Coherence is a fundamental resource in quantum information processing, which can be certified by a coherence witness. Due to the imperfection of measurement devices, a conventional coherence witness may lead to fallacious results. We show that the conventional witness could mistake an incoherent state as a state with coherence due to the inaccurate settings of measurement bases. In order to make the witness result reliable, we propose a measurement-device-independent coherence witness scheme without any assumptions on the measurement settings. We introduce the decoy-state method to significantly increase the capability of recognizing states with coherence. Furthermore, we experimentally demonstrate the scheme in a time-bin encoding optical system.
Quantum coherence has wide-ranging applications from quantum thermodynamics to quantum metrology, quantum channel discrimination and even quantum biology. Thus, detecting and quantifying coherence are two fundamental problems in quantum resource theory. Here, we introduce feasible methods to detect and estimate the coherence by constructing coherence witnesses for any finite-dimensional states. Our coherence witnesses detect coherent states by testing whether the expectation value of the witness is negative or not. Two typical coherence witnesses are proposed and discussed based on our witness…
We study prepare-and-measure experiments where the sender (Alice) receives trusted quantum inputs but has an untrusted state-preparation device and the receiver (Bob) has a fully-untrusted measurement device. A distributed-sampling task naturally arises in such scenario, whose goal is for Alice and Bob to reproduce the statistics of his measurements on her quantum inputs using a fixed communication channel. Their performance at such task can certify quantum communication (QC), and this is formalised by measurement-device-independent QC witnesses. Furthermore, we prove that QC can provide an ad…
We define the stringent coherence witness as an observable which has zero mean value for all of incoherent states and hence a nonzero mean value indicates the coherence. The existence of such witnesses are proved for any finite-dimension states. Not only is the witness efficient in testing whether the state is coherent, the mean value is also quantitatively related to the amount of coherence contained in the state. For an unknown state, the modulus of the mean value of a normalized witness provides a tight lower bound of $l_1$-norm of coherence in the state. When we have some previous knowledg…
The detection and quantification of quantum coherence play significant roles in quantum information processing. We present an efficient way of tomographic witnessing for both theoretical and experimental detection of coherence. We prove that a coherence witness is optimal if and only if all of its diagonal elements are zero. Naturally, we obtain a bona fide homographic measure of coherence given by the sum of the absolute values of the real and the imaginary parts of the non-diagonal entries of a density matrix, together with its interesting relations with other coherence measures like $l_1$ n…
Quantum coherence marks a deviation from classical physics, and has been studied as a resource for metrology and quantum computation. Finding reliable and effective methods for assessing its presence is then highly desirable. Coherence witnesses rely on measuring observables whose outcomes can guarantee that a state is not diagonal in a known reference basis. Here we experimentally measure a novel type of coherence witness that uses pairwise state comparisons to identify superpositions in a basis-independent way. Our experiment uses a single interferometric set-up to simultaneously measure the…
Bell inequality is a mathematical inequality derived using the assumptions of locality and realism. Its violation guarantees the existence of quantum correlations in a quantum state. Bell inequality acts as an entanglement witness in the sense that a pure bipartite quantum state, having nonvanishing entanglement, always violates a Bell inequality. We construct Bell-type inequalities for product states in quantum coherence theory for different measures of coherence, and find that the maximally entangled states violate these inequalities. We further show that Bell-type inequalities for relative …
We address the problem of assessing the coherent character of physical evolution. We take the quantum Zeno effect (QZE) as a characteristic trait of quantum dynamics, and derive relations among transfer rates as a function of the strength of a measurement. These relations support the intuition that only quantum dynamics is susceptible to QZE. With the derived bounds on the magnitude of coherent dynamics, we propose an experimentally accessible coherence witness. Our results have potential application in assessing coherence of quantum transport in biological and other complex many-body systems.
The problem of demonstrating entanglement is central to quantum information processing applications. Resorting to standard entanglement witnesses requires one to perfectly trust the implementation of the measurements to be performed on the entangled state, which may be an unjustified assumption. Inspired by the recent work of F. Buscemi [Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 200401 (2012)], we introduce the concept of Measurement-Device-Independent Entanglement Witnesses (MDI-EWs), which allow one to demonstrate entanglement of all entangled quantum states with untrusted measurement apparatuses. We show how t…
Identifying non-classicality unambiguously and inexpensively is a long-standing open challenge in physics. The No-Signalling-In-Time protocol was developed as an experimental test for macroscopic realism, and serves as a witness of quantum coherence in isolated quantum systems by comparing the quantum state to its completely dephased counterpart. We show that it provides a lower bound on a certain resource-theoretic coherence monotone. We go on to generalise the protocol to the case where the system of interest is coupled to an environment. Depending on the manner of the generalisation, the re…
Do experiments based on superconducting loops segmented with Josephson junctions (e.g., flux qubits) show macroscopic quantum behavior in the sense of Schrödinger's cat example? Various arguments based on microscopic and phenomenological models were recently adduced in this debate. We approach this problem by adapting (to flux qubits) the framework of large-scale quantum coherence, which was already successfully applied to spin ensembles and photonic systems. We show that contemporary experiments might show quantum coherence more than 100 times larger than experiments in the classical regime. …
School of Mathematical Sciences, Inner Mongolia University（内蒙古大学数学科学学院）；Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Mathematical Modeling and Scientific Computing, Inner Mongolia University（内蒙古大学数学建模与科学计算重点实验室）
The robust estimation of entanglement is key to the validation of implementations of quantum systems. On the one hand, the evaluation of standard entanglement measures, either using quantum tomography or using quantitative entanglement witnesses requires perfect implementation of measurements. On the other hand, measurement-device-independent entanglement witnesses (MDIEWs) can certify entanglement of all entangled states using untrusted measurement devices. We show that MDIEWs can be used as well to quantify entanglement according to standard entanglement measures, and present a practical met…
Theoretical and experimental studies have suggested the relevance of quantum coherence to the performance of photovoltaic and light-harvesting complex molecular systems. However, there are ambiguities regarding the validity of statements we can make about the coherence in such systems. Here we analyze the general procedure for coherence detection in quantum systems and show the counterintuitive phenomenon of detecting a quantum system's initial coherence when both the input and output probe states are completely incoherent. Our analysis yields the necessary and sufficient conditions for valid …
Measurement-device-independent entanglement witness (MDI-EW) will always give an affirmative certification for witnessing entanglement with untrusted measurement apparatuses. Using the MDI-EW method, we propose a measurement-device-independent quantum secret sharing (MDI-QSS) protocol that Charlie can securely distribute a key between the two agents Alice and Bob. A tight bound for collective attacks can provide good bounds on the long-distance MDI-QSS with source flaws. Then we show through numerical simulations that using single-photon source a secure QSS over 136 km can be achieved.
Measuring quantum states provides means to generate genuine random numbers. It has been shown that genuine randomness can be obtained even with an uncharacterized quantum source. In this work, we propose a framework that formalizes the idea of realizing source-independent quantum random number generation via measuring coherence. Without full state tomography, the coherence of the source can be estimated by coherence witnesses. The existing uncertainty-relation-based schemes can be treated as special cases under the coherence framework, as we design a nonlinear coherence witness that can essent…
Deterministic quantum computation with one qubit (DQC1) is iconic in highlighting that exponential quantum speedup may be achieved with negligible entanglement. Its discovery catalyzed heated study of general quantum resources, and various conjectures regarding their role in DQC1's performance advantage. Coherence and discord are prominent candidates, respectively characterizing non-classicality within localized and correlated systems. Here we realize DQC1 within a superconducting system, engineered such that the dynamics of coherence and discord can be tracked throughout its execution. We exp…
Quantum coherence is one of the primary non-classical features of quantum systems. While protocols such as the Leggett-Garg inequality (LGI) and quantum tomography can be used to test for the existence of quantum coherence and dynamics in a given system, unambiguously detecting inherent "quantumness" still faces serious obstacles in terms of experimental feasibility and efficiency, particularly in complex systems. Here we introduce two "quantum witnesses" to efficiently verify quantum coherence and dynamics in the time domain, without the expense and burden of non-invasive measurements or full…
The origin of the coherences in two-dimensional spectroscopy of photosynthetic complexes remains disputed. Recently it has been shown that in the ultrashort-pulse limit, oscillations in a frequency-integrated pump-probe signal correspond exclusively to electronic coherences, and thus such experiments can be used to form a test for electronic vs. vibrational oscillations in such systems. Here we demonstrate a method for practically implementing such a test, whereby pump-probe signals are taken at several different pulse durations and used to extrapolate to the ultrashort-pulse limit. We present…
We propose an interferometric set-up that utilizes the concept of quantum coherence to provide quantum signatures of gravity. The gravitational force comes into nontrivial play due to the existence of an extra mass in the set-up that transforms an incoherent state to a coherent state. The implication uses the fact that quantum coherence at a certain site cannot be altered by local actions at a separate site. The ability to transform an incoherent state to a coherent one in the presence of gravitational field provides a signature of quantumness of gravity. We also observe that the results remai…
We study quantum algorithms that are given access to trusted and untrusted quantum witnesses. We establish strong limitations of such algorithms, via new techniques based on Laurent polynomials (i.e., polynomials with positive and negative integer exponents). Specifically, we resolve the complexity of approximate counting, the problem of multiplicatively estimating the size of a nonempty set $S \subseteq [N]$, in two natural generalizations of quantum query complexity. Our first result holds in the standard Quantum Merlin--Arthur ($\mathsf{QMA}$) setting, in which a quantum algorithm receives …
We investigate the evolution of entanglement in multiple-quantum (MQ) NMR experiments in crystals with pairs of close nuclear spins-1/2. The initial thermodynamic equilibrium state of the system in a strong external magnetic field evolves under the non-secular part of the dipolar Hamiltonian. As a result, MQ coherences of the zeroth and plus/minus second orders appear. A simple condition for the emergence of entanglement is obtained. We show that the measure of the spin pair entanglement, concurrence, coincides qualitatively with the intensity of MQ coherences of the plus/minus second order an…
We perform a detailed analysis of the nonclassical properties of a damped two-level system. We compute and compare three different criteria of quantumness, the $l_1$-norm of coherence, the Leggett- Garg inequality and a quantum witness based on the no-signaling in time condition. We show that all three quantum indicators decay exponentially in time as a result of the coupling to the thermal reservoir. We further demonstrate that the corresponding characteristic times are identical and given by the coherence half-life. These results quantify how violations of Leggett-Garg inequalities and nonze…
We construct the tripartite Bell-type inequalities of product states for l1-norm of coherence, relative entropy of coherence and skew information. Some three-qubit entangled states violate these inequalities. Particulary, the tripartite Bell-type inequality for relative entropy of coherence is always violated by the W class pure or mixed states as well as the GHZ class pure or mixed states, being used as entanglement witness.
The asymmetry of quantum states is an important resource in quantum information processing tasks such as quantum metrology and quantum communication. In this paper, we introduce the notion of $asymmetry~weight$ --- an operationally motivated asymmetry quantifier in the resource theory of asymmetry. We study the convexity and monotonicity properties of asymmetry weight and focus on its interplay with the corresponding semidefinite programming (SDP) forms along with its connection to other asymmetry measures. Since the SDP form of asymmetry weight is closely related to asymmetry witnesses, we fi…
How to generate genuine quantum randomness from untrusted devices is an important problem in quantum information processing. Inspired by previous work on a self-testing quantum random number generator [T. Lunghi et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 150501 (2015)], we present a method to generate quantum randomness from a prepare-and-measure scenario with independent devices. In existing protocols, the quantum randomness depends only on a witness value (e.g., Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt value), which is calculated with the observed probabilities. Differently, here all the observed probabilities are dir…
The development of spectroscopic techniques able to detect and verify quantum coherence is a goal of increasing importance given the rapid progress of new quantum technologies, the advances in the field of quantum thermodynamics, and the emergence of new questions in chemistry and biology regarding the possible relevance of quantum coherence in biochemical processes. Ideally, these tools should be able to detect and verify the presence of quantum coherence in both the transient dynamics and the steady state of driven-dissipative systems, such as light-harvesting complexes driven by thermal pho…
We investigate whether paradigmatic measurements for quantum state tomography, namely mutually unbiased bases and symmetric informationally complete measurements, can be employed to certify quantum correlations. For this purpose, we identify a simple and noise-robust correlation witness for entanglement detection, steering and nonlocality that can be evaluated based on the outcome statistics obtained in the tomography experiment. This allows us to perform state tomography on entangled qutrits, a test of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering and a Bell inequality test, all within a single experiment…
We establish a lower bound on the quantum coherence of an arbitrary quantum state in arbitrary dimension, using a noncommutativity estimator of an arbitrary observable of sub-unit norm, where the estimator is the commutator of the observable and its incoherent or classical part. The relation provides a direct method of obtaining an estimate of the quantum coherence of an arbitrary quantum state, without resorting to quantum state tomography or the existing witness operators.
We investigate the quantum nature of gravity in terms of the coherence of quantum objects. As a basic setting, we consider two gravitating objects each in a superposition state of two paths. The evolution of objects is described by the completely positive and trace-preserving (CPTP) map with a population-preserving property. This property reflects that the probability of objects being on each path is preserved. We use the $\ell_1$-norm of coherence to quantify the coherence of objects. In the present paper, the quantum nature of gravity is characterized by an entangling map, which is a CPTP ma…
The characterization of quantum coherence in the context of quantum information theory and its interplay with quantum correlations is currently subject of intense study. Coherence in an Hamiltonian eigenbasis yields asymmetry, the ability of a quantum system to break a dynamical symmetry generated by the Hamiltonian. We here propose an experimental strategy to witness multipartite entanglement in many-body systems by evaluating the asymmetry with respect to an additive Hamiltonian. We test our scheme by simulating asymmetry and entanglement detection in a three-qubit GHZ-diagonal state.
We address entanglement, coherence, and information protection in a system of four non-interacting qubits coupled with different classical environments, namely: common, bipartite, tripartite, and independent environments described by Ornstein-Uhlenbeck (ORU) noise. We show that quantum information preserved by the four qubit state is more dependent on the coherence than the entanglement using time-dependent entanglement witness, purity, and Shannon entropy. We find these two quantum phenomena directly interrelated and highly vulnerable in environments with ORU noise, resulting in the pure expo…
Institute of Theoretical Physics, Ulm University（乌尔姆大学理论物理研究所）；Center for Integrated Quantum Science and Technology (IQST)（综合量子科学与技术中心）；Ulm University（乌尔姆大学）
Suppose we have $N$ quantum systems in unknown states $\lvertψ_i \rangle $, but know the value of some pairwise overlaps $\left| \langle ψ_k \lvert ψ_l \rangle \right|^2$. What can we say about the values of the unknown overlaps? We provide a complete answer to this problem for three pure states and two given overlaps, and a way to obtain bounds for the general case. We discuss how the answer contrasts from that of a classical model featuring only coherence-free, diagonal states, and describe three applications: basis-independent coherence witnesses, dimension witnesses, and characterisation o…
Entanglement, while being critical in many quantum applications, is difficult to characterize experimentally. While entanglement witnesses based on the fidelity to the target entangled state are efficient detectors of entanglement, they in general underestimate the amount of entanglement due to errors during state preparation and measurement. Therefore, to detect entanglement more robustly in the presence of such control errors, we introduce a 'subspace' witness that detects a broader class of entangled states with strictly larger violation than the conventional state-fidelity witness at the c…
We witness experimentally the presence of macroscopic coherence in Gaussian quantum states using a recently proposed criterion (E.G. Cavalcanti and M. Reid, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 170405 (2006)). The macroscopic coherence stems from interference between macroscopically distinct states in phase space and we prove experimentally that even the vacuum state contains these features with a distance in phase space of $0.51\pm0.02$ shot noise units (SNU). For squeezed states we found macroscopic superpositions with a distance of up to $0.83\pm0.02$ SNU. The proof of macroscopic quantum coherence was inv…
