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-constructing method, which are also used to estimate the robustness of coherence, $l_1$-norm and $l_2$-norm of coherence measures. Furthermore, we compare one of our coherence witness with a previously introduced witness, by proving that our witness is strictly stronger than that previous witness. We also present an application of coherence in a quantum metrology task, in which we estimate an unknown parameter by measuring our coherence witness.
We show the properties and characterization of coherence witnesses. We show methods for constructing coherence witnesses for an arbitrary coherent state. We investigate the problem of finding common coherence witnesses for certain class of states. We show that finitely many different witnesses $W_1, W_2, \cdots, W_n$ can detect some common coherent states if and only if $\sum_{i=1}^nt_iW_i$ is still a witnesses for any nonnegative numbers $t_i(i=1,2,\cdots,n)$. We show coherent states play the role of high-level witnesses. Thus, the common state problem is changed into the question of when dif…
We show that each entanglement witness detecting given bipartite entangled state provides an estimation of its concurrence. We illustrate our result with several well known examples of entanglement witnesses and compare the corresponding estimation of concurrence with other estimations provided by the trace norm of partial transposition and realignment.
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…
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…
Computing localizable entanglement for noisy many-particle quantum states is difficult due to the optimization over all possible sets of local projection measurements. Therefore, it is crucial to develop lower bounds, which can provide useful information about the behaviour of localizable entanglement, and which can be determined by measuring a limited number of operators, or by performing least number of measurements on the state, preferably without performing a full state tomography. In this paper, we adopt two different yet related approaches to obtain a witness-based, and a measurement-bas…
Quantifying coherence has received increasing attention, and considerable work has been directed towards finding coherence measures. While various coherence measures have been proposed in theory, an important issue following is how to estimate these coherence measures in experiments. This is a challenging task, since the state of a system is often unknown in practical applications and the accessible measurements in a real experiment are typically limited. In this Letter, we put forward an approach to estimate coherence measures of an unknown state from any limited experimental data available. …
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）
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.
The conventional coherence is defined with respect to a fixed orthonormal basis, i.e., to a von Neumann measurement. Recently, generalized quantum coherence with respect to general positive operator-valued measurements (POVMs) has been presented. Several well-defined coherence measures, such as the relative entropy of coherence $C_{r}$, the $l_{1}$ norm of coherence $C_{l_{1}}$ and the coherence $C_{T,α}$ based on Tsallis relative entropy with respect to general POVMs have been obtained. In this work, we investigate the properties of $C_{r}$, $l_{1}$ and $C_{T,α}$. We estimate the upper bounds…
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…
Noise mechanisms in quantum systems can be broadly characterized as either coherent (i.e., unitary) or incoherent. For a given fixed average error rate, coherent noise mechanisms will generally lead to a larger worst-case error than incoherent noise. We show that the coherence of a noise source can be quantified by the unitarity, which we relate to the average change in purity averaged over input pure states. We then show that the unitarity can be efficiently estimated using a protocol based on randomized benchmarking that is efficient and robust to state-preparation and measurement errors. We…
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…
The past two decades have witnessed a surge of interest in exploring correlation and coherence measures to investigate quantum phase transitions (QPTs). Here, motivated by the continued push along this direction, we propose a measure which is built upon the so-called degree of coherence, and advocate using the susceptibility of our measure to detect QPTs. We show that our measure can capture both the notions of coherence and correlations exhibited in bipartite states and therefore represents a hybrid of these two notions. Through examining the XXZ model and the Kitaev honeycomb model, we demon…
We present a method to estimate entanglement measures in experiments. We show how a lower bound on a generic entanglement measure can be derived from the measured expectation values of any finite collection of entanglement witnesses. Hence witness measurements are given a quantitative meaning without the need of further experimental data. We apply our results to a recent multi-photon experiment [M. Bourennane et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 087902 (2004)], giving bounds on the entanglement of formation and the geometric measure of entanglement in this experiment.
By using the quantum Fisher information (QFI), we address the process of \textit{single}-parameter estimation in the presence of bosonic as well as fermionic environments and protection of information against the noise. In particular, the quantum interferometric power (IP) of the evolved state of the system is uncovered as an important lower bound for the QFIs of initially encoded parameters. Moreover, we unveil new witnesses of non-Markovianity, that can be used to detect efficiently the memory effects and backflow of information from the environment to the system. On the other hand, we also …
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…
Quantum states may exhibit asymmetry with respect to the action of a given group. Such an asymmetry of states can be considered as a resource in applications such as quantum metrology, and it is a concept that encompasses quantum coherence as a special case. We introduce explicitly and study the robustness of asymmetry, a quantifier of asymmetry of states that we prove to have many attractive properties, including efficient numerical computability via semidefinite programming, and an operational interpretation in a channel discrimination context. We also introduce the notion of asymmetry witne…
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. …
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…
To exploit a given physical system for quantum information processing, it is critical to understand the different types of noise affecting quantum control. Distinguishing coherent and incoherent errors is extremely useful as they can be reduced in different ways. Coherent errors are generally easier to reduce at the hardware level, e.g. by improving calibration, whereas some sources of incoherent errors, e.g. T2* processes, can be reduced by engineering robust pulses. In this work, we illustrate how purity benchmarking and randomized benchmarking can be used together to distinguish between coh…
The recently established resource theory of quantum coherence allows for a quantitative understanding of the superposition principle, with applications reaching from quantum computing to quantum biology. While different quantifiers of coherence have been proposed in the literature, their efficient estimation in today's experiments remains a challenge. Here, we introduce a collective measurement scheme for estimating the amount of coherence in quantum states, which requires entangled measurements on two copies of the state. As we show by numerical simulations, our scheme outperforms other estim…
The goal of quantum metrology is the exploitation of quantum resources, like entanglement or quantum coherence, in the fundamental task of parameter estimation. Here we consider the question of the estimation of the Unruh temperature in the scenario of relativistic quantum metrology. Specifically, we study two distinct cases. First, a single Unruh-DeWitt detector interacting with a scalar quantum field undergoes an uniform acceleration for a finite amount of proper time, and the role of coherence in the estimation process is analyzed. After this, we consider two initially entangled detectors, …
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…
In this work we investigate the quantum noise properties of polarization vortices in connection with an intensity based Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality for their spin-orbit separability. We evaluate the inequality for different input quantum states and the corresponding intensity fluctuations. The roles played by coherence and photon number squeezing provide a suitable framework for characterizing pure state spin-orbit entanglement. Structural inseparability of the spin-orbit mode requires coherence, an issue concerning either classical or quantum descriptions. In both cases, it can be w…
The long-standing problem of nearly perfect photosynthetic yield in some types of bacteria and nearly all kinds of plants despite the interaction with a hot and noisy environment has witnessed quantum optical explanations in the last decade or so. Typically in these explanations, photosynthetic reaction centers are modeled as five-level quantum heat engines where the generation of Fano-type interference due to the coupling of discrete state transitions with a common Markovian reservoir is held responsible for the enhancement of the photosynthetic efficiency. In this work, we go beyond the Born…
Entanglement detection and estimation are fundamental in quantum information science. Compared with discrete-variable states, for which lots of efficient entanglement detection criteria and lower bounds of entanglement measures have been proposed, the continuous-variable entanglement is much less understood. Here we shall present a family of entanglement witnesses based on continuous-variable local orthogonal observables (CVLOOs) to detect and estimate entanglement of Gaussian and non-Gaussian states, especially for bound entangled states. By choosing an optimal set of CVLOOs our entanglement …
The last two decades have witnessed an increasing effort of the scientific community toward pursuing a better framework for quantum resource covariance, with the focus predominantly posed on quantum entanglement. In this work, we move the discussion one step further by analyzing the behavior of both genuine multipartite entanglement and quantum coherence under Lorentz boosts. Specifically, we conduct a case study for the problem of an electron-positron pair created in a superposed multipartite pure state. Our approach is different from the standard treatments also in that we consider all the c…
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…
Quantification of coherence lies at the heart of quantum information processing and fundamental physics. Exact evaluation of coherence measures generally needs a full reconstruction of the density matrix, which becomes intractable for large-scale multipartite systems. Here, we propose a systematic theoretical approach to efficiently estimating lower and upper bounds of coherence in multipartite states. Under the stabilizer formalism, the lower bound is determined by the spectrum estimation method with a small number of measurements and the upper bound is determined by a single measurement. We …
Measuring small separations between two optical sources, either in space or in time, constitute an important metrological challenge as standard intensity-only measurements fail for vanishing separations. Contrarily, it has been established that appropriate coherent mode projections can appraise arbitrarily small separations with quantum-limited precision. However, the question of whether the optical coherence brings any metrological advantage to mode projections is still a point of debate. Here, we elucidate this problem by experimentally investigating the effect of varying coherence on estima…
Quantum information processing exploits non-local functionality that has led to significant breakthroughs in the successful deployment of quantum mechanical protocols. In this regard, we address the dynamics of entanglement and coherence for three non-interacting qubits initially prepared as maximally entangled GHZ-like state coupled with independent classical environments. Two different Gaussian noises in pure and mixed noisy situations, namely, pure power-law noise, pure fractional Gaussian noise, power-law noise maximized and fractional Gaussian noise maximized cases are assumed to characte…
Coherent superpositions are one of the hallmarks of quantum mechanics and are vital for any quantum mechanical device to outperform the classically achievable. Generically, superpositions are verified in interference experiments, but despite their longstanding central role we know very little about how to extract the number of coherently superposed amplitudes from a general interference pattern. A fundamental issue is that performing a phase-sensitive measurement is as challenging as creating a coherent superposition, so that assuming a perfectly implemented measurement for verification of qua…
We consider two non-Markovian models: Random Telegraph Noise (RTN) and non-Markovian dephasing (NMD). The memory in these models is studied from the perspective of quantum Fisher information flow. This is found to be consistent with the other well known witnesses of non-Markovianity. The two noise channels are characterized quantum information theoretically by studying their gate and channel fidelities. Further, the quantum coherence and its balance with mixedness is studied. This helps to put in perspective the role that the two noise channels can play in various facets of quantum information…
Decoherence, resulting from unwanted interaction between a qubit and its environment, poses a serious challenge towards the development of quantum technologies. Recently, researchers have started analysing how real-time Hamiltonian learning approaches, based on estimating the qubit state faster than the environmental fluctuations, can be used to counteract decoherence. In this work, we investigate how the back-action of the quantum measurements used in the learning process can be harnessed to extend qubit coherence. We propose an adaptive protocol that, by learning the qubit environment, narro…
The field of quantum Hamiltonian complexity lies at the intersection of quantum many-body physics and computational complexity theory, with deep implications to both fields. The main object of study is the LocalHamiltonian problem, which is concerned with estimating the ground-state energy of a local Hamiltonian and is complete for the class QMA, a quantum generalization of the class NP. A major challenge in the field is to understand the complexity of the LocalHamiltonian problem in more physically natural parameter regimes. One crucial parameter in understanding the ground space of any Hamil…
Practical implementations of quantum information-theoretic applications rely on phase coherences between systems. These coherences are disturbed by misalignment between phase references. Quantum states carrying phase-asymmetry act as resources to counteract this misalignment. In this paper, we construct protocols for interconverting these resources by first estimating the misalignment. Our method achieves sublinear, but otherwise arbitrarily high, asymptotic rate of conversion of pure resource states to mixed ones. No other method is known for asymptotic pure-to-mixed state conversion. Our met…
