Protecting an EPR state by quantum engineering of decoherence

Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR)-entangled state light field at a telecommunication wavelength of 1.5 μm is an important quantum source for realizing the continuous variable quantum information processing and some quantum protocols over optical fiber channel. When the EPR-entangled state light field is distributed over the optical fiber channel, the disentanglement is always present because the the EPR entangled state interacts with the fiber channel. It affects the performance of quantum information processing. In this paper, we theoretically calculate the positive partial transposition (PPT) of the entangled state distributed over the optical fiber channel in the single-channel and dual-channel distribution scheme, respectively. Three types of initial entangled light field are considered and analyzed, they being an initial EPR entangled state, an EPR entangled state with asymmetric quadratures, and an EPR entangled state with asymmetric modes. Furthermore, the influence of the extra noise in the optical fiber on the transmission distance of EPR entangled state over the optical fiber channel is investigated. In the single-channel scheme or dual-channel scheme, the extra noise in the optical fiber channel leads the entangled state light field to be disentangled, and the transmission distance of EPR entangled state over the optical fiber channel to decrease rapidly with the increase of the extra noise. For maintaining the robustness of EPR entangled states in lossy optical fiber channels, the dual-channel scheme has more stringent requirements for the correlation quadrature symmetry and purity of the initial entangled state than the single-channel scheme. In the single fiber noise channel scheme, the maximum transmission distance and the robustness of the EPR entangled states with asymmetric modes are not sensitive to the asymmetry between modes. The change of asymmetry between modes does not lead to being disentangled. The maximum transmission distance does not change either. However, the decrease of asymmetry between modes results in the disentanglement in the double fiber noise channels’ scheme. The maximum transmission distance is reduced and the sudden death occurs to the entanglement. The present results will lay a foundation for continuous variables quantum information processing based on optical fiber, such as realizing continuous variables quantum communication over optical fiber and constructing metropolitan quantum network over optical fiber.

New approach to the fidelity of quantum teleportation based on the entangled state generated by beam splitter

Few studies explored the dynamics of nonclassical correlations besides entanglement in open multipartite quantum systems. Here, we address the time evolution of quantum discord and entanglement in a model of three noninteracting qubits subject to a classical random telegraph noise in common and separated environments. Two initial entangled states of the system are examined, namely the GHZ- and W-type states. The dynamics of quantum correlations results to be strongly affected by the input configuration of the qubits, the type of the system-environment interaction, and the memory properties of the environmental noise. When the qubits are nonlocally coupled to the random telegraph noise, the GHZ-type states partially preserve, at long times, both discord and entanglement, regardless of the correlation time of the environmental noise. The survived entangled states turn out to be also detectable by means of suitable entanglement witnesses. On the other hand, in the same conditions, the decohering effects suppress all the quantum correlation of the W-type states which are thus less robust than the GHZ-type ones. The long-time survival of tripartite discord and entanglement opens interesting perspectives in the use of multipartite entangled states for practical applications in quantum information science.

Suppose two distant observers, Alice and Bob, share some form of entanglement - quantum correlations - in some bipartite pure quantum states. They may apply local operations and classical communication to convert one form of entanglement to another. Since entanglement is regarded as a resource in quantum information processing, it is an important question to ask how much classical communication, which is also a resource, is needed in the inter-conversion process of entanglement. In this paper, we address this important question in the many-copy case. The inter-conversion process of entanglement is usually divided into two types: concentrating the entanglement from many partially entangled states into a smaller number of maximally entangled states (i.e., singlets) and the reverse process of diluting singlets into partially entangled states. It is known that entanglement concentration requires no classical communication, but the best prior art result for diluting to N copies of a partially entangled state requires an amount of communication on the order of /spl radic/N. Our main result is to prove that this prior art result is optimal up to a constant factor; any procedure for approximately creating N partially entangled states from singlets requires /spl Omega/(/spl radic/N) bits of classical communication. Previously not even a constant bound was known for approximate entanglement transformations. We also prove a lower bound on the inefficiency of the process: to dilute singlets to N copies of a partially entangled state, the entropy of entanglement must decrease by /spl Omega/(/spl radic/N). Moreover, we introduce two new tools - /spl delta/-significant subspaces and the standard form protocol reduction in entanglement manipulations. We hope that these two new tools will be useful in other work in quantum information theory.

This paper contributes to the proceedings of the Latin-American School of Physics (ELAF-2017) on Quantum Correlations, and is a brief review of quantum entanglement and nonlocality. In such a brief review, only some topics can be covered. The emphasis is on those topics relevant that may be relevant to detecting multi-particle quantum correlations arising in atomic and Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) experiments. The paper is divided into five sections. In the first section, the historical papers of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR), Bell, Schrodinger and Greenberger-Zeilinger-Horne (GHZ) are described in a tutorial fashion. This is followed by an introduction to entanglement and density operators. A discussion of the classes of nonlocality is given in the third section, including the modern interpretation of the correlations of the EPR paradox experiments, known as EPR steering correlations. The fourth section covers the detection and generation of so-called continuous variable entanglement and EPR steering. Various known criteria are derived with the details of the proofs given for tutorial purposes. The final section focuses on the criteria and methods that have been useful to detect quantum correlation in BEC or atomic systems. Recent results relating spin squeezing with quantum correlations, including entanglement and EPR steering, are summarised.

Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) steering is an intermediate quantum correlation that lies in between entanglement and Bell non-locality. Its temporal analogue, temporal steering, has recently been shown to have applications in quantum information and open quantum systems. Here, we show that there exists a hierarchy among the three temporal quantum correlations: temporal inseparability, temporal steering, and macrorealism. Given that the temporal inseparability can be used to define a measure of quantum causality, similarly the quantification of temporal steering can be viewed as a weaker measure of direct cause and can be used to distinguish between direct cause and common cause in a quantum network.

Quantum correlations, particularly squeezing and entanglement, are essential in quantum technologies such as metrology, computation, and simulation, as well as in foundational studies. In quantum optics, these phenomena are often intertwined: two squeezed beams can be transformed into entangled beams by mixing them at a beam splitter, and vice versa. However, it is less common to encounter states where two beams are simultaneously squeezed individually while retaining global entanglement. These hybrid states evidently present potential possibilities for applications. In this work, we propose a compact single-cavity source based on a nondegenerate optical parametric oscillator operated below threshold, capable of generating such light—signal and idler beams that are quadrature-squeezed individually while maintaining global entanglement. This behavior arises from an additional linear coupling between the signal and idler, resembling a beam-splitter interaction. We discuss two physical implementations of this system: one based on intra-cavity electro-optic modulators and the other on optomechanical interactions. This unique combination of local and non-local quantum correlations opens the door to novel quantum communication and metrology protocols.

Entanglement source with high entanglement degree is the guarantee for accomplishing the quantum information transmission and process with higher fidelity. Continuous variable Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) entangled optical field with quantum correlation of amplitude and phase quadrature is a basic and important quantum resource in the quantum information science area, which can be obtained by a non-degenerate optical parametric amplifier (NOPA) operated below the threshold pump power. Because of the limitation of the imperfect performance of optical components in optical cavity, we should find efficient methods of implementing quantum manipulation to improve the entanglement degree of the entangled state of light. Connecting NOPA1 and NOPA2 in series, the entangled state of light output from the NOPA1 can be manipulated by NOPA2, and the entanglement degree can be enhanced under certain conditions. To improve the entanglement degree to a greater extent, the structure of the NOPA1 is chosen as a half-monolithic standing-wave optical resonator with the triple resonance of the pump and two subharmonic modes. The NOPA1 is able to output the entangled optical fields with an entanglement degree of 8.4 dB, which is the highest entanglement generated by a single device so far. The structure of the NOPA2 can be chosen as a standing-wave optical cavity or a four-mirror ring optical cavity. According to the different structures of the NOPA2, we theoretically design two kinds of optical systems with two cascaded cavities and compare the effects of the two optical systems on the continuous variable EPR entanglement cascaded enhancement in detail. Based on the above contrastive analysis, when the entanglement degree of the input optical fields is 8.4 dB and the transmissivity of the output coupler is lower, the structure of a four-mirror ring optical cavity for NOPA2 cannot enhance the entanglement degree, so the optical system including NOPA2 with standing wave cavity structure and the optical isolator with high transmission efficiency is appropriate. When the transmissivity of the output coupler and transmission efficiency of the optical isolator are higher, the structure of the NOPA2 should be chosen as a standing-wave optical cavity, otherwise the structure of the NOPA2 should be chosen as a four-mirror ring optical cavity. We also theoretically analyze the dependence of the correlation degree of output optical fields on physical parameters. The results show that under the conditions of higher input and output coupling efficiency, higher transmission efficiency and lower intro-cavity loss, the entangled state of light with higher entanglement degree can be obtained experimentally. This provides the reference for obtaining entangled optical fields with higher entanglement degree in the future.

The second quantum revolution is all about exploiting the quantum nature of atoms and molecules to execute quantum information processing tasks. To boost this growing endeavor and by anticipating the key role of quantum chemistry therein, our work establishes a framework for systematically exploring, quantifying and dissecting correlation effects in molecules. By utilizing the geometric picture of quantum states we compare—on a unified basis and in an operationally meaningful way—total, quantum and classical correlation and entanglement in molecular ground states. To unlock and maximize the quantum informational resourcefulness of molecules an orbital optimization scheme is developed, leading to a paradigm-shifting insight: a single covalent bond equates to the entanglement . This novel and more versatile perspective on electronic structure suggests a generalization of valence bond theory, overcoming deficiencies of modern chemical bonding theories.

Freezing of quantum and classical correlations via trace and Hellinger distances

How to concentrate non-maximally entangled states for quantum communication is a fundamental problem in quantum information. In this paper, we will apply generalized measurements to entanglement concentration of known non-maximally entangled pure states in arbitrary dimensional system. How to design the generalized measurements for the unambiguous discrimination of linearly independent non-orthogonal states is crucial for the concentration of the known non-maximally entangled states. The result shows that, any known non-maximally entangled pure state (for arbitrary dimensional system) can be transformed to the maximally entangled state only by introducing a qubit as ancilla and a joint unitary transformation operation on one of the entangled particles and the ancilla. In addition, because the less entangled state of each fail round will be re-concentrated too, the entanglement waste during the concentration process will be greatly reduced.

Environment and initial state engineered dynamics of quantum and classical correlations

Beam splitters are important components in numerous tasks of quantum information protocols used either in simple or in an interferometric arrangement or together with other quantum systems. This report shows interesting aspects of the quantum correlations of two-mode Gaussian state (TMGS) for the photons retrieved via a linear beam splitter when they are initially employed at the input of either pure or mixed two single-mode Gaussian states (TSMGSs). The quantum correlations obey the boundaries of quantum non-locality, steering, entanglement and discord for pure input states. Though Bell inequality does not violate, quantum steering, entanglement and discord exist in the quantum state evolved by the beam splitter when input states become mixed. Specifically, the quantum steering, entanglement and discord persist to some degrees against the thermal photon number, the Bell inequality is, nonetheless, obeyed by the quantum state except in a very sharp regime.

Improvement of entanglement via catalytic quantum scissors

Two independent experiments demonstrate that quantum entanglement that has been lost in decoherence processes can be recovered. For the first time such ’entanglement distillation’ has been achieved for states of light that are entangled in continuous variables, which should help to increase the distance over which quantum information can be distributed. The distribution of entangled states of light over long distances is a major challenge in the field of quantum information. Optical losses, phase diffusion and mixing with thermal states lead to decoherence and destroy the non-classical states after some finite transmission-line length. Quantum repeater protocols1,2, which combine quantum memory3, entanglement distillation4,5 and entanglement swapping6, were proposed to overcome this problem. Here we report on the experimental demonstration of entanglement distillation in the continuous-variable regime7,8,9. Entangled states were first disturbed by random phase fluctuations and then distilled and purified using interference on beam splitters and homodyne detection. Measurements of covariance matrices clearly indicate a regained strength of entanglement and purity of the distilled states. In contrast to previous demonstrations of entanglement distillation in the complementary discrete-variable regime10,11, our scheme achieved the actual preparation of the distilled states, which might therefore be used to improve the quality of downstream applications such as quantum teleportation12.