Stationary source of nonclassical or entangled atoms

A scheme for generating continuous beams of atoms in nonclassical or entangled quantum states is proposed and analyzed. For this the recently suggested transfer technique of quantum states from light fields to collective atomic excitation by stimulated Raman adiabatic passage [M. Fleischhauer and M. D. Lukin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 5094 (2000)] is employed and extended to matter waves.     

Bringing quantum mechanics to life: from Schrödinger’s cat to Schrödinger’s microbe

The question whether quantum mechanics is complete and the nature of the transition between quantum mechanics and classical mechanics have intrigued physicists for decades. There have been many experimental breakthroughs in creating larger and larger quantum superposition and entangled states since Erwin Schrödinger proposed his famous thought experiment of putting a cat in a superposition of both alive and dead states in 1935. Remarkably, recent developments in quantum optomechanics and electromechanics may lead to the realisation of quantum superposition of living microbes soon. Recent evidence also suggests that quantum coherence may play an important role in several biological processes. In this review, we first give a brief introduction to basic concepts in quantum mechanics and the Schrödinger’s cat thought experiment. We then review developments in creating quantum superposition and entangled states and the realisation of quantum teleportation. Non-trivial quantum effects in photosynthetic light harvesting and avian magnetoreception are also discussed. At last, we review recent proposals to realise quantum superposition, entanglement and state teleportation of micro-organisms, such as viruses and bacteria.     

级联光束分离器的纠缠特性及其应用

光束分离器是一个具有广泛应用的线性光学器件,它在非经典量子态特别是纠缠态的制备中具有重要作用.基于单个光束分离器的表象表示,本文进一步考察多个级联光束分离器的纠缠特性,特别是结合有序算符内的积分技术推导了级联光束分离器的正规乘积、紧指数表示及级联算符的表象表示.作为应用,本文利用两个级联光束分离器获得了量子力学表象及其Schmidt分解,并结合量子条件测量制备了qubit态的叠加态.本文的研究方法已被直接推广至多个光束分离器级联情况,相关研究内容为多模纠缠态、多模qubit态的制备提供了一种有效的途径,且为由光束分离器组成的线性器件系统总作用的算符正规乘积及其紧指数表示提供了一般方法.     

纠缠相干态的压缩特性

研究纠缠相干态的量子纠缠特性和压缩特性。计算和分析了纠缠相干态的纠缠度和单模、双模压缩特性。讨论了纠缠和压缩二种非经典效应的关系，发现可以通过操纵纠缠度来达到增加或减弱压缩的目的。并指出了单模压缩和双模压缩表现出完全不同的特性。     

奇偶对相干态的维格纳函数和层析图函数

利用纠缠态η〉表象下的维格纳算符,重构了奇偶对相干态的维格纳函数.根据维格纳函数在相空间中随变量ρ和γ的变化规律,讨论了奇偶对相干态的非经典性质和量子干涉效应.研究发现,奇偶对相干态总呈现非经典性质,并且当q取奇数时,奇偶对相干态更容易出现非经典性质.奇偶对相干态的量子干涉效应的显著程度与q取值有关,但对于q的同一取值,奇对相干态的量子干涉效应更为显著.利用纠缠态η〉表象下的维格纳算符Δ1,2(ρ,γ)和纠缠态η,τ1,τ2〉的投影算符之间满足的拉东变换,获得了奇偶对相干态的量子层析图函数.     

All nonclassical correlations can be activated into distillable entanglement

We devise a protocol in which general nonclassical multipartite correlations produce a physically relevant effect, leading to the creation of bipartite entanglement. In particular, we show that the relative entropy of quantumness, which measures all nonclassical correlations among subsystems of a quantum system, is equivalent to and can be operationally interpreted as the minimum distillable entanglement generated between the system and local ancillae in our protocol. We emphasize the key role of state mixedness in maximizing nonclassicality: Mixed entangled states can be arbitrarily more nonclassical than separable and pure entangled states.     

Nonclassical Properties of Excited Entangled Coherent States

Single-mode excited entangled coherent states (SMEECSs) is a new kind of continuous-variable-type entangled pure states. In this paper, we investigate nonclassical properties of the SMEECSs, and focus on discussing the influence of photon excitations on quantum statistics. It is shown that the photon excitations excitated the nonclassical character amount of the SMEECS for some certain cases.     

Efficient Joint Remote Preparation of an Arbitrary m-qudit State with Partially Entangled States

We present an efficient scheme for multiparty joint remote preparation of an arbitrary m-qudit state by using partially entangled states as the quantum channel. One of the senders first performs a collective unitary transformation on his entangled particles and the auxiliary qubit, and then he performs a Z-basis measurement on the auxiliary qubit for transforming the partially entangled quantum channel into the two types of multi-particle entangled states. In the first case, the quantum channel shared by all the senders and the receiver is the target channel. In the second case, the quantum channel transforms into another partially entangled state which is the resource for the quantum channel transformation in the next round. Compared with other protocols, our scheme has advantage of having high success probability for joint remote preparation of an arbitrary m-qudit state via partially entangled states.     

Nonclassicality and information exchange in deterministic entanglement formation

We discuss the role of nonclassicality of quantum states as a necessary resource in deterministic generation of multipartite entangled states. In particular for three bilinearly coupled modes of the electromagnetic field, tuning of the coupling constants between the parties allows the total system to evolve into both Bell and GHZ states only when one of the parties is initially prepared in a nonclassical state. A superposition resource is then converted into an entanglement resource.     

Entanglement detection in the vicinity of arbitrary Dicke states

Dicke states represent a class of multipartite entangled states that can be generated experimentally with many applications in quantum information. We propose a method to experimentally detect genuine multipartite entanglement in the vicinity of arbitrary Dicke states. The detection scheme can be used to experimentally quantify the entanglement depth of many-body systems and is easy to implement as it requires measurement of only three collective spin operators. The detection criterion is strong as it heralds multipartite entanglement even in cases where the state fidelity goes down exponentially with the number of qubits.     

Entanglement or separability: the choice of how to factorize the algebra of a density matrix

Quantum entanglement has become a resource for the fascinating developments in quantum information and quantum communication during the last decades. It quantifies a certain nonclassical correlation property of a density matrix representing the quantum state of a composite system. We discuss the concept of how entanglement changes with respect to different factorizations of the algebra which describes the total quantum system. Depending on the considered factorization a quantum state appears either entangled or separable. For pure states we always can switch unitarily between separability and entanglement, however, for mixed states a minimal amount of mixedness is needed. We discuss our general statements in detail for the familiar case of qubits, the GHZ states, Werner states and Gisin states, emphasizing their geometric features. As theorists we use and play with this free choice of factorization, which for an experimentalist is often naturally fixed. For theorists it offers an extension of the interpretations and is adequate to generalizations, as we point out in the examples of quantum teleportation and entanglement swapping.     

Sideband entanglement in collective resonance fluorescence

We examine the quantum correlation between the Mollow sidebands in the collective resonance fluorescence from a strongly driven ensemble of two-level atoms. By using the criterion proposed by Shchukin and Vogel, we show that non-Gaussian entanglement exists between the two separated sidebands. The responsible mechanism is traced to the spontaneous parametric process, in which the nonclassical correlation is established. This suggests that the collective resonance fluorescence provides a continuous source for the non-Gaussian entangled light and thus has great potentials for various applications in quantum information and quantum computation.     

Review of cavity optomechanics in the weak-coupling regime: from linearization to intrinsic nonlinear interactions

Recently, cavity optomechanics has become a rapidly developing research field exploring the coupling between the optical field and mechanical oscillation. Cavity optomechanical systems were predicted to exhibit rich and nontrivial effects due to the nonlinear optomechanical interaction. However, most progress during the past years have focused on the linearization of the optomechanical interaction, which ignored the intrinsic nonlinear nature of the optomechanical coupling. Exploring nonlinear optomechanical interaction is of growing interest in both classical and quantum mechanisms, and nonlinear optomechanical interaction has emerged as an important new frontier in cavity optomechanics. It enables many applications ranging from single-photon sources to generation of nonclassical states. Here, we give a brief review of these developments and discuss some of the current challenges in this field.     

Regulated and entangled photons from a single quantum Dot

We propose a new method of generating nonclassical optical field states. The method uses a semiconductor device, which consists of a single quantum dot as active medium embedded in a p- i- n junction and surrounded by a microcavity. Resonant tunneling of electrons and holes into the quantum dot ground states, together with the Pauli exclusion principle, produce regulated single photons or regulated pairs of photons. We propose that this device also has the unique potential to generate pairs of entangled photons at a well-defined repetition rate.     

Entanglement Dynamics in a Model Tripartite Quantum System

A Λ-type atom interacting with two radiation fields exhibits electromagnetically induced transparency and other nonclassical effects that appear in the entanglement dynamics of the atomic subsystem and in appropriate field observables. Both EIT and field-atom entanglement are important for quantum information processing. We investigate the roles played by specific initial field states, detuning parameters, field nonlinearities and intensity-dependent field-atom couplings on EIT and the entanglement between subsystems. Departure from coherence of the initial field states produces significant effects. We investigate these aspects in a model that exhibits the salient features of entangled tripartite systems. For initial photon-added coherent states, collapses and revivals of the atomic subsystem von Neumann entropy appear as the intensity parameter varies over a narrow range of values. These features could be useful in enabling entanglement.     

Robust Multi-party Quantum Private Comparison Protocols Against the Collective Noise Based on Three-Qubit Entangled States

Recently, Ye and Ji constructed a multi-party quantum private comparison (MQPC) protocol with Bell entangled states (Sci. China Phys. Mech. Astron. 60(9), 090312, 2017). However, this protocol is only workable over an ideal quantum channel. In this paper, we take the collective noise channel into account and generalize Ye and Ji’s protocol into the ones against the collective-dephasing noise and the collective-rotation noise, respectively. Concretely, we use three-qubit entangled states instead of Bell states as the initial quantum states and employ the corresponding logical qubits immune to the collective noise instead of the physical qubits as the travelling particles. The output correctness and the security of the proposed robust MQPC protocols can be guaranteed.     

超冷原子系综的非高斯纠缠态与精密测量

量子精密测量是基于量子力学的基本原理对特定物理量实施测量,并利用量子效应提高测量精度的交叉科学.随着超冷原子实验技术的发展,超冷原子为量子精密测量提供了一个优异的研究平台.利用发展成熟的量子调控技术,人们可以基于超冷原子系综制备一些新奇的非高斯多粒子纠缠态.基于多体量子干涉,利用这些非高斯纠缠态作为输入,可以实现超越标准量子极限的高精度测量.本文简要综述这一研究领域的进展.     

Statistical Properties of Photon-Added Two-Mode Squeezed Coherent States

The nonclassical and non-Gaussian quantum states—photon-added two-mode squeezed coherent states have been theoretically introduced by adding multiple photons to each mode of the two-mode squeezed coherent states. Starting from the new expression of two-mode squeezing operator in entangled states representation, the normalization factor is obtained, which is directly related to bivariate Hermite polynomials. The sub-Poissonian photon statistics, cross-correlation between two modes, partial negative Wigner function are observed, which fully reflect the nonclassicality of the target states. The negative Wigner function often display non-Gaussian distribution meanwhile. The investigations may provide experimentalists with some better references in quantum engineering.     

All bipartite entangled states are useful for information processing

The question of whether all entangled states can be used as a nonclassical resource has remained open so far. Here we provide a conclusive answer to this problem for the case of systems shared by two parties. We show that any entangled state can enhance the teleportation power of some other state. This holds even if the state is bound entangled.     

Deformed photon-added entangled squeezed vacuum and one-photon states: Entanglement,polarization, and nonclassical properties

In this paper, after a brief review on the entangled squeezed states, we produce a new class of the continuous-variabletype entangled states, namely, deformed photon-added entangled squeezed states. These states are obtained via the iterated action of the f-deformed creation operator A = f(n)aon the entangled squeezed states. In the continuation, by studying the criteria such as the degree of entanglement, quantum polarization as well as sub-Poissonian photon statistics, the twomode correlation function, one-mode and two-mode squeezing, we investigate the nonclassical behaviors of the introduced states in detail by choosing a particular f-deformation function. It is revealed that the above-mentioned physical properties can be affected and so may be tuned by justifying the excitation number, after choosing a nonlinearity function. Finally, to generate the introduced states, we propose a theoretical scheme using the nonlinear Jaynes–Cummings model.