We show that there exist bipartite quantum states which contain large hidden classical correlation that can be unlocked by a disproportionately small amount of classical communication. In particular, there are $(2n+1)$-qubit states for which a one bit message doubles the optimal classical mutual information between measurement results on the subsystems, from $n/2$ bits to $n$ bits. States exhibiting this behavior need not be entangled. We study the range of states exhibiting this phenomenon and bound its magnitude.
A locking protocol between two parties is as follows: Alice gives an encrypted classical message to Bob which she does not want Bob to be able to read until she gives him the key. If Alice is using classical resources, and she wants to approach unconditional security, then the key and the message must have comparable sizes. But if Alice prepares a quantum state, the size of the key can be comparatively negligible. This effect is called quantum locking. Entanglement does not play a role in this quantum advantage. We show that, in this scenario, the quantum discord quantifies the advantage of th…
Quantum correlations are investigated theoretically in a two-spin system with the dipole-dipole interactions in the NMR multiple-pulse spin-locking experiments. We consider two schemes of the multiple-pulse spin-locking. The first scheme consists of $π/2$-pulses only and the delays between the pulses can differ. The second scheme contains $φ$-pulses ($0<φ<π$) and has equal delays between them. We calculate entanglement for both schemes for an initial separable state. We show that entanglement is absent for the first scheme at equal delays between $π/2$-pulses at arbitraty temperatures. Entangl…
We investigate quantum properties of phase-locked light beams generated in a nondegenerate optical parametric oscillator (NOPO) with an intracavity waveplate. This investigation continuous our previous analysis presented in Phys.Rev.A 69, 05814 (2004), and involves problems of continuous-variable quadrature entanglement in the spectral domain, photon-number correlations as well as the signatures of phase-locking in the Wigner function. We study the role of phase-localizing processes on the quantum correlation effects. The peculiarities of phase-locked NOPO in the self-pulsing instability opera…
It is known that the maximum classical mutual information that can be achieved between measurements on a pair of quantum systems can drastically underestimate the quantum mutual information between those systems. In this article, we quantify this distinction between classical and quantum information by demonstrating that after removing a logarithmic-sized quantum system from one half of a pair of perfectly correlated bitstrings, even the most sensitive pair of measurements might only yield outcomes essentially independent of each other. This effect is a form of information locking but the defi…
Squashed entanglement and entanglement of purification are quantum mechanical correlation measures and defined as certain minimisations of entropic quantities. We present the first non-trivial calculations of both quantities. Our results lead to the conclusion that both measures can drop by an arbitrary amount when only a single qubit of a local system is lost. This property is known as "locking" and has previously been observed for other correlation measures, such as the accessible information, entanglement cost and the logarithmic negativity. In the case of squashed entanglement, the results…
Classical correlation can be locked via quantum means--quantum data locking. With a short secret key, one can lock an exponentially large amount of information, in order to make it inaccessible to unauthorized users without the key. Quantum data locking presents a resource-efficient alternative to one-time pad encryption which requires a key no shorter than the message. We report experimental demonstrations of quantum data locking scheme originally proposed by DiVincenzo et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 067902 (2004)] and a loss-tolerant scheme developed by Fawzi, Hayde, and Sen [J. ACM. 60, 44 (2…
We present an experimental observation of phase locking effects in the intensity noise spectrum of a semiconductor laser. These noise correlations are created in the medium by coherent carrier-population oscillations induced by the beatnote between the lasing and non-lasing modes of the laser. This phase locking leads to a modification of the intensity noise profile at around the cavity free-spectral-range value. The noise correlations are evidenced by varying the relative phase shift between the laser mode and the non-lasing adjacent side modes.
Phase-locking governs the phase noise in classical clocks through effects described in precise mathematical terms. We seek here a quantum counterpart of these effects by working in a finite Hilbert space. We use a coprimality condition to define phase-locked quantum states and the corresponding Pegg-Barnett type phase operator. Cyclotomic symmetries in matrix elements are revealed and related to Ramanujan sums in the theory of prime numbers. The employed mathematical procedures also emphasize the isomorphism between algebraic number theory and the theory of quantum entanglement
We study the quantum phase synchronization of a driven two-level system (TLS) coupled to a structured environment and demonstrate that quantum synchronization can be enhanced by the classical driving field. We use the Husimi $Q$-function to characterize the phase preference and find the in-phase and anti-phase locking phenomenon in the phase diagram. Remarkably, we show that the in-phase classical driving enables a TLS to reach stable anti-phase locking in the Markovian regime. However, we find that the synergistic action of classical driving and non-Markovian effects significantly enhances th…
We show that, if the accessible information is used as a security quantifier, quantum channels with a certain symmetry can convey private messages at a tremendously high rate, as high as less than one bit below the rate of non-private classical communication. This result is obtained by exploiting the quantum data locking effect. The price to pay to achieve such a high private communication rate is that accessible information security is in general not composable. However, composable security holds against an eavesdropper who is forced to measure her share of the quantum system within a finite …
Classical and quantum-mechanical phase locking transition in a nonlinear oscillator driven by a chirped frequency perturbation is discussed. Different limits are analyzed in terms of the dimensionless parameters $% P_{1}=ε/\sqrt{2m\hbar ω_{0}α}$ and $P_{2}=(3\hbar β)/(4m\sqrtα)$ ($ε,$ $α,$ $β$ and $ω_{0}$ being the driving amplitude, the frequency chirp rate, the nonlinearity parameter and the linear frequency of the oscillator). It is shown that for $P_{2}\ll P_{1}+1$, the passage through the linear resonance for $P_{1}$ above a threshold yields classical autoresonance (AR) in the system, eve…
We describe theoretically the quantum properties of atype-II Optical Parametric Oscillator containing a birefringent plate which induces a linear coupling between the orthogonally polarized signal and idler beams and results in phase locking between these two beams. As in a classical OPO, the signal and idler waves show large quantum correlations which can be measured experimentally due to the phase locking between the two beams. We study the influence of the waveplate on the various criteria characterizing quantum correlations. We show in particular that the quantum correlations can be maximi…
Quantum data locking is a quantum phenomenon that allows us to encrypt a long message with a small secret key with information-theoretic security. This is in sharp contrast with classical information theory where, according to Shannon, the secret key needs to be at least as long as the message. Here we explore photonic architectures for quantum data locking, where information is encoded in multi-photon states and processed using multi-mode linear optics and photo-detection, with the goal of extending an initial secret key into a longer one. % The secret key consumption depends on the number of…
The locking effect is a phenomenon which is unique to quantum information theory and represents one of the strongest separations between the classical and quantum theories of information. The Fawzi-Hayden-Sen (FHS) locking protocol harnesses this effect in a cryptographic context, whereby one party can encode n bits into n qubits while using only a constant-size secret key. The encoded message is then secure against any measurement that an eavesdropper could perform in an attempt to recover the message, but the protocol does not necessarily meet the composability requirements needed in quantum…
We experimentally and theoretically investigate injection locking of quantum dot (QD) microlasers in the regime of cavity quantum electrodynamics (cQED). We observe frequency locking and phase-locking where cavity enhanced spontaneous emission enables simultaneous stable oscillation at the master frequency and at the solitary frequency of the slave microlaser. Measurements of the second-order autocorrelation function prove this simultaneous presence of both master and slave-like emission, where the former has coherent character with $g^{(2)}(0)=1$ while the latter one has thermal character wit…
Several mathematical views of phase-locking are developed. The classical Huyghens approach is generalized to include all harmonic and subharmonic resonances and is found to be connected to 1/f noise and prime number theory. Two types of quantum phase-locking operators are defined, one acting on the rational numbers, the other on the elements of a Galois field. In both cases we analyse in detail the phase properties and find them related respectively to the Riemann zeta function and to incomplete Gauss sums.
The existence of quantum uncertainty relations is the essential reason that some classically impossible cryptographic primitives become possible when quantum communication is allowed. One direct operational manifestation of these uncertainty relations is a purely quantum effect referred to as information locking. A locking scheme can be viewed as a cryptographic protocol in which a uniformly random n-bit message is encoded in a quantum system using a classical key of size much smaller than n. Without the key, no measurement of this quantum state can extract more than a negligible amount of inf…
We analyze uncertainty relations on finite dimensional Hilbert spaces expressed in terms of classical fidelity, which are stronger then metric uncertainty relations introduced by Fawzi, Hayden and Sen. We establish validity of fidelity uncertainty relations for random unitary matrices with optimal parameters (up to universal constants) which improves upon known results for the weaker notion of metric uncertainty. This result is then applied to locking classical information in quantum states and allows to obtain optimal locking in Hellinger distance, improving upon previous results on locking i…
We show that it is possible for the so-called weak locking capacity of a quantum channel [Guha et al., PRX 4:011016, 2014] to be much larger than its private capacity. Both reflect different ways of capturing the notion of reliable communication via a quantum system while leaking almost no information to an eavesdropper; the difference is that the latter imposes an intrinsically quantum security criterion whereas the former requires only a weaker, classical condition. The channels for which this separation is most straightforward to establish are the complementary channels of classical-quantum…
The interplay between quantum-mechanical and classical evolutions in a chirped driven Rydberg atom is discussed. It is shown that the system allows two continuing resonant excitation mechanisms, i.e., a successive two-level transitions (ladder climbing) and a continuing classical-like nonlinear phase locking (autoresonance). The persistent $1:1$ and $2:1$ resonances between the driving and the Keplerian frequencies are studied in detail and characterized in terms of two dimensionless parameters $P_{1,2}$ representing the driving strength and the nonlinearity in the problem, respectively. The q…
A chirped parametrically driven discrete nonlinear Schrodinger equation is discussed. It is shown that the system allows two resonant excitation mechanisms, i.e., successive two-level transitions (ladder climbing) or a continuous classical-like nonlinear phase-locking (autoresonance). Two-level arguments are used to study the ladder-climbing process, and semiclassical theory describes the autoresonance effect. The regimes of efficient excitation in the problem are identified and characterized in terms of three dimensionless parameters describing the driving strength, the dispersion nonlinearit…
DECi-hertz Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (DECIGO) is a future mission for a space-borne laser interferometer. DECIGO has 1,000-km-long arm cavities mainly to detect the primordial gravitational waves (PGW) at lower frequencies around 0.1 Hz. Observations in the electromagnetic spectrum have lowered the bounds on the upper limit of PGW energy density ($Ω_{\rm gw} \sim 10^{-15} \to 10^{-16}$). As a result, DECIGO's target sensitivity, which is mainly limited by quantum noise, needs further improvement. To maximize the feasibility of detection while constrained by DECIGO's large d…
The concept of mode locking in laser is applied to a two-photon state with frequency entanglement. Cavity enhanced parametric down-conversion is found to produce exactly such a state. The mode-locked two-photon state exhibits a comb-like correlation function. An unbalanced Hong-Ou-Mandel type interferometer is used to measure the correlation function. A revival of the typical interference dip is observed. We will discuss schemes for engineering of quantum states in time domain.
The black hole information loss paradox has plagued physicists since Hawking's discovery that black holes evaporate thermally in contradiction to the unitarity expected by quantum mechanics. Here we show that one of the central presumptions of the debate is incorrect. Ensuring that information not escape during the semi-classical evaporation process does not require that all the information remain in the black hole until the final stages of evaporation. Using recent results in quantum information theory, we find that the amount of information that must remain in the black hole until the final …
Synchronization is a universal phenomenon that is important both in fundamental studies and in technical applications. Here we investigate synchronization in the simplest quantum-mechanical scenario possible, i.e., a quantum-mechanical self-sustained oscillator coupled to an external harmonic drive. Using the power spectrum we analyze synchronization in terms of frequency entrainment and frequency locking in close analogy to the classical case. We show that there is a step-like crossover to a synchronized state as a function of the driving strength. In contrast to the classical case, there is …
We investigate the magnetization dynamics of a pair of ferromagnetic insulators (FMIs) deposited on the surface of a topological insulator (TI). Due to the nonlinear nature of the underlying physics and intrinsic dynamics, the FMIs can exhibit oscillatory behaviors even under a constant applied voltage. The motion of the surface electrons of the TI, which obeys relativistic quantum mechanics, provides a mechanism of direct coupling between the FMIs. In particular, the spin polarized current of the TI surface electrons can affect the magnetization of the two FMIs, which in turn modulates the el…
Van der Pol oscillators are prototypical self-sustaining oscillators which have been used to model nonlinear processes in biological and other classical processes. In this work, we investigate how quantum fluctuations affect phase-locking in one or many van der Pol oscillators. We find that phase-locking is much more robust in the quantum model than in the equivalent classical model. Trapped-ion experiments are ideally suited to simulate van der Pol oscillators in the quantum regime via sideband heating and cooling of motional modes. We provide realistic experimental parameters for ${}^{171}\t…
We investigate quantum synchronization and correlations of two qutrits in one non-Markovian environment using the hierarchy equation method. There is no direct interaction between two qutrits and each qutrit interacts with the same non-Markovian environment. The influence of the temperature of the bath, correlation time, and coupling strength between qutrits and bath on the quantum synchronzation and correlations of two qutrits are studied without the Markovian, Born, and rotating wave approximations. We also discuss the influence of dissipation and dephasing on the synchronization of two qutr…
Uncertainty relations express the fundamental incompatibility of certain observables in quantum mechanics. Far from just being puzzling constraints on our ability to know the state of a quantum system, uncertainty relations are at the heart of why some classically impossible cryptographic primitives become possible when quantum communication is allowed. This thesis is concerned with strong notions of uncertainty relations and their applications in quantum information theory. One operational manifestation of such uncertainty relations is a purely quantum effect referred to as information lockin…
The two-photon ladder climbing (successive two-photon Landau-Zener-type transitions) in a chirped quantum nonlinear oscillator and its classical limit (subharmonic autoresonance) are discussed. An isomorphism between the chirped quantum-mechanical one and two-photon resonances in the system is used in calculating the threshold for the phase-locking transition in both the classical and quantum limits. The theory is tested by solving the Schrodinger equation in the energy basis and illustrated via the Wigner function in phase space.
We describe theoretically the main characteristics of the steady state regime of a type II Optical Parametric Oscillator (OPO) containing a birefringent plate. In such a device the signal and idler waves are at the same time linearly coupled by the plate and nonlinearly coupled by the $χ^{(2)}$ crystal. This mixed coupling allows, in some well-defined range of the control parameters, a frequency degenerate operation as well as phase locking between the signal and idler modes. We describe here a complete model taking into account all possible effects in the system, \emph{i.e.} arbitrary rotatio…
We employ a quantum trajectory approach to characterize synchronization and phase-locking between open quantum systems in nonequilibrium steady states. We exemplify our proposal for the paradigmatic case of two quantum Van der Pol oscillators interacting through dissipative coupling. We show the deep impact of synchronization on the statistics of phase-locking indicators and other correlation measures defined for single trajectories, spotting a link between the presence of synchronization and the emergence of large tails in the probability distribution for the entanglement along trajectories. …
Quantum data locking is a protocol that allows for a small secret key to (un)lock an exponentially larger amount of information, hence yielding the strongest violation of the classical one-time pad encryption in the quantum setting. This violation mirrors a large gap existing between two security criteria for quantum cryptography quantified by two entropic quantities: the Holevo information and the accessible information. We show that the latter becomes a sensible security criterion if an upper bound on the coherence time of the eavesdropper's quantum memory is known. Under this condition we i…
We discuss the problem of separating consistently the total correlations in a bipartite quantum state into a quantum and a purely classical part. A measure of classical correlations is proposed and its properties are explored.
We discuss the problem of coexistence of genuine quantum multipartite correlations and classical multipartite correlations. We introduce a postulate which any measure of genuine multipartite classical correlations should satisfy. We show that covariance does not satisfy this postulate. Finally we propose a definition of genuine multipartite correlations and illustrate it with examples.
We investigate a quantum battery made of N two-level systems, which is charged by an optical mode via an energy-conserving interaction. We quantify the fraction E(N) of energy stored in the B battery that can be extracted in order to perform thermodynamic work. We first demonstrate that E(N) is highly reduced by the presence of correlations between the charger and the battery or B between the two-level systems composing the battery. We then show that the correlation-induced suppression of extractable energy, however, can be mitigated by preparing the charger in a coherent optical state. We con…
We show that genuine multiparty quantum correlations can exist on its own, without a supporting background of genuine multiparty classical correlations, even in macroscopic systems. Such possibilities can have important implications in the physics of quantum information and phase transitions.
We study the dynamics of quantum and classical correlations in a two-qutrit system coupled to independent reservoirs. In particular, we addressed the differences in the dynamics of Markovian and non-Markovian regimes and show that for specific initial states, classical correlations exhibit abrupt changes along the dynamics. A particular sudden change occurs when the classical correlations freezes to a certain value at a given time, revealing the apparition of a pointer-state basis. After this given time, the decoherence only affects quantum correlations. Here we identify two regimes in the dec…
We quantify the total, quantum, and classical correlations with entropic measures, and quantitatively compare these correlations in a quantum system, as exemplified by a Heisenberg dimer which is subjected to the change of environmental parameters: temperature and nonuniform external field. Our results show that the quantum correlation may exceed the classical correlation at some nonzero temperatures, though the former is rather fragile than the later under thermal fluctuation. The effect of the external field to the classical correlation is quite different from the quantum correlation.
We study the quantum correlation and classical correlation dynamics in a spin-boson model. For two different forms of spectral density, we obtain analytical results and show that the evolutions of both correlations depend closely on the form of the initial state. At the end of evolution, all correlations initially stored in the spin system transfer to reservoirs. It is found that for a large family of initial states, quantum correlation remains equal to the classical correlation during the course of evolution. In addition, there is no increase in the correlations during the course of evolution…
An experiment is proposed to show that after initial frequency and polarization selection, classical thermal light from two independent sources can be made path-polarization entangled. Such light will show new intensity-intensity correlations involving both path and polarization phases, formally similar to those for four-particle GHZ states. For fixed polarization phases, the correlations reduce to the Hanbury Brown-Twiss phase correlations. It is also shown that these classical correlations violate noncontextuality.
Recently, it has been shown that there exist quantum states for which quantum correlations dominate over classical correlations. Inspired by this observation, we investigate the problem of quantum correlations dominance for two-qubit Bell diagonal states in the Ollivier--Zurek paradigm, using both entropic and geometric approach to quantification of classical and quantum correlations. In particular, we estimate numerically the amount of two-qubit Bell diagonal states for which quantum correlations dominate over classical correlations, and vice versa. Moreover, we show that in general these two…
Non-classical correlations denote the ways in which quantum systems can be correlated beyond what is possible in classical physics. They include but are not limited to entanglement: non-entangled states can also exhibit forms of non-classical correlations. We here review the literature on metrological measures of non-classical correlations and show how they relate to increased probe sensitivity in quantum metrology protocols such as interferometric parameter estimation and state discrimination.
We will discuss the generalization of entropic uncertainty principles in terms of a game. The game involves k-players, each measuring one of k possible observables. The question is, what is the maximum number of players that can play such that their joint entropic uncertainties are tightened by the presence of non-classical correlations? We answer this question and relate it to the ratio of quantum mutual information to classical correlations. This game hence serves to construct an operational interpretation of the aforementioned ratio. It provides another example of quantum correlations provi…
We experimentally demonstrated that the quantum correlations of amplitude and phase quadratures between signal and idler beams produced from a non-degenerate optical parametric amplifier (NOPA) can be significantly improved by using a mode cleaner in the pump field and reducing the phase fluctuations in phase locking systems. Based on the two technical improvements the quantum entanglement measured with a two-mode homodyne detector is enhanced from ~ 4 dB to ~ 6 dB below the quantum noise limit using the same NOPA and nonlinear crystal.
We wish to report an experimental observation of anti-correlation from first-order incoherent classical chaotic light. We explain why the classical statistical theory does not apply and provide a quantum interpretation. In quantum theory, either correlation or anti-correlation is a two-photon interference phenomenon, which involves the superposition of two-photon amplitudes, a nonclassical entity corresponding to different yet indistinguishable alternative ways of producing a joint-photodetection event.
Recently some authors have pointed out that there exist nonclassical correlations which are more general, and possibly more fundamental, than entanglement. For these general quantum correlations and their classical counterparts, under the action of decoherence, we identify three general types of dynamics that include a peculiar sudden change in their decay rates. We show that, under suitable conditions, the classical correlation is unaffected by decoherence. Such dynamic behavior suggests an operational measure of both classical and quantum correlations that can be computed without any extremi…
We study the classical correlation (CC) and quantum discord (QD) between two spin subgroups of the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick (LMG) model in both binary and trinary decompositions of spins. In the case of bipartition, we find that the classical correlations and all the quantum correlations including the QD, the entanglement of formation (EoF) and the logarithmic negativity (LN) are divergent in the same singular behavior at the critical point of the LMG model. In the case of tripartition, however, the classical correlation is still divergent but all the quantum correlation measures remain finite at …
Bipartite correlations in multi-qubit systems cannot be shared freely. The presence of entanglement or classical correlation on certain pairs of qubits may imply correlations on other pairs. We present a method of characterization of bi-partite correlations in multi-qubit systems using a concept of entangled graphs that has been introduced in our earlier work [M.Plesch and V.Buzek, Phys. Rev. A 67, 012322 (2003)]. In entangled graphs each qubit is represented by a vertex while the entanglement and classical correlations are represented by two types of edges. We prove by construction that any e…
Superquantum ("PR-box") correlations, though designed to respect relativistic causality, violate relativistic causality in the classical limit. Generalizing to all stronger-than-quantum bipartite correlations, I derive Tsirelson's bound from the axioms of nonlocality, relativistic causality and the existence of a classical limit. This derivation of Tsirelson's bound does not assume quantum mechanics yet suggests how Hilbert space is implicit in quantum correlations.
The frame of classical probability theory can be generalized by enlarging the usual family of random variables in order to encompass nondeterministic ones: this leads to a frame in which two kinds of correlations emerge: the classical correlation which is coded in the mixed state of the physical system and a new correlation, to be called probabilistic entanglement, which may occur also at pure states. We examine to what extent this characterization of correlations can be applied to quantum mechanics. Explicit calculations on simple examples outline that a same quantum state can show only class…
