Linear optics only allows every possible quantum operation for one photon or one port

We study the evolution of the quantum state of n photons in m different modes when they go through a lossless linear optical system. We show that there are quantum evolution operators U that cannot be built with linear optics alone unless the number of photons or the number of modes is equal to one. The evolution for single photons can be controlled with the known realization of any unitary proved by Reck, Zeilinger, Bernstein and Bertani. The evolution for a single mode corresponds to the trivial evolution in a phase shifter. We analyze these two cases and prove that any other combination of the number of photons and modes produces a Hilbert state too large for the linear optics system to give any desired evolution.

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