A complete and deterministic Bell state measurement was realized by a simple linear optics experimental scheme which adopts 2-photon polarization-momentum hyperentanglement. The scheme, which is based on the discrimination among the single photon Bell states of the hyperentangled state, requires the adoption of standard single photon detectors. The four polarization Bell states have been measured with average fidelity $F=0.889\pm0.010$ by using the linear momentum degree of freedom as the ancilla. The feasibility of the scheme has been characterized as a function of the purity of momentum entanglement.
We make use of local operations with two ancilla bits to deterministically distinguish all the four Bell states, without affecting the quantum channel containing these Bell states.
We propose a framework to analyze linear optical circuits based on an analogy with stabilizer formalism in quantum circuits, which provides efficiently computable formulas related to state discriminations. Hence, we analyze a Bell-state discrimination scheme with linear optics and ancillary single photons. With an increasing number of ancilla photons, the success probability of Bell-state discrimination has a maximum of $\frac{403}{512} \simeq 0.787$ at $28$ ancilla photons. By contrast, the corresponding two-qubit measurement asymptotically approaches a maximally entangling measurement.
It is shown that the dissonance, a quantum correlation which is equal to quantum discord for separable state, is required for assisted optimal state discrimination. We find that only one side discord is required in the optimal process of assisted state discrimination, while another side discord and entanglement is not necessary. We confirm that the quantum discord, which is asymmetric depending on local measurements, is a resource for assisted state discrimination. With the absence of entanglement, we give the necessary and sufficient condition for vanishing one side discord in assisted state …
The so-called quasi-Bell entangled coherent states in a thermal environment are studied. In the analysis, we assume thermal noise affects only one of the two modes of each state. First the matrix representation of the density operators of the quasi-Bell entangled coherent states in a thermal environment is derived. Secondly we investigate the entanglement property of one of the quasi-Bell entangled coherent states with thermal noise. At that time a lower bound of the entanglement of formation for the state is computed. Thirdly the minimax discrimination problem for two cases of the binary set …
The original versions (1 and 2) of this paper paper contain a fatal error. All my attempts to patch the error have failed. As a service to the community I explain the error in some detail.
We consider quantum-memory assisted protocols for discriminating quantum channels. We show that for optimal discrimination of memory channels, memory assisted protocols are needed. This leads to a new notion of distance for channels with memory. For optimal discrimination and estimation of sets of unitary channels memory-assisted protocols are not required.
Quantum information processing using linear optics is challenging due to the limited set of deterministic operations achievable without using complicated resource-intensive methods. While techniques such as the use of ancillary photons can enhance the information processing capabilities of linear optical systems they are technologically demanding. Therefore, determining the constraints posed by linear optics and optimizing linear optical operations for specific tasks under those constraints, without the use of ancillas, can facilitate their potential implementation. Here, we consider the task …
We investigate optimal discrimination between two projective single-qubit measurements in a scenario where the measurement can be performed only once. We consider general setting involving a tunable fraction of inconclusive outcomes and we prove that the optimal discrimination strategy requires an entangled probe state for any nonzero rate of inconclusive outcomes. We experimentally implement this optimal discrimination strategy for projective measurements on polarization states of single photons. Our setup involves a real-time electrooptical feed-forward loop which allows us to fully harness …
The question of the discrimination of the Bell states of two qudits (i.e., d-dimensional quantum systems) by means of passive linear optical elements and conditional measurements is discussed. A qudit is supposed to be represented by d optical modes containing exactly one photon altogether. From recent results of Calsamiglia it follows that there is no way how to distinguish the Bell states of two qudits for d>2 - not even with the probability of success lower than one - without any auxiliary photons in ancillary modes. Following the results of Carollo and Palma it is proved that it is impossi…
We study intrinsic coherence in the tripartite process to unambiguously discriminate two nonorthogonal states of a qubit, entangled with another one, and assisted by an auxiliary system. The optimal success probability is found to be benefited by initial intrinsic coherence, but no extra one is required. The transformations among different contributions of intrinsic coherence are necessary in this procedure, which increase with the overlap between the states to recognize. Such state discrimination is a key step of the probabilistic teleportation protocol. Entanglement of the quantum channel de…
In this paper, the following scenario is considered: there are two qubits possessed by two parties at different locations. Qubits have been prepared in one of a maximum of four, mutually-orthogonal, entangled states and the parties wish to distinguish between the states by using local operations and classical communication. Although in general it is not possible to distinguish between four arbitrary states, the parties can spend some pre-shared entanglement to achieve perfect discrimination between four qubit states and can also preserve the entanglement of the states after discrimination. Thi…
We studied the distinguishability of generalized Bell states under local operations and classical communication. We introduced the concept of maximally commutative set (MCS), subset of generalized Pauli matrices whose elements are mutually commutative and there is no other generalized Pauli matrix that is commute with all the elements of this set. We found that MCS can be considered as a detector for local distinguishability of set $\mathcal{S}$ of generalized Bell states. In fact, we got an efficient criterion. That is, if the difference set of $\mathcal{S}$ is disjoint with or completely con…
A fundamental problem in quantum information is to explore what kind of quantum correlations is responsible for successful completion of a quantum information procedure. Here we study the roles of entanglement, discord, and dissonance needed for optimal quantum state discrimination when the latter is assisted with an auxiliary system. In such process, we present a more general joint unitary transformation than the existing results. The quantum entanglement between a principal qubit and an ancilla is found to be completely unnecessary, as it can be set to zero in the arbitrary case by adjusting…
Entangled states can help in quantum state discrimination by local operations and classical communication (LOCC). For example, a Bell state is necessary (and sufficient) to perfectly discriminate a set of either three or four Bell states by LOCC. In this paper, we consider the task of LOCC discrimination of the states of noisy Bell ensembles, where a given ensemble consists of the states obtained by mixing the Bell states with an arbitrary two-qubit state with nonzero probabilities. It is proved that a Bell state is required for optimal discrimination by LOCC, even though the ensembles do not …
A fundamental problem in quantum information is to explore the roles of different quantum correlations in a quantum information procedure. Recent work [Phys. Rev. Lett., 107 (2011) 080401] shows that the protocol for assisted optimal state discrimination (AOSD) may be implemented successfully without entanglement, but with another correlation, quantum dissonance. However, both the original work and the extension to discrimination of $d$ states [Phys. Rev. A, 85 (2012) 022328] have only proved that entanglement can be absent in the case with equal a \emph{priori} probabilities. By improving the…
We analyze entanglement swapping (ES) of partially entangled pure states with arbitrary Schmidt rank from the perspective of quantum state discrimination. It is shown that the standard deterministic ES protocol is related with an optimal minimum-error strategy. In this case the amount of entanglement of the states resulting from swapping is, in general, lower than the maximum achievable for the quantum channels involved. In this regard, we show that the ES protocol can be probabilistically improved resorting to optimal maximum-confidence (MC) discrimination strategy. Additionally, we show that…
Steering is the entanglement-based quantum effect that embodies the "spooky action at a distance" disliked by Einstein and scrutinized by Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen. Here we provide a necessary and sufficient characterization of steering, based on a quantum information processing task: the discrimination of branches in a quantum evolution, which we dub subchannel discrimination. We prove that, for any bipartite steerable state, there are instances of the quantum subchannel discrimination problem for which this state allows a correct discrimination with strictly higher probability than in ab…
A scheme for distributed quantum measurement that allows nondestructive or indirect Bell measurement was proposed by Gupta et al., (Int. J. Quant. Infor. \textbf{5} (2007) 627) and subsequently realized experimentally using an NMR-based three-qubit quantum computer by Samal et al., (J. Phys. B, \textbf{43} (2010) 095508). In the present work, a similar experiment is performed using the five-qubit super-conductivity-based quantum computer, which has been recently placed in cloud by IBM Corporation. The experiment confirmed that the Bell state can be constructed and measured in a nondestructive …
The intrinsic idea of superdense coding is to find as many gates as possible such that they can be perfectly discriminated. In this paper, we consider a new scheme of discrimination of quantum gates, called ancilla-assisted discrimination, in which a set of quantum gates on a $d-$dimensional system are perfectly discriminated with assistance from an $r-$dimensional ancilla system. The main contribution of the present paper is two-fold: (1) The number of quantum gates that can be discriminated in this scheme is evaluated. We prove that any $rd+1$ quantum gates cannot be perfectly discriminated …
We propose a simple scheme for complete Bell-state measurement of photons using hyperentangled states - entangled in multiple degrees of freedom. In addition to hyperentanglement, our scheme requires only linear optics and single photon detectors, and is realizable with current technology. At the cost of additional classical communication, our Bell-state measurement can be implemented non-locally. We discuss the possible application of these results to quantum dense coding and quantum teleportation.
The propagation of macroscopic entangled states over large distances in the presence of loss is of fundamental interest and may have practical applications as well. Here we describe two different techniques in which state discrimination can be used to violate Bell's inequality with macroscopic phase-entangled coherent states. We find that Bell's inequality can be violated by these macroscopic states over a distance of approximately 400 km in commercially-available optical fibers.
An orthogonal product basis of a composite Hilbert space is genuinely nonlocal if the basis states are locally indistinguishable across every bipartition. From an operational point of view such a basis corresponds to a separable measurement that cannot be implemented by local operations and classical communication (LOCC) unless all the parties come together in a single location. In this work we classify genuinely nonlocal product bases into different categories. Our classification is based on state elimination property of the set via orthogonality-preserving measurements when all the parties a…
Hyperentangled Bell-state analysis (HBSA) is critical for high-capacity quantum communication. Here we design two effective schemes for error-heralded deterministic generation and self-assisted complete analysis of hyperentangled Bell states for two-photon systems in both the polarization and spatial-mode degrees of freedom, assisted by single-sided quantum-dot-cavity systems. We construct an error-heralded block with a singly charged quantum dot inside a single-sided optical microcavity, two circular polarization beam splitters, one half-wave plate, and one single-photon detector, in which th…
We propose and theoretically investigate an unambiguous Bell measurement of atomic qubits assisted by multiphoton states. The atoms interact resonantly with the electromagnetic field inside two spatially separated optical cavities in a Ramsey-type interaction sequence. The qubit states are postselected by measuring the photonic states inside the resonators. We show that if one is able to project the photonic field onto two coherent states on opposite sites of phase space, an unambiguous Bell measurement can be implemented. Thus our proposal may provide a core element for future components of q…
We quantify the usefulness of a bipartite quantum state in the ancilla-assisted channel discrimination of arbitrary quantum channels, formally defining a worst-case-scenario channel discrimination power for bipartite quantum states. We show that such a quantifier is deeply connected with the operator Schmidt decomposition of the state. We compute the channel discrimination power exactly for pure states, and provide upper and lower bounds for general mixed states. We show that highly entangled states can outperform any state that passes the realignment criterion for separability. Furthermore, w…
Bell-state analysis (BSA) is essential in quantum communication, but it is impossible to distinguish unambiguously the four Bell states in the polarization degree of freedom (DOF) of two-photon systems with only linear optical elements, except for the case in which the BSA is assisted with hyperentangled states, the simultaneous entanglement in more than one DOF. Here, we propose a scheme to distinguish completely the 16 hyperentangled Bell states in both the polarization and the spatial-mode DOFs of two-photon systems, by using the giant nonlinear optics in quantum dot-cavity systems. This sc…
We show how nonclassical correlations in local bipartite states can act as a resource for quantum information processing. Considering the task of quantum random access codes (RAC) through separable Bell-diagonal states, we demonstrate the advantage of superunsteerability over classical protocols assisted with two-bits of shared randomness. We propose a measure of superunsteerability, which quantifies nonclassicality beyond quantum steering, and obtain its analytical expression for Bell-diagonal states in the context of the two- and three-setting steering scenarios that are directly related to …
Despite well-established no-go theorems on a perfect linear optical Bell state analyzer, we find a numerical trend that appears to approach a near-perfect measurement if we incorporate eight or more un-entangled ancilla photons into our device. Following this trend, we begin a promising inductive approach to building an ideal optical Bell measurement device. In the process, we determine that any Bell state analyzer that (even occasionally) bunches all photons into only two of the output modes cannot perform an ideal measurement and we find a set of conditions on our linear optical circuit that…
We construct an error-detected block, assisted by the quantum-dot spins in double-sided optical microcavities. With this block, we propose three error-detected schemes for the deterministic generation, the complete analysis, and the complete nondestructive analysis of hyperentangled Bell states in both the polarization and spatial-mode degrees of freedom of two-photon systems. In these schemes, the errors can be detected, which can improve their fidelities largely, far different from other previous schemes assisted by the interaction between the photon and the quantum-dot-cavity system. Our sc…
Hyperentangled Bell states analysis (HBSA) is an essential building block for certain hyper-parallel quantum information processing. We propose a complete and deterministic HBSA scheme encoded in spatial and polarization degrees of freedom (DOFs) of two-photon system assisted by a fixed frequency-based entanglement and a time interval DOF. The parity information the spatial-based and polarization-based hyper-entanglement can be distinguished by the distinct time intervals of the photon pairs, and the phase information can be distinguished by the detection signature. Compared with previous sche…
Hyperentanglement, the entanglement in several degrees of freedom (DOFs) of a quantum system, has attracted much attention as it can be used to increase both the channel capacity of quantum communication and its security largely. Here, we present the first scheme to completely distinguish the hyperentangled Bell states of two-photon systems in three DOFs with the help of cross-Kerr nonlinearity without destruction, including two longitudinal momentum DOFs and the polarization DOF. We use cross-Kerr nonlinearity to construct quantum nondemolition detectors which can be used to make a parity-che…
We develop a concept of metasurface-assisted ghost imaging for non-local discrimination between a set of polarization objects. The specially designed metasurfaces are incorporated in the imaging system to perform parallel state transformations in general elliptical bases of quantum-entangled or classically-correlated photons. Then, only four or fewer correlation measurements between multiple metasurface outputs and a simple polarization-insensitive bucket detector after the object can allow for the identification of fully or partially transparent polarization elements and their arbitrary orien…
We provide explicit quantum circuits for the non-destructive deterministic discrimination of Bell states in the Hilbert space $C^{d^{n}}$, where $d$ is qudit dimension. We discuss a method for generalizing this to non-destructive measurements on any set of orthogonal states distributed among $n$ parties. From the practical viewpoint, we show that such non-destructive measurements can help lower quantum communication complexity under certain conditions.
Discrimination of unitary operations is a fundamental quantum information processing task. Assisted with linear optical elements, we experimentally demonstrate perfect discrimination between single-bit unitary operations using two methods--sequential scheme and parallel scheme. The complexity and resource consumed in these two schemes are analyzed and compared.
In the last decade Grice and Ewert and van Loock found linear optical networks achieving near-unit efficiency unambiguous Bell state discrimination, when fed with increasingly complex ancillary states. However, except for the vacuum ancilla case, the optimality of these schemes is unknown. Here, the optimality of these networks is investigated through analytical and numerical means. We show an analytical upper bound to the success probability for interferometers that preserve the polarization of the input photons, saturated by both Grice's and Evert-van Loock's strategies. Furthermore, such an…
We experimentally demonstrate the achievement of the entanglement assisted capacity for classical information transmission over a depolarizing channel. The implementation is based on the generation and local manipulation of 2-qubit Bell states, which are finally measured at the receiver by a complete Bell state analysis. The depolarizing channel is realized by introducing quantum noise in a controlled way on one of the two qubits. This work demonstrates the achievement of the maximum allowed amount of information that can be shared in the presence of noise and the highest reported value in the…
We analyze the capability of discriminating the statistical nature of a thermal bath by exploiting the interaction with an additional environment. We first shows that, at difference with the standard scenario where the additional environment is not present, the modified evolution induced by the mere presence of the extra bath allows to improve the discrimination task. We then also consider the possibility of continuously monitoring the additional environment and we discuss in detail how to obtain improved performances in the discrimination by considering different kinds of interaction, i.e. di…
Entanglement can effectively increase communication channel capacity as evidenced by dense coding that predicts a capacity gain of 1 bit when compared to entanglement-free protocols. However, dense coding relies on Bell states and when implemented using photons the capacity gain is bounded by $0.585$ bits due to one's inability to discriminate between the four optically encoded Bell states. In this paper we study the following question: Are there alternative entanglement-assisted protocols that rely only on linear optics, coincidence photon counting and separable single photon input states and…
High-fidelity entangled Bell states are of great interest in quantum physics. Entanglement of ultracold neutral atoms in two spatially separated optical dipole traps is promising for implementation of quantum computing and quantum simulation and for investigation of Bell states of material objects. We propose a new method to entangle two atoms via long-range Rydberg-Rydberg interaction. Alternatively to previous approaches, based on Rydberg blockade, we consider radiofrequency-assisted Stark-tuned Förster resonances in Rb Rydberg atoms. To reduce the sensitivity of the fidelity of Bell states …
It is well known that an unambiguous discrimination of the four optically encoded Bell states is possible with a probability of $50\%$ at best, when using static, passive linear optics and arbitrarily many vacuum mode ancillae. By adding unentangled single-photon ancillae, we are able to surpass this limit and reach a success probability of at least $75\%$. We discuss the error robustness of the proposed scheme and a generalization to reach a success probability arbitrarily close to $100\%$.
We study discrimination of m quantum measurements in the scenario when the unknown measurement with n outcomes can be used only once. We show that ancilla-assisted discrimination procedures provide a nontrivial advantage over simple (ancilla-free) schemes for perfect distinguishability and we prove that inevitably m <= n. We derive necessary and sufficient conditions of perfect distinguishability of general binary measurements. We show that the optimization of the discrimination of projective qubit measurements and their mixtures with white noise is equivalent to the discrimination of specific…
We explore the question of using an entangled state as a universal resource for implementing quantum measurements by local operations and classical communication (LOCC). We show that for most systems consisting of three or more subsystems, there is no entangled state from the same space that can enable all measurements by LOCC. This is in direct contrast to the bipartite case, where a maximally entangled state is an universal resource. Our results are obtained showing an equivalence between the problem of local state transformation and that of entanglement-assisted local unambiguous state disc…
Hyperentanglement has attracted much attention for its fascinating applications in quantum communication. However, it is impossible to purify a pair of photon systems in a mixed hyperentangled state with errors in two degrees of freedom using linear optical elements only, far different from all the existing entanglement purification protocols in a degree of freedom (DOF) for quantum systems. Here, we investigate the possibility of purifying a spatial-polarization mixed hyperentangled Bell state with the errors in both the spatial mode and polarization DOFs, resorting to the nonlinear optics of…
We prove that for every Bell's inequality and for a broad class of protocols, there always exists a multi-party communication complexity problem, for which the protocol assisted by states which violate the inequality is more efficient than any classical protocol. Moreover, for that advantage Bell's inequality violation is a necessary and sufficient criterion. Thus, violation of Bell's inequalities has a significance beyond that of a non-optimal-witness of non-separability.
We propose an enhanced discrimination measurement for tripartite 3-dimensional entangled states in order to improve the discernible number of orthogonal entangled states. The scheme suggests 3-dimensional Bell state measurement by exploiting composite two 3-dimensional state measurement setups. The setup relies on state-of-the-art techniques, a multi-port interferometer and nondestructive photon number measurements that are used for the post-selection of suitable ensembles. With this scheme, the sifted signal rate of measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution using 3-dimensional q…
