Entanglement swapping allows to establish entanglement between independent particles that never interacted nor share any common past. This feature makes it an integral constituent of quantum repeaters. Here, we demonstrate entanglement swapping with time-synchronized independent sources with a fidelity high enough to violate a Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality by more than four standard deviations. The fact that both entangled pairs are created by fully independent, only electronically connected sources ensures that this technique is suitable for future long-distance quantum communication experiments as well as for novel tests on the foundations of quantum physics.
We propose an entanglement swapping scheme in cavity QED. In the scheme, the previously used joint measurement is not needed. The entanglement swapping in our proposal is a non-post-selection one, i.e., after the swapping is done, the swapped entanglement is still there.
Using entanglement swapping, we construct a scheme to distribute an arbitrary multiparticle state to remote receivers. Only Bell states and two-qubit collective measurements are required.
We consider entanglement swapping, a key component of quantum network operations and entanglement distribution. Pure entangled states, which are the desired input to the swapping protocol, are typically mixed by environmental interactions causing a reduction in their degree of entanglement. Thus an understanding of entanglement swapping with partially mixed states is of importance. Here we present a general analytical solution for entanglement swapping of arbitrary two-qubit states. Our result provides a comprehensive method for analyzing entanglement swapping in quantum networks. First, we sh…
We investigate the purification of entangled states by local actions using a variant of entanglement swapping. We show that there exists a measure of entanglement which is conserved in this type of purification procedure.
We address the question as to whether an entangled state that satisfies local realism will give a violation of the same, after entanglement swapping in a suitable scenario. We consider such possibility as a kind of superadditivity in nonclassicality. Importantly, it will indicate that checking for violation of local realism, in the state obtained after entanglement swapping, can be a method for detecting entanglement in the input state of the swapping procedure. We investigate various entanglement swapping schemes, which involve mixed initial states. The strength of violation of local realism …
We propose a simple non-linear crystal based optical scheme for experimental realization of the frequency entanglement swapping between the photons belonging to two independent biphotons.
We present a multiparty simultaneous quantum identity authentication protocol based on entanglement swapping. In our protocol, the multi-user can be authenticated by a trusted third party simultaneously.
An entanglement concentration scheme for unknown atomic entanglement states is proposed via entanglement swapping in cavity QED. Because the interaction used here is a large-detuned one between two driven atoms and a quantized cavity mode, the effects of the cavity decay and thermal field have been eliminated. These advantages can warrant the experimental feasibility of the current scheme.
We introduce generalized cat states for d-level systems and obtain concise formulas for their entanglement swapping with generalized Bell states. We then use this to provide both a generalization to the d-level case and a transparent proof of validity for an already proposed protocol of secret sharing based on entanglement swapping
We proposed a scheme on secret sharing of quantum information based on entanglement swapping in cavity QED. In our scheme, the effects of cavity decay and thermal field are all eliminated.
We consider entanglement swapping for certain mixed states. We assume that the initial states have the same singlet fraction and show that the final state can have singlet fraction greater than the initial states. We also consider two quantum teleportations and show that entanglement swapping can increase teleportation fidelity. Finally, we show how this effect can be demonstrated with linear optics.
We introduce a class of two-level multi-particle Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states, and study entanglement swapping between two systems for Bell states and the class of GHZ states in qubit systems, respectively. We give the formulas for the entanglement swapping of Bell states and GHZ states in any number of qubit systems. We further consider entanglement swapping between any number of Bell states and between any number of the introduced GHZ states, and propose a series of entanglement swapping schemes in a detailed way. We illustrate the applications of such schemes in quantum informat…
An unconditionally secure quantum cion tossing protocol for two remote participants via entangled swapping is presented. The security of this protocol is guaranteed by the nonlocal property of quantum entanglement and the classical complexity.
We consider multiple entanglement swappings performed on a chain of bipartite states. Each state does not violate CHSH inequality. We show that before some critical number of entanglement swappings is achieved the output state does not violate this inequality either. However, if this number is achieved then for some results of Bell measurements obtained in the protocol of entanglement swapping the output state violates CHSH inequality. Moreover, we show that for different states we have different critical numbers for which CHSH inequality is activated.
Two qubits in pure entangled states going through separate paths and interacting with their own individual environments will gradually lose their entanglement. Here we show that the entanglement change of a two-qubit state due to amplitude damping noises can be recovered by entanglement swapping. Some initial states can be asymptotically purified into maximally entangled states by iteratively using our protocol.
The usual entanglement swapping protocol can entangle two particles that never interact. Here we demonstrate an all-versus-nothing violation of local realism for a partial entanglement swapping process. A Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt-type inequality for two particles entangled by entanglement swapping is proposed for a practical experiment and can be violated quantum mechanically up to 4 beyond Cirel'son's bound 2sqr(2). Our result uncovers the intriguing nonlocal character of entanglement swapping and may lead to a conclusive (loophole-free) test of local realism versus quantum mechanics. The e…
We develop a theory and accompanying mathematical model for quantum communication via any number of intermediate entanglement swapping operations and solve numerically for up to three intermediate entanglement swapping operations. Our model yields two-photon interference visibilities post-selected on photon counts at the intermediate entanglement-swapping stations. Realistic experimental conditions are accommodated through parametric down-conversion rate, photon-counter efficiencies and dark-count rates, and instrument and transmission losses. We calculate achievable quantum communication dist…
We propose a scheme of loss-resilient entanglement swapping between two distant parties via an imperfect optical channel. In this scheme, two copies of hybrid entangled states are prepared and the continuous-variable parts propagate through lossy media. In order to perform successful entanglement swapping, several different measurement schemes are considered for the continuousvariable parts such as single-photon detection for ideal cases and a homodyne detection for practical cases. We find that the entanglement swapping using hybrid states with small amplitudes offers larger entanglement than…
The basic \emph{entanglement swapping protocol} allows to project two qubits, which have never interacted, onto a maximally entangled state. For deterministic swapping, the key ingredient is the maximal entanglement that was initially contained in two pairs of qubits and the capacity of projecting onto a Bell basis. Thus the basic and deterministic entanglement swapping scheme involves three maximal level of entanglement. In this work we propose probabilistic entanglement swapping processes performed with different amounts of initial entanglement. Besides that we suggest a non Bell measuring-b…
Quantum entanglement swapping is one of the most promising ways to realize the quantum connection among local quantum nodes. In this Letter, we present an experimental demonstration of the entanglement swapping between two independent multipartite entangled states, each of which involves a tripartite Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) entangled state of an optical field. The entanglement swapping is implemented deterministically by means of a joint measurement on two optical modes coming from the two multipartite entangled states respectively and the classical feedforward of the measurement res…
In a recent interesting article Chris Nagele, Ebubechukwu O. IloOkeke, Peter P. Rohde, Jonathan P. Dowling, and Tim Byrnes discuss an entanglement swapping experiment using a setup where it is possible to switch the time ordering of measurements. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the very same idea was introduced in two previous papers, and briefly address some important points related to the subject.
We report two key distribution schemes achieved by swapping quantum entanglement. Using two Bell states, two bits of secret key can be shared between two distant parties that play symmetric and equal roles. We also address eavesdropping attacks against the schemes.
We analyze theoretically a scheme that produces spin squeezing via the continuous swapping of atom-photon entanglement into atom-atom entanglement, and propose an explicit experimental system where the necessary atom-field coupling can be realized. This scheme is found to be robust against perturbations due to other atom-field coupling channels.
We consider violation of CHSH inequality for states before and after entanglement swapping. We present a pair of initial states which do not violate CHSH inequality however the final state violates CHSH inequality for some results of Bell measurements performed in order to swap entanglement.
A general proof of the security against eavesdropping of a previously introduced protocol for two-party quantum key distribution based on entanglement swapping [Phys. Rev. A {\bf 61}, 052312 (2000)] is provided. In addition, the protocol is extended to permit multiparty quantum key distribution and secret sharing of classical information.
We show that braiding transformation is a natural approach to describe quantum entanglement, by using the unitary braiding operators to realize entanglement swapping and generate the GHZ states as well as the linear cluster states. A Hamiltonian is constructed from the unitary $\check{R}_{i,i+1}(θ,ϕ)$-matrix, where $ϕ=ωt$ is time-dependent while $θ$ is time-independent. This in turn allows us to investigate the Berry phase in the entanglement space.
We recall several cryptographic protocols based on entanglement alone and also on entanglement swapping. We make an exposition in terms of the geometrical aspects of the involved Hilbert spaces, and we concentrate on the formal nature of the used transformations.
We propose an entanglement swapping of atomic states confined by cavities QED using a photonic Faraday rotation. Two schemes are considered in which we use three and four cavities, respectively, plus an additional circularly-polarized photon. After interacting with an atom trapped inside the cavity the system evolves to an entangled atom-photon state. The entanglement swapping is then achieved by a Bell-state measurement upon the entire atom-photon state.
Entanglement swapping is gaining widespread attention due to its application in entanglement distribution among different parts of quantum appliances. We investigate the entanglement swapping for pure and noisy systems, and argue different entanglement quantifiers for quantum states. We explore the relationship between the entanglement of initial states and the average entanglement of final states in terms of concurrence and negativity. We find that if initial quantum states are maximally entangled and we make measurements in the Bell basis, then average concurrence and average negativity of f…
We propose a curious protocol for swapping the intra-photon entanglement between path and polarization degrees of freedom of a single photon to inter-photon entanglement between two spatially separated photons which have never interacted. This is accomplished by using an experimental setup consisting of three suitable Mach-Zehnder interferometers along with number of beam splitters, polarization rotators and detectors. Using the same setup, we have also demonstrated an interesting quantum state transfer protocol, symmetric between Alice and Bob. Importantly, the Bell-basis discrimination is no…
Entanglement swapping between photon pairs is a fundamental building block in schemes using quantum relays or quantum repeaters to overcome the range limits of long-distance quantum key distribution. We develop a closed-form solution for the actual quantum states prepared by realistic entanglement swapping, which takes into account experimental deficiencies due to inefficient detectors, detector dark counts, and multiphoton-pair contributions of parametric down-conversion sources. We investigate how the entanglement present in the final state of the remaining modes is affected by the real-worl…
We report an experimental demonstration of entanglement swapping over two quantum stages. By successful realizations of two cascaded photonic entanglement swapping processes, entanglement is generated and distributed between two photons, that originate from independent sources and do not share any common past. In the experiment we use three pairs of polarization entangled photons and conduct two Bell-state measurements (BSMs) one between the first and second pair, and one between the second and third pair. This results in projecting the remaining two outgoing photons from pair 1 and 3 into an …
The entanglement swapping protocol is analyzed in a relativistic setting, where shortly after the entanglement swapping is performed, a Bell violation measurement is performed. From an observer in the laboratory frame, a Bell violation is observed due to entanglement swapping taking place, but in a moving frame the order of the measurements is reversed, and a Bell violation is observed even though no entanglement is present. Although the measurement results are identical, the wavefunctions for the two frames are different--- one is entangled and the other is not. Furthermore, for boosts in a p…
We show that the possibility of distinguishing between single and two photon detection events is not a necessary requirement for the proof that recent operational realization of entanglement swapping cannot find a local realistic description. We propose a simple modification of the experiment, which gives a richer set of interesting phenomena.
In this paper, an optimal scheme of four-level quantum teleportation and swapping of quantum entanglement is given. We construct a complete orthogonal basis of the bipartite ququadrit systems. Using this basis, the four-level quantum teleportation and swapping can be achieved according to the standard steps. In addition, associate the above bases with the unextendible product bases and the exact entanglement bases, we prove that in the $2\times 2\times 2$ systems or $3\times 3$ systems the collective translations of multipartite quantum entanglement can be realized. PACC numbers: 03.67.Mn, 03.…
In quant-ph/0201134 Jennewein et al. report experiments demonstrating entanglement swapping under various conditions. In one instance, they claim to have exhibited Bell inequality violations by a pair of photons prior to performing any entangling operations on the pair. However, the Bell inequality violation results in this case from post-selection of the data, not from quantum non-locality.
Entanglement swapping, the process to entangle two particles without coupling them in any way, is one of the most striking manifestations of the quantum-mechanical nonlocal characteristic. Besides fundamental interest, this process has applications in complex entanglement manipulation and quantum communication. Here we report a high-fidelity, unconditional entanglement swapping experiment in a superconducting circuit. The measured concurrence characterizing the qubit-qubit entanglement produced by swapping is above 0.75, confirming most of the entanglement of one qubit with its partner is dete…
We consider entanglement swapping with general mixed two-mode Gaussian states and calculate the optimal gains for a broad class of such states including those states most relevant in communication scenarios. We show that for this class of states, entanglement swapping adds no additional mixedness, that is the ensemble average output state has the same purity as the input states. This implies that, by using intermediate entanglement swapping steps, it is, in principle, possible to distribute entangled two-mode Gaussian states of higher purity as compared to direct transmission. We then apply th…
Extending the eavesdropping strategy devised by Zhang, Li and Guo [Phys. Rev. A 63, 036301 (2001)], we show that the multiparty quantum communication protocol based on entanglement swapping, which was proposed by Cabello [quant-ph/0009025], is not secure. We modify the protocol so that entanglement swapping can secure multiparty quantum communication, such as multiparty quantum key distribution and quantum secret sharing of classical information, and show that the modified protocol is secure against the Zhang-Li-Guo's strategy for eavesdropping as well as the basic intercept-resend attack.
We use hyper-entanglement to experimentally realize deterministic entanglement swapping based on quantum Elegant Joint Measurements. These are joint projections of two qubits onto highly symmetric, iso-entangled, bases. We report measurement fidelities no smaller than $97.4\%$. We showcase the applications of these measurements by using the entanglement swapping procedure to demonstrate quantum correlations in the form of proof-of-principle violations of both bilocal Bell inequalities and more stringent correlation criteria corresponding to full network nonlocality. Our results are a foray int…
Complementarity and entanglement are fundamental features of Quantum Mechanics that were recently related in triality equalities that involve quantum coherence, the wave aspect of a qubit, and quantum predictability and quantum entanglement, the particle aspect of a qubit. In this article, we give an operational connection between redictability and entanglement in entanglement swapping from initially partially entangled states. For this, we show that the predictability of the pre-measurement one-qubit density matrix is directly related to the probability of the partially entangled component of…
Based on a general unitary operation of two-qubit system, we investigate the dynamics of entanglement, entropy and purity. Distinctive features in the different initial states settings of an interacting bipartite system are explored. The striking effects of initial product states on entanglement shows that zeros entanglement can be obtained during the development of the interaction.
A basic problem of quantum communication is to generate entangled states between distant sites. Using entanglement swapping, we are able to generate an entangled state of the desired distance from connecting many short distance entangled states. We investigate the entanglement swapping of the Valence-Bond Solid state with un-identical local filtering operations. It is found that not only a long distance entangled state can be generated from the VBS state, but also there is a trade-off between the probability and the degree of the entanglement in the resultant state. The results are also genera…
We propose a method to refine entanglement via swapping from a pair of squeezed vacuum states by performing the Bell measurement of number sum and phase difference. The resultant states are maximally entangled by adjusting the two squeezing parameters to the same value. We then describe the teleportation of number states by using the entangled states prepared in this way.
Entanglement swapping generates remote quantum correlations between particles that have not interacted and is the cornerstone of long-distance quantum communication, quantum networks, and fundamental tests of quantum science. In the context of spatial modes of light, high-dimensional entanglement provides an avenue to increase the bandwidth of quantum communications and provides more stringent limits for tests of quantum foundations. Here we simultaneously swap the entanglement of multiple orbital angular momentum states of light. The system is based on a degenerate filter that cannot distingu…
The unconditional entanglement swapping for continuous variables is experimentally demonstrated. Two initial entangled states are produced from two nondegenerate optical parametric amplifiers operating at deamplification. Through implementing the direct measurement of Bell-state between two optical beams from each amplifier the remaining two optical beams, which have never directly interacted with each other, are entangled. The quantum correlation degrees of 1.23dB and 1.12dB below the shot noise limit for the amplitude and phase quadratures resulting from the entanglement swapping are straigh…
Entanglement is a unique property of quantum systems and an essential resource for many quantum technologies. The ability to transfer or swap entanglement between systems is an important protocol in quantum information science. Entanglement between photons forms the basis of distributed quantum networks and the demonstration of photonic entanglement swapping is essential for their realization. Here an experiment demonstrating entanglement swapping from two independent multimode time-frequency entangled sources is presented, resulting in multiple heralded temporal-mode Bell states. Entanglement…
Kang et al. [Chin. Phys. B 24 (2015) 090306] proposed a controlled mutual quantum entity authentication protocol. We find that the proposed protocol is not secure, that is, Charlie can eavesdrop the shared keys between Alice and Bob without being detected.
We consider an analogue of entanglement-swapping for a set of black boxes with the most general non-local correlations consistent with relativity (including correlations which are stronger than any attainable in quantum theory). In an attempt to incorporate this phenomenon, we consider expanding the space of objects to include not only correlated boxes, but `couplers', which are an analogue for boxes of measurements with entangled eigenstates in quantum theory. Surprisingly, we find that no couplers exist for two binary-input/binary-output boxes, and hence that there is no analogue of entangle…
We report on an experiment demonstrating entanglement swapping of time-frequency entangled photons. We perform a frequency-resolved Bell-state measurement on the idler photons from two independent entangled photon pairs, which projects the signal photons onto a two-color Bell state. We verify entanglement in this heralded state using two-photon interference and observing quantum beating without the use of filters, indicating the presence of two-color entanglement. Our method could lend itself to use as a highly-tunable source of frequency-bin entangled single photons.
We pose the fundamental question of communication properties of primitives irrespectively of their implementation. To illustrate the idea we introduce the concept of entanglement-swapping boxes, i.e. we consider any quantum operations which perform entanglement swapping, not necessarily via simple quantum teleportation. We ask a question about the properties of such boxes., i.e. what local operations and how much classical communication are needed to perform them. We also ask if any box which performs entanglement swapping can be used to establish classical communication. We show that each box…
In this paper, we study the effect of classical driving field on the spontaneous emission spectrum of a qubit embedded in a dissipative cavity. Furthermore, we monitor the entanglement dynamics of the driven qubit with its radiative decay under the action of the classical field. Afterwards, we carry out an investigation on the possibility of entanglement swapping between two such distinct driven qubits. The swapping will be feasible with the aid of a Bell state measurement performing on the photons leaving the cavities. It is demonstrated that the classical driving field has a beneficial effec…
We experimentally realize "hybrid" entanglement swapping between discrete-variable (DV) and continuous-variable (CV) optical systems. DV two-mode entanglement as obtainable from a single photon split at a beam splitter is robustly transferred by means of efficient CV entanglement and operations, using sources of squeezed light and homodyne detections. The DV entanglement after the swapping is verified without post-selection by the logarithmic negativity of up to 0.28$\pm$0.01. Furthermore, our analysis shows that the optimally transferred state can be post-selected into a highly entangled stat…
Based on a scheme that produces an entanglement between the spin and the path variables of a single spin-1/2 particle (qubit) using a beam-splitter and a spin-flipper, we formulate a procedure for transferring this intraparticle hybrid entanglement to an interparticle entanglement between the spin variables of two other spatially separated spin-1/2 particles which never interact with each other during the entire process. This procedure of entanglement swapping is accomplished by a Mach-Zehnder setup in conjunction with the Stern-Gerlach measuring device, using suitable unitary operations. The …
We propose a very simple scheme to test the quantum enatanglement swapping in a priori. In the scheme, we only assume the photon detector can distinguish the vacuum and non-vacuum Fock state rather than the exact Fock number states.
We propose a scheme to realize entanglement swapping via superradiance, entangling two distant cavities without a direct interaction. The successful Bell-state-measurement outcomes are performed naturally by the electromagnetic reservoir, and we show how, using a quantum trajectory method, the non-local properties of the state obtained after the swapping procedure can be verified by the steering inequality. Furthermore, we discuss how the unsuccessful measurement outcomes can be used in an experiment of delayed-choice entanglement swapping. An extension of testing the quantum steering inequali…
