Photon polarization entanglement induced by Biexciton: experimental evidence for violation of Bell's inequality

We have investigated the polarization entanglement between photon pairs generated from a biexciton in a CuCl single crystal via resonant hyperparametric scattering. The pulses of a high repetition pump are seen to provide improved statistical accuracy and the ability to test Bell's inequality. Our results clearly violate the inequality and thus manifest the quantum entanglement and nonlocality of the photon pairs. We also analyzed the quantum state of our photon pairs using quantum state tomography.     

Beamlike high-brightness source of polarization-entangled photon pairs

We report on an ultrabright beamlike source of polarization-entangled photon pairs that is suitable for the task of multiphoton quantum information processing. The photon pairs are generated from a beamlike type-II parametric downconversion process in two adjacently located but 180 degrees rotated beta-barium borate crystals. Approximately 30,000 s(-1) entangled photon pairs are recorded experimentally with only 100 mW pump power. The fidelity of the generated entangled state as compared with a Bell state is measured to be 0.974 with the method of quantum state tomography. With this source, we also obtain a violation of Bell's inequality by 61 standard deviations in just a few seconds.     

Nonclassical interference and entanglement generation using a photonic crystal fiber pair photon source

We demonstrate two key components for optical quantum information processing: a bright source of heralded single photons; and a bright source of entangled photon pairs. A pair of pump photons produces a correlated pair of photons at widely spaced wavelengths (583 nm and 900 nm), via a chi((3)) four-wave mixing process. We demonstrate nonclassical interference between heralded photons from independent sources with a visibility of 95% (after correction for background), and an entangled photon pair source, with a fidelity of 89% with a Bell state.     

Fast path and polarization manipulation of telecom wavelength single photons in lithium niobate waveguide devices

We demonstrate fast polarization and path control of photons at 1550?nm in lithium niobate waveguide devices using the electro-optic effect. We show heralded single photon state engineering, quantum interference, fast state preparation of two entangled photons, and feedback control of quantum interference. These results point the way to a single platform that will enable the integration of nonlinear single photon sources and fast reconfigurable circuits for future photonic quantum information science and technology.     

Scheme for Deterministic Secure Quantum Communication with Three-qubit GHZ State

We present a novel scheme for deterministic secure quantum communication by using three-qubit Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state as quantum channel. It will be shown that secret messages can be encoded by employing four two-unitary collective operations, and decoded by Bell-basis measurements and some additional classical information. Security of the communication can be ensured by the order rearrangement of photon pairs techniques and the decoy photon checking technique. It has a high capacity as each GHZ state can carry two bits of information, and has a high intrinsic efficiency because almost all the instances except for the decoy checking photons (its number is negligible) are useful. Furthermore, this protocol is feasible with the present-day technique.     

Evolution of entanglement between distinguishable light states

We investigate the evolution of quantum correlations over the lifetime of a multiphoton state. Measurements reveal time-dependent oscillations of the entanglement fidelity for photon pairs created by a single semiconductor quantum dot. The oscillations are attributed to the phase acquired in the intermediate, nondegenerate, exciton-photon state and are consistent with simulations. We conclude that emission of photon pairs by a typical quantum dot with finite polarization splitting is in fact entangled in a time-evolving state, and not classically correlated as previously regarded.     

Optimal quantum cloning on a beam splitter

We demonstrate how a beam splitter in combination with different light sources can be used as an optimal universal 1-->2 quantum cloner and as an optimal universal quantum NOT machine for the polarization qubit of a single photon. For the cloning a source of single photons with maximally mixed polarization is required and for the NOT operation a source of maximally entangled photon pairs. We demonstrate both operations with near optimal fidelity. Our scheme can be generalized in a natural way to clone and NOT the spin state of electrons.     

Generation of two-photon States with an arbitrary degree of entanglement via nonlinear crystal superlattices

We demonstrate a general method of engineering the joint quantum state of photon pairs produced in spontaneous parametric down-conversion. The method makes use of a superlattice structure of nonlinear and linear materials, in conjunction with a broadband pump, to manipulate the group delays of the signal and idler photons relative to the pump pulse, and realizes photon pairs described by a joint spectral amplitude with arbitrary degree of entanglement. This method of group-delay engineering has the potential of synthesizing a broad range of states including factorizable states crucial for quantum networking and states optimized for Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometry. Experimental results for the latter case are presented, illustrating the principles of this approach.     

Classical and quantum communication without a shared reference frame

We show that communication without a shared reference frame is possible using entangled states. Both classical and quantum information can be communicated with perfect fidelity without a shared reference frame at a rate that asymptotically approaches one classical bit or one encoded qubit per transmitted qubit. We present an optical scheme to communicate classical bits without a shared reference frame using entangled photon pairs and linear optical Bell state measurements.     

All-versus-nothing nonlocality test of quantum mechanics by two-photon hyperentanglement

We report the experimental realization and the characterization of polarization and momentum hyperentangled two-photon states, generated by a new parametric source of correlated photon pairs. By adoption of these states an "all-versus-nothing" test of quantum mechanics was performed. The two-photon hyperentangled states are expected to find at an increasing rate a widespread application in state engineering and quantum information.     

Experimental test of the quantum non-Gaussian character of a heralded single-photon state

We report on the experimental verification of quantum non-Gaussian character of a heralded single-photon state with a positive Wigner function. We unambiguously demonstrate that the generated state cannot be expressed as a mixture of Gaussian states. Sufficient information to witness the quantum non-Gaussian character is obtained from a standard photon anticorrelation measurement.     

Spin-orbit hybrid entanglement quantum key distribution scheme

We propose a novel quantum key distribution scheme by using the SAM-OAM hybrid entangled state as the physical resource.To obtain this state,the polarization entangled photon pairs are created by the spontaneous parametric down conversion process,and then,the q-plate acts as a SAM-to-OAM transverter to transform the polarization entangled pairs into the hybrid entangled pattern,which opens the possibility to exploit the features of the higher-dimensional space of OAM state to encode information.In the manipulation and encoding process,Alice performs the SAM measurement by modulating the polarization stateπ lθx on one photon,whereas Bob modulates the OAM sector state lx' on the other photon to encode his key elements using the designed holograms which is implemented by the computer-controlled SLM.With coincidence measurement,Alice could extract the key information.It is showed that N-based keys can be encoded with each pair of entangled photon,and this scheme is robust against Eve’s individual attack.Also,the MUBs are not used.Alice and Bob do not need the classical communication for the key recovery.     

Synchronized independent narrow-band single photons and efficient generation of photonic entanglement

We create independent, synchronized single-photon sources with built-in quantum memory based on two remote cold atomic ensembles. The synchronized single photons are used to demonstrate efficient generation of entanglement. The resulting entangled photon pairs violate a Bell's inequality by 5 standard deviations. Our synchronized single photons with their long coherence time of 25 ns and the efficient creation of entanglement serve as an ideal building block for scalable linear optical quantum information processing.     

Entanglement formation and violation of Bell's inequality with a semiconductor single photon source

We report the generation of polarization-entangled photons, using a quantum dot single photon source, linear optics, and photodetectors. Two photons created independently are observed to violate Bell's inequality. The density matrix describing the polarization state of the postselected photon pairs is reconstructed and agrees well with a simple model predicting the quality of entanglement from the known parameters of the single photon source. Our scheme provides a method to create no more than one entangled photon pair per cycle after postselection, a feature useful to enhance quantum cryptography protocols based on shared entanglement.     

Scheme for linear optical preparation of a type of four-photon entangled state with conventional photon detectors

We propose a simple experimental scheme to prepare a type of four-photon entangled state |χ〉 that has many interesting entanglement properties and possible applications in quantum information processing with a certain success probability. The proposed setup involves only simple linear optical devices, a single-photon polarization state, three pairs of two-photon polarization entangled states, and the conventional photon detectors that cannot distinguish a single photon from two or more photons, which greatly simplify the experimental realization of the scheme.     

Construction of an optimal witness for unknown two-qubit entanglement

Whether entanglement in a state can be detected, distilled, and quantified without full state reconstruction is a fundamental open problem. We demonstrate a new scheme encompassing these three tasks for arbitrary two-qubit entanglement, by constructing the optimal entanglement witness for polarization-entangled mixed-state photon pairs without full state reconstruction. With better efficiency than quantum state tomography, the entanglement is maximally distilled by newly developed tunable polarization filters and quantified by the expectation value of the witness, which equals the concurrence. This scheme is extendible to multiqubit Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger entanglement.     

Joint multipartite photon statistics by on/off detection

We demonstrate a method to reconstruct the joint photon statistics of two or more modes of radiation by using on/off photodetection performed at different quantum efficiencies. The two-mode case is discussed in detail, and experimental results are presented for the bipartite states obtained after a beam splitter fed by a single photon state or a thermal state.     

Filtering out photonic Fock states

Unprecedented optical nonlinearities can be generated probabilistically in simple linear-optical networks conditioned on specific measurement outcomes. We describe a highly controllable quantum filter for photon number states, which takes advantage of such a measurement-induced amplitude nonlinearity. The basis for this filter is multiphoton nonclassical interference which we demonstrate for one- and two-photon states over a wide range of beam splitter reflectivities. Specifically, we show that the transmission probability, conditional on a specific measurement outcome, can be larger for a two-photon state than a one-photon state; this is not possible with linear optics alone.     

Fiber-based source of photon pairs at telecom band with high temporal coherence and brightness for quantum information processing

We experimentally demonstrate a bright pulsed source of correlated photon pairs at the 1550 nm telecom band by pumping 300 m dispersion-shifted fiber with a 4 ps pulse train. We investigate the coherence property of the source by measuring the second-order intensity correlation function g(2) of individual signal (idler) photons. A preliminary Hong-Ou-Mandel-type two-photon interference experiment with two such sources confirms the high temporal and spatial coherence of the source. The source is suitable for multiphoton quantum interference of independent sources, which is required in quantum information processing.