, surface
plasmons have been introduced to this application because they can confine and
manipulate light beyond the diffraction limit. In this study, the on-chip
quantum interference of two single surface plasmons was achieved using
dielectric-loaded surface-plasmon-polariton waveguides. The high visibility
(greater than 90%) proves the bosonic nature of single plasmons and emphasizes
the feasibility of achieving basic quantum logic gates for linear optical
quantum computation. The effect of intrinsic losses in plasmonic waveguides
with regard to quantum information processing is also discussed. Although the
influence of this effect was negligible in the current experiment, our studies
reveal that such losses can dramatically reduce quantum interference visibility
in certain cases; thus, quantum coherence must be carefully considered when
designing QPIC devices.
