We present a protocol that produces a conditionally prepared state that can be used for a Bell test based on homodyne detection. Based on the results of Munro [PRA 1999], the state is near-optimal for Bell-inequality violations based on quadrature-phase homodyne measurements that use correlated photon-number states. The scheme utilizes the Gaussian entanglement distillation protocol of Eisert et. al. [Annals of Phys. 2004] and uses only beam splitters and photodetection to conditionally prepare a non-Gaussian state from a source of two-mode squeezed states with low squeezing parameter, permitting a loophole-free test of Bell inequalities.
We identify what ideal correlated photon number states are to required to maximize the discrepancy between local realism and quantum mechanics when a quadrature homodyne phase measurement is used. Various Bell inequality tests are considered.
We propose a feasible optical setup allowing for a loophole-free Bell test with efficient homodyne detection. A non-gaussian entangled state is generated from a two-mode squeezed vacuum by subtracting a single photon from each mode, using beamsplitters and standard low-efficiency single-photon detectors. A Bell violation exceeding 1% is achievable with 6-dB squeezed light and an homodyne efficiency around 95%. A detailed feasibility analysis, based upon the recent generation of single-mode non-gaussian states, confirms that this method opens a promising avenue towards a complete experimental B…
We show that hybrid local measurements combining homodyne measurements and photodetection provide violations of a Bell inequality with arbitrarily low photodetection efficiency. This is shown in two different scenarios: when one part receives an atom entangled to the field mode to be measured by the other part and when both parts make similar photonic measurements. Our findings promote the hybrid measurement scenario as a candidate for loophole-free Bell tests beyond previous expectations.
We demonstrate that different kind of mesoscopic quantum states of light can be efficiently generated from a simple iterative scheme using homodyne heralding. These states exhibit strong non-classical features, and are of great interest for many applications such as quantum error-correcting codes or fundamental testings. On this basis we propose a protocol allowing a large loophole-free violation of a CHSH-type Bell inequality with a remarkable robustness to line losses.
We present a scheme for demonstrating violation of Bell's inequalities using a spin-1/2 system entangled with a pair of classically distinguishable wave packets in a harmonic potential. In the optical domain, such wave packets can be represented by coherent states of a single light mode. The proposed scheme involves standard spin-1/2 projections and measurements of the position and the momentum of the harmonic oscillator system, which for a light mode can be realized by means of homodyne detection. We discuss effects of imperfections, including non-unit efficiency of the homodyne detector, and…
We show that homodyne measurements can be used to demonstrate violations of Bell's inequality with Gaussian states, when the local rotations used for these types of tests are implemented using nonlinear unitary operations. We reveal that the local structure of the Gaussian state under scrutiny is crucial in the performance of the test. The effects of finite detection efficiency is thoroughly studied and shown to only mildly affect the revelation of Bell violations. We speculate that our approach may be extended to other applications such as entanglement distillation where local operations are …
We have theoretically investigated the possibility of using any of several continuous-variable Bell-type inequalities - for which the dichotomic measurements are achieved with coarse-grained quadrature (homodyne) measurements - in a multi-party configuration where each participant is given a section, in the frequency domain, of the output of an optical parametric oscillator which has been synchronously-pumped with a frequency comb. Such light sources are undergoing intense study due to their novel properties, including the potential for production of light entangled in many hundreds of physica…
A classical model is presented for the features of parametric down-conversion and homodyne detection relevant to recent proposed ``loophole-free'' Bell tests. The Bell tests themselves are uncontroversial: there are no obvious loopholes that might cause bias and hence, if the world does, after all, obey local realism, no violation of a Bell inequality will be observed. Interest centres around the question of whether or not the proposed criterion for ``non-classical'' light is valid. If cit is not, then the experiments will fail in their initial concept, since both quantum theorists and local r…
We develop a multimode theory of direct homodyne measurements of quantum optical quasidistribution functions. We demonstrate that unbalanced homodyning with appropriately shaped auxiliary coherent fields allows one to sample point-by-point different phase space representations of the electromagnetic field. Our analysis includes practical factors that are likely to affect the outcome of a realistic experiment, such as non-unit detection efficiency, imperfect mode matching, and dark counts. We apply the developed theory to discuss feasibility of observing a loophole-free violation of Bell's ineq…
Recent proposed ``loophole-free'' Bell tests are discussed in the light of classical models for the relevant features of optical parametric amplification and homodyne detection. The Bell tests themselves are uncontroversial: there are no obvious loopholes that might cause bias and hence, if the world does, after all, obey local realism, no violation of a Bell inequality will be observed. Interest centres around the question of whether or not the proposed criterion for ``non-classical'' light is valid. If it is not, then the experiments will fail in their initial concept, since both quantum the…
We present a homodyne detection scheme to verify Bell's inequality on correlated optical beams at the output of a nondegenerate parametric amplifier. Our approach is based on tomographic measurement of the joint detection probabilities, which allows high quantum efficiency at detectors. A self-homodyne scheme is suggested to simplify the experimental set-up.
We investigate the violation of local realism in Bell tests involving homodyne measurements performed on multimode continuous-variable states. By binning the measurement outcomes in an appropriate way, we prove that the Mermin-Klyshko inequality can be violated by an amount that grows exponentially with the number of modes. Furthermore, the maximum violation allowed by quantum mechanics can be attained for any number of modes, albeit requiring a quantum state that is rather unrealistic. Interestingly, this exponential increase of the violation holds true even for simpler states, such as multip…
A combined ferrite parametric amplifier and millimeter-wave homodyne interferometer are proposed as an ambient temperature Bell Test. It is shown that the non-linear magnetic susceptibility of the yttrium iron garnet (YIG) ferrite, on account of its narrow line-width Larmor precessional resonance, make it an ideal material for the creation of entangled photons. These can be measured using a homodyne interferometer, as the much larger number of thermally generated photons associated with ambient temperature emission can be screened out. The proposed architecture may enable YIG quantum technolog…
We provide a detailed analysis of the recently proposed setup for a loophole-free test of Bell inequality using conditionally generated non-Gaussian states of light and balanced homodyning. In the proposed scheme, a two-mode squeezed vacuum state is de-gaussified by subtracting a single photon from each mode with the use of an unbalanced beam splitter and a standard low-efficiency single-photon detector. We thoroughly discuss the dependence of the achievable Bell violation on the various relevant experimental parameters such as the detector efficiencies, the electronic noise and the mixedness …
We show that the use of probabilistic noiseless amplification in entangled coherent state-based schemes for the test of quantum non locality provides substantial advantages. The threshold amplitude to falsify a Bell-CHSH non locality test, in fact, is significantly reduced when amplification is embedded into the test itself. Such a beneficial effect holds also in the presence of detection-inefficiency. Our study helps in affirming noiseless amplification as a valuable tool for coherent information processing and the generation of strongly non classical states of bosonic systems.
We propose a whole family of physical states that yield a violation of the Bell CHSH inequality arbitrarily close to its maximum value, when using quadrature phase homodyne detection. This result is based on a new binning process called root binning, that is used to transform the continuous variables measurements into binary results needed for the tests of quantum mechanics versus local realistic theories. A physical process in order to produce such states is also suggested. The use of high-efficiency spacelike separated homodyne detections with these states and this binning process would resu…
We reconsider the all-optical homodyne-measurement based experimental schemes that aim to reveal Bell nonclassicality of a single photon, often termed `nonlocality'. We focus on the schemes put forward by Tan, Walls and Collett (TWC, 1991) and Hardy (1994). In the light of our previous work the Tan, Walls and Collett setup can be described by a precise local hidden variable model, hence the claimed nonclassicality of this proposal is apparent, whereas the nonclassicality proof proposed by Hardy is impeccable. In this work we resolve the following problem: which feature of the Hardy's approach …
Optical homodyne detection has found use in a range of quantum technologies as both a characterisation tool and as a way to post-selectively generate non-linearities. So far optical implementations have been limited to bulk optics. Here we present the first homodyne detector fully integrated with silicon photonics and suitable for measurements of the quantum state of the electromagnetic field. This high speed, compact detector shows low noise operation, with 10 dB of clearance between shot noise and electronic noise, up to a speed of 160 MHz. These performances are suitable for on-chip charact…
Bell nonclassicality of a single photon superposition in two modes, often referred to as `nonlocality of a single photon', is one of the most striking nonclassical phenomena discussed in the context of foundations of quantum physics. Here we show how to robustly violate local realism within the weak-field homodyne measurement scheme for \textit{any} superposition of one photon with vacuum. Our modification of the previously proposed setups involves tunable beamsplitters at the measurement stations, and the local oscillator fields significantly varying between the settings, optimally being {\it…
Protocols for probabilistic entanglement-assisted quantum teleportation and for entanglement swapping of material qubits are presented. They are based on a protocol for postselective Bell-state projection which is capable of projecting two material qubits onto a Bell state with the help of ancillary coherent multiphoton states and postselection by balanced homodyne photodetection. Provided this photonic postselection is successful we explore the theoretical possibilities of realizing unit fidelity quantum teleportation and entanglement swapping with $25\%$ success probability. This photon-assi…
When separated measurements on entangled quantum systems are performed, the theory predicts correlations that cannot be explained by any classical mechanism: communication is excluded because the signal should travel faster than light; pre-established agreement is excluded because Bell inequalities are violated. All optical demonstrations of such violations have involved discrete degrees of freedom and are plagued by the detection-efficiency loophole. A promising alternative is to use continuous variables combined with highly efficient homodyne measurements. However, all the schemes proposed s…
Although our understanding of Bell's theorem and experimental techniques to test it have improved over the last 40 years, thus far all Bell tests have suffered at least from the detection or the locality loophole. Most photonic Bell tests rely on inefficient discrete-outcome measurements, often provided by photon counting detection. One possible way to close the detection loophole in photonic Bell tests is to involve efficient continuous-variable measurements instead, such as homodyne detection. Here, we propose a test of the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) inequality that applies photon cou…
We study nonlocality tests in which each party performs photodetection and homodyne measurements. The results of such measurements are dichotomized and a Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) inequality is used. We prove that in this scenario the maximal violation is attainable and fully characterize the set of maximally violating states. If we restrict our search to states composed by at most 2, 4, and 6 photons per mode, we find critical photodetection efficiencies of 0.48, 0.36, and 0.29. We also found an entangled variation of the famous cat states that has critical efficiency 0.32. These valu…
We show that arbitrary functions of continuous variables, e.g. position and momentum, can be used to generate tests that distinguish quantum theory from local hidden variable theories. By optimising these functions, we obtain more robust violations of local causality than obtained previously. We analytically calculate the optimal function and include the effect of nonideal detectors and noise, revealing that optimized functional inequalities are resistant to standard forms of decoherence. These inequalities could allow a loophole-free Bell test with efficient homodyne detection.
We consider the entanglement between two internal states of a single atom and two photon number states describing either the vaccum or a single photon and thus containing, on average, less than one photon. We show that this intriguing entanglement can be characterized through substantial violations of a Bell inequality by performing homodyne detections on the optical mode. We present the experimental challenges that need to be overcome to pave the way towards a loophole-free Bell test in this setup.
Time-domain balanced homodyne detection is performed on two well-separated temporal modes sharing a single photon. The reconstructed density matrix of the two-mode system is used to prove and quantify its entangled nature, while the Wigner function is employed for an innovative tomographic test of Bell's inequality based on the theoretical proposal by Banaszek and Wodkiewicz [Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 2009 (1999)]. Provided some auxiliary assumptions are made, a clear violation of Banaszek-Bell's inequality is found.
So far, all experimental tests of Bell inequalities which must be satisfied by all local realistic hidden-variable theories and are violated by quantum mechanical predictions have left at least one loophole open. We propose a feasible setup allowing for a loophole-free test of the Bell inequalities. Two electron spin qubits of phosphorus donors in semiconductors in different cavities 300 m apart are entangled through a bright coherent light and postselections using homodyne measurements. The electron spins are then read out randomly and independently by Alice and Bob, respectively, with unity …
A Bell inequality is a fundamental test to rule out local hidden variable model descriptions of correlations between two physically separated systems. There have been a number of experiments in which a Bell inequality has been violated using discrete-variable systems. We demonstrate a violation of Bells inequality using continuous variable quadrature measurements. By creating a four-mode entangled state with homodyne detection, we recorded a clear violation with a Bell value of $B = 2.31 \pm 0.02$. This opens new possibilities for using continuous variable states for device independent quantum…
The violation of Bell inequalities where both detection and locality loopholes are closed is crucial for device independent assessments of quantum information. While of technological nature, the simultaneous closing of both loopholes still remains a challenge. In Nat. Commun. 4:2104(2013), a realistic setup to produce an atom-photon entangled state that could reach a loophole free Bell inequality violation within current experimental technology was proposed. Here we improve the analysis of this proposal by giving an analytical treatment that shows that the state proposed in Nat. Commun. 4:2104…
We propose a technique that enables the creation of quantum discord between two distant nodes, each containing a cavity consist of the Bose-Einstein condensate, by applying a non-ideal Bell-like detection on the output modes of optical cavities. We find the covariance matrix of the system after the non-ideal Bell-like detection, showing explicitly that one enables manipulation of the quantum correlations, and particularly quantum discord, between remote Bose-Einstein condensates. We also find that the non-ideal Bell-like detection can create entanglement between distant Bose-Einstein condensat…
Tests of local hidden variable theories using measurements with continuous variable (CV) outcomes are developed, and a comparison of different methods is presented. As examples, we focus on multipartite entangled GHZ and cluster states. We suggest a physical process that produces the states proposed here, and investigate experiments both with and without binning of the continuous variable. In the former case, the Mermin-Klyshko inequalities can be used directly. For unbinned outcomes, the moment-based CFRD inequalities are extended to functional inequalities by considering arbitrary functions …
Continuous-variable state moments from randomized homodyne and heterodyne measurements
Centre for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore（新加坡国立大学量子技术中心）；MajuLab, CNRS-UNS-NUS-NTU International Joint Research Unit（马久实验室，CNRS-UNS-NUS-NTU国际联合研究单位）
Passing a photon number state through a balanced beam splitter will produce an entangled state in which the phases of the two output beams are highly correlated. This entangled state can be viewed as a generalized form of a Schrodinger cat state where there is an equal probability amplitude for all possible phases. We show that Bell's inequality can be violated using this entangled state and two distant measuring devices that consist of a single-photon interferometer with a Kerr medium in one path, a set of single-photon detectors, and postselection based on a homodyne measurement. These entan…
We demonstrate that the one-axis twisting (OAT), a versatile method of creating non-classical states of bosonic qubits, is a powerful source of many-body Bell correlations. We develop a fully analytical and universal treatment of the process, which allows us to identify the critical time at which the Bell correlations emerge, and predict the depth of Bell correlations at all subsequent times. Our findings are illustrated with a highly non-trivial example of the OAT dynamics generated using the Bose-Hubbard model.
We investigate the scenario where spatially separated parties perform measurements in randomly chosen bases on an N-partite Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state. We show that without any alignment of the measurements, the observers will obtain correlations that violate a Bell inequality with a probability that rapidly approaches 1 as N increases and that this probability is robust against noise. We also prove that restricting these randomly chosen measurements to a plane perpendicular to a common direction will always generate correlations that violate some Bell inequality. Specifically, if each …
This paper presents a tutorial review of nonlocal interferometry. The role of the Feynman propagator in optical coherence is also discussed, including the possibility of generating optical coherence and entanglement outside of the light cone.
A new conditional scheme for generating Bell states of two spatially separated high-Q cavities is reported. Our method is based on the passage of one atom only through the two cavities. A distinctive feature of our treatment is that it incorporates from the very beginning the unavoidable presence of fluctuations in the atom-cavity interaction times. The possibility of successfully implementing our proposal against cavity losses and atomic spontaneous decay is carefully discussed.
We investigate theoretically the deterministic generation of quantum states with negative Wigner functions, by using giant non-linearities due to collisional interactions between Rydberg polaritons. The state resulting from the polariton interactions may be transferred with high fidelity into a photonic state, which can be analyzed using homodyne detection followed by quantum tomography. Besides generating highly non-classical states of the light, this method can also provide a very sensitive probe for the physics of the collisions involving Rydberg states.
In this paper, we study how to generate entanglement by interaction-free measurement. Using Kwiat et al.'s interferometer, we construct a two-qubit quantum gate that changes a particle's trajectory according to the other particle's trajectory. We propose methods for generating the Bell state from an electron and a positron and from a pair of photons by this gate. We also show that using this gate, we can carry out the Bell measurement with the probability of 3/4 at the maximum and execute a controlled-NOT operation by the method proposed by Gottesman and Chuang with the probability of 9/16 at …
Nonlocal games with synchronous correlations are a natural generalization of functions between two finite sets. In this work we examine analogues of Bell's inequalities for such correlations, and derive a synchronous device-independent quantum key distribution protocol. This protocol has the advantage of symmetry between the two users and self-testing while generating shared secret key without requiring a preshared secret. We show that, unlike general correlations and the CHSH inequality, there can be no quantum Bell violation among synchronous correlations with two measurement settings. Howev…
We analyze a reversibility of optimal Gaussian $1\to 2$ quantum cloning of a coherent state using only local operations on the clones and classical communication between them and propose a feasible experimental test of this feature. Performing Bell-type homodyne measurement on one clone and anti-clone, an arbitrary unknown input state (not only a coherent state) can be restored in the other clone by applying appropriate local unitary displacement operation. We generalize this concept to a partial LOCC reversal of the cloning and we show that this procedure converts the symmetric cloner to an a…
We consider a pair of coupled spins with Ising interaction in z-direction and study the problem of generating efficiently the triplet Bell state. We initially analyze the transitionless quantum driving shortcut to adiabaticity method and point out its limitations when the available duration approaches zero. In this short time limit we explicitly calculate the fidelity of the method and find it to be much lower than unity, no matter how large become the available control fields. We find that there is a lower bound on the necessary time to complete this transfer, set by the finite value of the i…
In this paper we study the generation of Bell states between distant vertices in a permanently coupled quantum spin network, interacting via invariant stratification graphs. To begin with we establish a class of upper bounds over achievable entanglement between the reference site and various vertices. We observe that the maximum of these upper bounds is 1 e-bit. We conclude that the reference site can generate a Bell state with a vertex if the corresponding upper bound of the vertex is 1 e-bit. Thus for generation of a Bell state this upper bound must be saturated. Taking this into account, we…
