General hyperentanglement concentration for polarizationspatial- time-bin multi-photon systems with linear optics

Hyperentanglement has attracted considerable attention recently because of its high-capacity for longdistance quantum communication. In this study, we present a hyperentanglement concentration protocol (hyper-ECP) for nonlocal three-photon systems in the polarization, spatial-mode, and timebin partially hyperentangled Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger (GHZ) states using the Schmidt projection method. In our hyper-ECP, the three distant parties must perform the parity-check measurements on the polarization, spatial-mode, and time-bin degrees of freedom, respectively, using linear optical elements and Pockels cells, and only two identical nonlocal photon systems are required. This hyper-ECP can be directly extended to the N-photon hyperentangled GHZ states, and the success probability of this general hyper-ECP for a nonlocal N-photon system is the optimal one, regardless of the photon number N.     

光子两自由度超并行量子计算与超纠缠态操控

光子系统在量子信息处理和传输过程中有非常重要的应用. 譬如, 利用光子与原子(或人工原子)之间的相互作用, 可以完成信息的安全传输、存储和快速的并行计算处理等任务. 光子系统具有多个自由度, 如极化、空间模式、轨道角动量、时间-能量、频率等自由度. 光子系统的多个自由度可以同时应用于量子信息处理过程. 超并行量子计算利用光子系统多个自由度的光量子态同时进行量子并行计算, 使量子计算具有更强的并行性, 且需要的量子资源少, 更能抵抗光子数损耗等噪声的影响. 多个自由度同时存在纠缠的光子系统量子态称为超纠缠态, 它能够提高量子通信的容量与安全性, 辅助完成一些重要的量子通信任务. 在本综述中, 我们简要介绍了光子系统两自由度量子态在量子信息中的一些新应用, 包括超并行量子计算、超纠缠态分析、超纠缠浓缩和纯化三个部分.     

Measurement-device-independent one-step quantum secure direct communication

The one-step quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) (Sci. Bull. 67, 367 (2022)) can effectively simplify QSDC's operation and reduce message loss. For enhancing its security under practical experimental condition, we propose two measurement-device-independent (MDI) one-step QSDC protocols, which can resist all possible attacks from imperfect measurement devices. In both protocols, the communication parties prepare identical polarization-spatial-mode two-photon hyperentangled states and construct the hyperentanglement channel by hyperentanglement swapping. The first MDI one-step QSDC protocol adopts the nonlinear-optical complete hyperentanglement Bell state measurement (HBSM) to construct the hyperentanglement channel, while the second protocol adopts the linear-optical partial HBSM. Then, the parties encode the photons in the polarization degree of freedom and send them to the third party for the hyperentanglement-assisted complete polarization Bell state measurement. Both protocols are unconditionally secure in theory. The simulation results show the MDI one-step QSDC protocol with complete HBSM attains the maximal communication distance of about 354 km. Our MDI one-step QSDC protocols may have potential applications in the future quantum secure communication field.     

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.     

Measurement-Based Hyperentanglement Distillation for Lossy and Distortion Photon State

The information content of a photon system can be extended by hyperentanglement, but the quality of hyperentanglement will be decreased by the complicated transmission loss and channel noise in quantum information processing. Here, an efficient measurement-based hyperentanglement distillation protocol (MB-HDP) is presented for depressing the effects of complicated transmission loss and channel noise on hyperentanglement. In the MB-HDP, the nonlocal lossy and distortion photon states are coupled to local hyperentangled Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger (GHZ) states using parity measurement and qubit amplification device, and the decoherence caused by bit-flip (phase-flip) error, diverse transmission coefficients and transmission loss can be depressed by the successful measurement results, which can increase the quality of nonlocal hyperentangled photon state. This MB-HDP broadens the application scope of hyperentanglement distillation to nonlocal lossy and distortion photon state with a lower degree of entanglement. In addition, the MB-HDP can further improve the quality of nonlocal hyperentangled photon state by coupling multiple copies of lossy and distortion hyperentangled photon state with local hyperentangled GHZ states. This work demonstrates the ability of measurement-based method for ensuring the quality of nonlocal hyperentanglement, which can improve the integrity and capacity of long-distance quantum information processing.     

Experiments of quantum nonlocality with polarization-momentum entangled photon pairs

We present the results of some experimental tests of quantum nonlocality performed by two-photon states, entangled both in polarization and momentum, namely hyperentangled states and two-photon four-qubit linear cluster states. These states, which double the number of available qubits with respect to the standard two-photon entangled states, are engineered by a simple experimental method, which adopts linear optics and a single type I nonlinear crystal. The tests of local realism performed with these states represent a generalization of the Greenberger, Home, and Zeilinger (GHZ) theorem to the case of two entangled particles.     

Refined hyperentanglement purification of two-photon systems for high-capacity quantum communication with cavity-assisted interaction

Hyperentanglement, defined as the entanglement in multiple degrees of freedom (DOFs) of a photonic quantum system, has attracted much attention recently as it can improve the channel capacity of quantum communication largely. Here we present a refined hyperentanglement purification protocol (hyper-EPP) for two-photon systems in mixed hyperentangled states in both the spatial-mode and polarization DOFs, assisted by cavity quantum electrodynamics. By means of the spatial (polarization) quantum state transfer process, the quantum states that are discarded in the previous hyper-EPPs can be preserved. That is, the spatial (polarization) state of a four-photon system with high fidelity can be transformed into another four-photon system with low fidelity, not disturbing its polarization (spatial) state, which makes this hyper-EPP take the advantage of possessing a higher efficiency.     

Quantum Secure Direct Communication by Using Three-Dimensional Hyperentanglement

We propose two schemes for realizing quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) by using a set of ordered two-photon three-dimensional hyperentangled states entangled in two degrees of freedom (DOFs) as quantum information channels. In the first scheme, the photons from Bob to Alice are transmitted only once. After insuring the security of the quantum channels, Bob encodes the secret message on his photons. Then Alice performs single-photon two-DOF Bell bases measurements on her photons. This scheme has better security than former QSDC protocols. In the second scheme, Bob transmits photons to Alice twice. After insuring the security of the quantum channels, Bob encodes the secret message on his photons. Then Alice performs two-photon Bell bases measurements on each DOF. The scheme has more information capacity than former QSDC protocols.     

Nonlocal hyperconcentration on entangled photons using photonic module system

Entanglement distribution will inevitably be affected by the channel and environment noise. Thus distillation of maximal entanglement nonlocally becomes a crucial goal in quantum information. Here we illustrate that maximal hyperentanglement on nonlocal photons could be distilled using the photonic module and cavity quantum electrodynamics, where the photons are simultaneously entangled in polarization and spatial-mode degrees of freedom. The construction of the photonic module in a photonic band-gap structure is presented, and the operation of the module is utilized to implement the photonic nondestructive parity checks on the two degrees of freedom. We first propose a hyperconcentration protocol using two identical partially hyperentangled initial states with unknown coefficients to distill a maximally hyperentangled state probabilistically, and further propose a protocol by the assistance of an ancillary single photon prepared according to the known coefficients of the initial state. In the two protocols, the total success probability can be improved greatly by introducing the iteration mechanism, and only one of the remote parties is required to perform the parity checks in each round of iteration. Estimates on the system requirements and recent experimental results indicate that our proposal is realizable with existing or near-further technologies.     

Quantum Secure Direct Communication with Two-Photon Four-Qubit Cluster States

In a quantum secure direct communication protocol, two remote parties can transmit the secret message directly without first generating a key to encrypt them. A quantum secure direct communication protocol using two-photon four-qubit cluster states is presented. The presented scheme can achieve a higher efficiency in transmission and source capacity compared with the proposed quantum secure direct communication protocols with cluster states, and the security of the protocol is also discussed.     

Quantum-Error-Rejection for Hyperentanglement Transmission without Calibrated Reference Frames

In quantum communication, the channel noise and the misalignment of the reference frames between the communication parties will lead to the failure of quantum state transmission. Here an alignment-free spatial-polarization hyperentanglement transmission scheme is provided for hyperentangled photons. In this scheme, before the spatial-polarization hyperentanglement is transmitted through the fiber channel, it is first encoded as a time-bin entanglement with the same polarization. After the photons pass through the noise channel, the polarization errors caused by reference frames misalignment and channel noise can be corrected by time-bin entanglement. In principle, by implementing this scheme, the communication parties can share the original hyperentangled state, and the success probability can approach unity. The scheme is robust to random channel noise and reference frames misalignment, and the decoherence effect caused by the misalignment of the reference frames between the communication parties can be completely suppressed by implementing this scheme.     

Hyperconcentration Based on Projection Measurements

We propose an efficient hyperconcentration protocol for distilling maximally hyperentangled state from partially entangled pure state, resorting to the projection measurement on an auxiliary photon. In our scheme, two photons simultaneously entangled in polarization states and spatial modes are considered. One party performs quantum nondemolition detections on his photon and an additional photon to produce three photon hyperentangled state, then he projects the assistant photon into an orthogonal basis composed of both the polarization and spatial degree of freedom. Then the state of the left two photons collapses into maximally hyperentangled state with a certain probability. In the rest cases, some less-entangled states are obtained, which can be used as resource for the next round concentration. By repeating the concentration process for several rounds, a higher success probability can be obtained, which makes our scheme useful in practical quantum information applications.     

Are there phase transitions in information space?

The interplay between two basic quantities--quantum communication and information--is investigated. Quantum communication is an important resource for quantum states shared by two parties and is directly related to entanglement. Recently, the amount of local information that can be drawn from a state has been shown to be closely related to the nonlocal properties of the state. Here we consider both formation and extraction processes, and analyze informational resources as a function of quantum communication. The resulting diagrams in information space allow us to observe phaselike transitions when correlations become classical.     

Two-Photon Spin States and Entanglement States

In this paper, we have given the spin states of two-photon, which are expressed by the quadratic combination of two single-photon spin states, and given all entanglement states of two-photon from the spin states of two-photon. The new expression of two-photon entanglement states should be used in quantum computation and quantum communication.     

Heralded entanglement concentration for photon systems with linear-optical elements

We present two nonlocal entanglement concentration protocols(ECPs)to distill a subset of N-photon systems in a GreenbergerHorne-Zeilinger(GHZ)state or a W state from a set of photon systems in a partially entangled GHZ-like pure state or a lessentangled W-like state with known parameters,respectively.Our ECPs have some advantages.First,our ECPs work in a heralded way with linear-optical elements only,without the postselection based on nonlinear optics,far different from the previous ECPs.Second,they require only a copy of the less-entangled photon system in each round of the entanglement concentration process,not two copies,which decreases the difficulty of their implementation in experiment largely.Third,our ECPs avoid checking the photon number in the output modes of linear-optical elements with the sophisticated single-photon detectors.Moreover,all parties can operate the process for concentration simultaneously and independently,which leads to flexible operations and improves the performance greatly in experiment.These advantages make our ECPs useful in practical applications in long-distance quantum communication network.     

An improved quantum repeater protocol using hyperentangled state purification

This article indicates an improved protocol of quantum repeaters through the scheme of nest entanglement purification [Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 5932 (1998)]. The hyperentangled photon pairs are utilized to overcome the limitations of long distance quantum communication via noisy channels. In addition, it is mentioned that if there are imperfect quantum operations and noises in realistic communication, the fidelities of hyperentangled quantum channels will be improved compared with the traditional entangled states.     

Generation and characterization of Werner states and maximally entangled mixed states by a universal source of entanglement

We present a novel technique for generating two-photon polarization mixed states of any structure, which is based on the peculiar spatial characteristics of a high brilliance source of entangled pairs. Werner states and maximally entangled mixed states, two well-known families of mixed states important for quantum information, have been created and fully characterized by this technique. We have also investigated and tested the nonlocal properties of these states.     

Heralded entanglement purification protocol using high-fidelity parity-check gate based on nitrogen-vacancy center in optical cavity

The decoherence of entangled states caused by the noisy channel is a salient problem for reducing the fidelity of quantum communication. Here we present a heralded two-photon entanglement purification protocol(EPP) using heralded high-fidelity parity-check gate(HH-PCG), which can increase the entanglement of nonlocal two-photon polarization mixed state. The HH-PCG is constructed by the input-output process of nitrogen-vacancy(NV) center in diamond embedded in a single-sided optical cavity, where the errors caused by the imperfect interaction between the NV center-cavity system and the photon can be heralded by the photon detector. As the unwanted components can be filtrated due to the heralded function, the fidelity of the EPP scheme can be enhanced considerably, which will increase the fidelity of quantum communication processing.     

Enhancing the violation of the einstein-podolsky-rosen local realism by quantum hyperentanglement

Mermin's observation [Phys. Rev. Lett. 65, 1838 (1990)] that the magnitude of the violation of local realism, defined as the ratio between the quantum prediction and the classical bound, can grow exponentially with the size of the system is demonstrated using two-photon hyperentangled states entangled in polarization and path degrees of freedom, and local measurements of polarization and path simultaneously.     

Deterministic Joint Remote Preparation of an Arbitrary Qubit via Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Pairs

Joint remote state preparation is a secure and faithful method based on local operation and classical communication to transmit quantum states without the risk of full information leaking to either of the participants. In this work, we propose a new deterministic protocol for two parties to remotely prepare an arbitrary single-qubit state for a third party using two Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen pairs as the nonlocal resource. We figure out the advantages as well as the disadvantages of this new protocol in comparison with others, showing in general that the proposed protocol is superior to the existing ones. We also describe the situation when there are more than two preparers.