We consider the problem of entanglement detection in the presence of faulty, potentially malicious detectors. A common - and, as of yet, the only - approach to this problem is to perform a Bell test in order to identify nonlocality of the measured entangled state. However, there are two significant drawbacks in this approach: the requirement to exceed a critical, and often high, detection efficiency, and much lower noise tolerance. In this paper, we propose an alternative approach to this problem, which is resilient to the detection loophole and is based on the standard tool of entanglement witness. We discuss how the two main techniques to detection losses, namely the discard and assignment strategies, apply to entanglement witnessing. We demonstrate using the example of a two-qubit Bell state that the critical detection efficiency can be significantly reduced compared to the Bell test approach.
We propose a scheme for witnessing entanglement in phase space by significantly inefficient detectors. The implementation of this scheme does not require any additional process for correcting errors in contrast to previous proposals. Moreover, it allows us to detect entanglement without full a priori knowledge of the detection efficiency. It is shown that entanglement in single photon entangled and two-mode squeezed states can be witnessed with detection efficiency as low as 40%. Our approach enhances the possibility of witnessing entanglement in various physical systems using current detectio…
We propose a method to witness entanglement between two continuous-variable systems in a Gaussian state. Its key ingredient is a local lossy state transfer from the original spatially separated systems onto two spatially separated qubits. The qubits are initially in a pure product state, therefore by detecting entanglement between the qubits we witness entanglement between the two original systems. This method greatly simplifies entanglement witnessing in complex systems.
Second-order interference and Hanbury-Brown and Twiss type experiments can provide an operational framework for the construction of witness operators that can test classical and nonclassical properties of a Gaussian squeezed state (GSS), and provide entanglement witness operators to study the separability properties of correlated Gaussian squeezed sates.
We explore spin-orbit thermal entanglement in rare-earth ions, based on a witness obtained from mean energies. The entanglement temperature $T_{E}$, below which entanglement emerges, is found to be thousands of kelvin above room temperature for all light rare earths. This demonstrate the robustness to environmental fluctuations of entanglement between internal degrees of freedom of a single ion.
We present the experimental detection of genuine multipartite entanglement using entanglement witness operators. To this aim we introduce a canonical way of constructing and decomposing witness operators so that they can be directly implemented with present technology. We apply this method to three- and four-qubit entangled states of polarized photons, giving experimental evidence that the considered states contain true multipartite entanglement.
We propose to use Stokes parameter as an entanglement witness for correlated EPR mixed states of light. Such states can be generated with a beam splitter acting on two mixed squeezed states of light. Stokes witness operators are closely related to the Hanbury-Brown and Twiss interference and can be used to test entanglement in balanced homodyne experiments involving fluctuations of quantum quadratures of the electric field.
Single-photon entanglement is one of the primary resources for quantum networks, including quantum repeater architectures. Such entanglement can be revealed with only local homodyne measurements through the entanglement witness presented in [Morin et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 130401 (2013)]. Here, we provide an extended analysis of this witness by introducing analytical bounds and by reporting measurements confirming its great robustness with regard to losses. This study highlights the potential of optical hybrid methods, where discrete entanglement is characterized through continuous-variable…
The separability of the continuous-variable EPR state can be tested with Hanbury-Brown and Twiss type interference. The second-order visibility of such interference can provide an experimental test of entanglement. It is shown that time-resolved interference leads to the Hong, Ou and Mandel deep, that provides a signature of quantum non-separability for pure and mixed EPR states. A Hanbury-Brown and Twiss type witness operator can be constructed to test the quantum nature of the EPR entanglement.
In this work, we show that while all measures of mixedness may be used to witness entanglement, all such entangled states must have a negative partial transpose (NPT). Though computing the negativity of the partial transpose scales well at high dimension, it relies on knowing the complete quantum state, which does not. To address this, we compare different measures of mixedness over uniform ensembles of joint quantum states at varying dimension to gauge their relative success in witnessing entanglement. In doing so, we find that comparing joint and marginal purities is overwhelmingly more succ…
We derive a general framework that connects every positive map with a corresponding witness for partial separability in multipartite quantum systems. We show that many previous approaches were intimately connected to the witnesses derived from partial transposition and that such criteria can easily be outperformed in higher dimensions by non-decomposable maps. As an exemplary case we present a witness that is capable of detecting genuine multipartite entanglement in bound entangled states.
We present general numerical methods to construct witness operators for entanglement detection and estimation of the fidelity. Our methods are applied to detecting entanglement in the vicinity of a six-qubit Dicke state with three excitations and also to further entangled symmetric states. All our witnesses are designed to keep the measurement effort small. We present also general results on the efficient local decomposition of permutationally invariant operators, which makes it possible to measure projectors to symmetric states efficiently
We extend the definition of entanglement witnesses based on structure factors to the case in which the position of the scatterers is quantized. This allows us to study entanglement detection in hybrid systems. We provide several examples that show how these extra degrees of freedom affect the detection of entanglement by directly contributing to the measurement statistics. We specialize the proposed witness operators for a chain of trapped ions. Within this framework, we show how the collective vibronic state of the chain can act as an undesired quantum environment and how ions quantum motion …
Gilbert proposed an algorithm for bounding the distance between a given point and a convex set. In this article we apply the Gilbert's algorithm to get an upper bound on the Hilbert-Schmidt distance between a given state and the set of separable states. While Hilbert Schmidt Distance does not form a proper entanglement measure, it can nevertheless be useful for witnessing entanglement. We provide here a few methods based on the Gilbert's algorithm that can reliably qualify a given state as strongly entangled or practically separable, while being computationally efficient. The method also outpu…
We propose a theoretical scheme to witness quantum entanglement via the geometric phase in an impurity-doped Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), which is a micro-macro quantum system consisting of two Rydberg impurity qubits and the BEC. We calculate the geometric phase of the impurity qubits in the presence of the initial micro-micro and micro-macro entanglement, respectively. It is demonstrated that the geometric phase of the impurity qubits can witness not only inter-qubit micro-micro entanglement, but also qubit-BEC micro-macro entanglement. Our work provide a new insight to witness micro-micr…
Recently, several hybrid approaches to quantum information emerged which utilize both continuous- and discrete-variable methods and resources at the same time. In this work, we investigate the bipartite hybrid entanglement between a finite-dimensional, discrete-variable quantum system and an infinite-dimensional, continuous-variable quantum system. A classification scheme is presented leading to a distinction between pure hybrid entangled states, mixed hybrid entangled states (those effectively supported by an overall finite-dimensional Hilbert space), and so-called truly hybrid entangled stat…
Hybrid quantum systems aim at combining the advantages of different physical systems and to produce novel quantum devices. In particular, the hybrid combination of superconducting circuits and spins in solid-state crystals is a versatile platform to explore many quantum electrodynamics problems. Recently, the remote coupling of nitrogen-vacancy center spins in diamond via a superconducting bus was demonstrated. However, a rigorous experimental test of the quantum nature of this hybrid system and in particular entanglement is still missing. We review the theoretical ideas to generate and detect…
Quantum mechanics predicts the existence of correlations between composite systems -- multipartite entanglement (ME) -- that, while puzzling our physical intuition, enable technologies not accessible in a classical world. Notwithstanding, there is still no efficient general method to theoretically quantify and experimentally detect ME. Here we propose a novel paradigm based on the measurement of the statistical response of a quantum systems to a collective parametric evolution. As a major difference with respect to current approaches based on the implementation of entanglement witness operator…
We report an experimental demonstration of effective entanglement in a prepare&measure type of quantum key distribution protocol. Coherent polarization states and heterodyne measurement to characterize the transmitted quantum states are used, thus enabling us to reconstruct directly their Q-function. By evaluating the excess noise of the states, we experimentally demonstrate that they fulfill a non-separability criterion previously presented by Rigas et al. [J. Rigas, O. Gühne, N. Lütkenhaus, Phys. Rev. A 73, 012341 (2006)]. For a restricted eavesdropping scenario we predict key rates using po…
Entanglement is a ubiquitous feature of low temperature systems and believed to be highly relevant for the dynamics of condensed matter properties and quantum computation even at higher temperatures. The experimental certification of this paradigmatic quantum effect in macroscopic high temperature systems is constrained by the limited access to the quantum state of the system. In this paper we show how macroscopic observables beyond the energy of the system can be exploited as proxy witnesses for entanglement detection. Using linear and semi-definite relaxations we show that all previous appro…
We present a fiber-based continuous-variable quantum key distribution system. In the scheme, a quantum signal of two non-orthogonal weak optical coherent states is sent through a fiber-based quantum channel. The receiver simultaneously measures conjugate quadratures of the light using two homodyne detectors. From the measured Q-function of the transmitted signal, we estimate the attenuation and the excess noise caused by the channel. The estimated excess noise originating from the channel and the channel attenuation including the quantum efficiency of the detection setup is investigated with r…
We investigate sharing of bipartite entanglement in a scenario where half of an entangled pair is possessed and projectively measured by one observer, called Alice, while the other half is subjected to measurements performed sequentially, independently, and unsharply, by multiple observers, called Bobs. We find that there is a limit on the number of observers in this entanglement distribution scenario. In particular, for a two-qubit maximally entangled initial shared state, no more than twelve Bobs can detect entanglement with a single Alice for arbitrary -- possibly unequal -- sharpness param…
Single-photon entangled states, i.e. states describing two optical paths sharing a single photon, constitute the simplest form of entanglement. Yet they provide a valuable resource in quantum information science. Specifically, they lie at the heart of quantum networks, as they can be used for quantum teleportation, swapped and purified with linear optics. The main drawback of such entanglement is the difficulty in measuring it. Here, we present and experimentally test an entanglement witness allowing one not only to say whether a given state is path-entangled but also that entanglement lies in…
An entanglement witness approach to quantum coherent state key distribution and a system for its practical implementation are described. In this approach, eavesdropping can be detected by a change in sign of either of two witness functions, an entanglement witness S or an eavesdropping witness W. The effects of loss and eavesdropping on system operation are evaluated as a function of distance. Although the eavesdropping witness W does not directly witness entanglement for the system, its behavior remains related to that of the true entanglement witness S. Furthermore, W is easier to implement …
We propose a general argument to show that if a physical system can mediate locally the generation of entanglement between two quantum systems, then it itself must be non-classical. Remarkably, we do not assume any classical or quantum formalism to describe the mediating physical system: our result follows from general information-theoretic principles, drawn from the recently proposed constructor theory of information. This argument provides the indispensable theoretical basis for recently proposed tests of non-classicality in gravity, based on witnessing gravitationally-induced entanglement i…
We consider the problem of determining the presence of genuine multipartite entanglement through the violation of Mermin's Bell-type inequality (MI). Though the violation of MI cannot certify the presence of genuine nonlocality, but can certify genuine tripartite entanglement whenever the violation is strictly greater than $2\sqrt{2}$. Here we show that MI suffices as genuine entanglement witness even when its value is $2\sqrt{2}$ if at least two of the local marginal distributions are not completely random provided the local Hilbert space dimension of at least one of the sub-systems is two. T…
The ability to coherently control mechanical systems with optical fields has made great strides over the past decade, and now includes the use of photon counting techniques to detect the non-classical nature of mechanical states. These techniques may soon be used to perform an opto-mechanical Bell test, hence highlighting the potential of cavity opto-mechanics for device-independent quantum information processing. Here, we propose a witness which reveals opto-mechanical entanglement without any constraint on the global detection efficiencies in a setup allowing one to test a Bell inequality. W…
We investigate the scenario where an observer, Alice, shares a two-qubit state with an arbitrary number of observers, Bobs, via sequentially and independently recycling the qubit in possession of the first Bob. It is known that there exist entangled states which can be used to have an arbitrarily long sequence of Bobs who can violate the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) Bell inequality with the single Alice. We show that there exist entangled states that do not violate the Bell inequality and whose entanglement can be detected by an arbitrary number of Bobs by suitably choosing the entangleme…
Entanglement witnesses are invaluable for efficient quantum entanglement certification without the need for expensive quantum state tomography. Yet, standard entanglement witnessing requires multiple measurements and its bounds can be elusive as a result of experimental imperfections. Here we introduce and demonstrate a novel procedure for entanglement detection which seamlessly and easily improves any standard witnessing procedure by using additional available information to tighten the witnessing bounds. Moreover, by relaxing the requirements on the witness operators, our method removes the …
Like entanglement, quantum discord quantifies the quantum correlations. Unlike entanglement, whose detection is extremely difficult, the quantum discord of an arbitrary bipartite state allows itself to be detected perfectly by a single observable, the quantum discord witness. In particular, we report a single observable whose expectation value provides a necessary and sufficient condition for the vanishing quantum discord of an arbitrary bipartite unknown state with four copies. A quantum circuit is designed to measure the quantum discord witness by using only local qubit-measurements.
We address the witnessing of quantum correlations beyond the limits imposed by an ensemble statistical average. By relying upon the continuous observation of a single quantum open system under the action of classical or quantum noise, we show how the statistical distribution of outcomes of physically measurable quantities provides enough information to detect entanglement in situations where a simple averaging procedure yields to a vanishing value. In this way, we are able to specify the meaning of decoherence when single read-out measurements are available, to demonstrate that these distribut…
We present a method to detect quantum memory in a non-Markovian process. We call a process Markovian when the environment does not provide a memory that retains correlations across different system-environment interactions. We define two types of non-Markovian processes, depending on the required memory being classical or quantum. We formalise this distinction using the process matrix formalism, through which a process is represented as a multipartite state. Within this formalism, a test for entanglement in a state can be mapped to a test for quantum memory in the corresponding process. This a…
Experimental detection of entanglement of an arbitrary state of a given bipartite system is crucial for exploring many areas of quantum information. But such a detection should be made in a device independent way if the preparation process of the state is considered to be faithful, in order to avoid detection of a separable state as entangled one. The recently developed scheme of detecting bipartite entanglement in a measurement device independent way [Phys. Rev. Lett {\bf 110}, 060405 (2013)] does require information about the state. Here by using Auguisiak et al.'s universal entanglement wit…
Differential and Common Decoherence Modes in Witnessing the Quantum Gravity-Induced Entanglement of Matter
University of Groningen（格罗宁根大学）；Van Swinderen Institute for Particle Physics and Gravity, University of Groningen（格罗宁根大学范斯温德恩粒子物理与引力研究所）；Canadian Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Toronto（多伦多大学加拿大理论天体物理研究所）
We describe a direct method for experimental determination of the negativity of an arbitrary two-qubit state with 11 measurements performed on multiple copies of the two-qubit system. Our method is based on the experimentally accessible sequences of singlet projections performed on up to four qubit pairs. In particular, our method permits the application of the Peres-Horodecki separability criterion to an arbitrary two-qubit state. We explicitly demonstrate that measuring entanglement in terms of negativity requires three measurements more than detecting two-qubit entanglement. The reported mi…
Several proposals have been recently introduced to implement Quantum Machine Learning (QML) algorithms for the analysis of classical data sets employing variational learning means. There has been, however, a limited amount of work on the characterization and analysis of quantum data by means of these techniques, so far. This work focuses on one such ambitious goal, namely the potential implementation of quantum algorithms allowing to properly classify quantum states defined over a single register of $n$ qubits, based on their degree of entanglement. This is a notoriously hard task to be perfor…
We investigate theoretically the use of non-ideal ferromagnetic contacts as a mean to detect quantum entanglement of electron spins in transport experiments. We use a designated entanglement witness and find a minimal spin polarization of $η> 1/\sqrt{3} \approx 58 %$ required to demonstrate spin entanglement. This is significantly less stringent than the ubiquitous tests of Bell's inequality with $η> 1/\sqrt[4]{2}\approx 84%$. In addition, we discuss the impact of decoherence and noise on entanglement detection and apply the presented framework to a simple quantum cryptography protocol. Our re…
General relativity as a classical field theory does not predict gravitationally induced entanglement, as such, recent proposals seek an empirical demonstration of this feature which would represent a significant milestone for physics. We introduce improvements to a spin witness protocol that reduce the highly challenging experimental requirements. After rigorously assessing approximations from the original proposal [S. Bose et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 240401 (2017)], we focus on entanglement witnessing. We propose a new witness which greatly reduces the required interaction time, thereby maki…
We investigate macroscopic entanglement in an infinite XX spin-1/2 chain with staggered magnetic field, B_l=B+e^{-iπl}b. Using single-site entropy and by constructing an entanglement witness, we search for the existence of entanglement when the system is at absolute zero, as well as in thermal equilibrium. Although the role of the alternating magnetic field b is, in general, to suppress entanglement as do B and T, we find that when T=0, introducing b allows the existence of entanglement even when the uniform magnetic field B is arbitrarily large. We find that the region and the amount of entan…
We show how to verify the metrological usefulness of quantum states based on the expectation values of an arbitrarily chosen set of observables. In particular, we estimate the quantum Fisher information as a figure of merit of metrological usefulness. Our approach gives a tight lower bound on the quantum Fisher information for the given incomplete information. We apply our method to the results of various multiparticle quantum states prepared in experiments with photons and trapped ions, as well as to spin-squeezed states and Dicke states realized in cold gases. Our approach can be used for de…
Nonlocal game as a novel witness of the nonlocality of entanglement is of fundamental importance in various fields. The known nonlocal games or equivalent linear Bell inequalities are only useful for Bell networks of single entanglement. Our goal in this paper is to propose a unified method for constructing cooperating games in network scenarios. We first propose an efficient method to construct numerous multipartite games from any graphs. The main idea is the graph representation of entanglement-based quantum networks. We further specify these graphic games with quantum advantages by providin…
Entanglement is a defining feature of quantum mechanics that can be a resource in engineered and natural systems, but measuring entanglement in experiment remains elusive especially for large chemical systems. Most practical approaches require determining and measuring a suitable entanglement witness which provides some level of information about the entanglement structure of the probed state. A fundamental quantity of quantum metrology is the quantum Fisher information (QFI) which is a rigorous witness of multipartite entanglement that can be evaluated from linear response functions for certa…
We demonstrate the preservation of time-energy entanglement of near-IR photons through thick biological media ($\leq$1.55 mm) and tissue ($\leq$ 235 $μ$m) at room temperature. Using a Franson-type interferometer, we demonstrate interferometric contrast of over 0.9 in skim milk, 2% milk, and chicken tissue. This work supports the many proposed opportunities for nonclassical light in biological imaging and analyses from sub-shot noise measurements to entanglement-enhanced fluorescence imaging, clearly indicating that the entanglement characteristics of photons can be maintained even after propag…
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 propose a method to improve the performance of two entanglement-based continuous-variable quantum key distribution protocols using noiseless linear amplifiers. The two entanglement-based schemes consist of an entanglement distribution protocol with an untrusted source and an entanglement swapping protocol with an untrusted relay. Simulation results show that the noiseless linear amplifiers can improve the performance of these two protocols, in terms of maximal transmission distances, when we consider small amounts of entanglement, as typical in realistic setups.
Witnessing quantum effects in the gravitational field is found to be exceptionally difficult in practice due to lack of empirical evidence. Hence, a debate is going on among physicists whether gravity has a quantum domain or not. There had been no successful experiments at all to show the quantum nature of gravity till two recent independent works by Bose et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 240401 (2017)] and by Marletto and Vedral [Phy. Rev. Lett. 119, 240402 (2017)]. The authors have proposed schemes to test the quantumness of gravity in two small test masses by entangling two spatially separated …
We propose a hybrid approach to the experimental assessment of the genuine quantum features of a general system consisting of microscopic and macroscopic parts. We infer entanglement by combining dichotomic measurements on a bidimensional system and phase-space inference through the Wigner distribution associated with the macroscopic component of the state. As a benchmark, we investigate the feasibility of our proposal in a bipartite-entangled state composed of a single-photon and a multiphoton field. Our analysis shows that, under ideal conditions, maximal violation of a Clauser-Horne-Shimony…
We present a quantum information theoretic version of the Klein-Nishina formula. This formulation singles out the quantity, the a priori visibility, that quantifies the ability to deduce the polarisation property of single photons. The Kraus-type structure allows a straightforward generalisation to the multiphoton cases, relevant in the decay of positronium which is utilized e.g. for metabolic PET-imaging (Positron-Emission-Tomograph). Predicted by theory but never experimentally proven, the two- or three-photon states should be entangled. We provide an experimentally feasible method to witnes…
We demonstrate how quantum entanglement can be directly witnessed in the quasi-1D Heisenberg antiferromagnet KCuF$_3$. We apply three entanglement witnesses --- one-tangle, two-tangle, and quantum Fisher information --- to its inelastic neutron spectrum, and compare with spectra simulated by finite-temperature density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) and classical Monte Carlo methods. We find that each witness provides direct access to entanglement. Of these, quantum Fisher information is the most robust experimentally, and indicates the presence of at least bipartite entanglement up to at …
