Separable States can be used to distribute entanglement

We show that no entanglement is necessary to distribute entanglement; that is, two distant particles can be entangled by sending a third particle that is never entangled with the other two. Similarly, two particles can become entangled by continuous interaction with a highly mixed mediating particle that never itself becomes entangled. We also consider analogous properties of completely positive maps, in which the composition of two separable maps can create entanglement.     

Generic dissipation of entanglement

We find states for a multi-level system which are stable under a very general model of dissipation, one which is governed simply by generic rate parameters; in general such stable states are not entangled. We exhibit such a state explicitly for a two-qubit system. We then specialize to a more physical model of dissipation, one which is governed by pure dephasing. In such a case it is possible, by choice of the dephasing rates, to have a stable, and limiting, entangled state under the evolution governed by the free hamiltonian and pure decoherence. We exhibit such a choice explicitly which has a stable and limiting two-qubit state of maximum entanglement (Bell state).     

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.     

Class of quantum many-body states that can be efficiently simulated

We introduce the multiscale entanglement renormalization ansatz, a class of quantum many-body states on a D-dimensional lattice that can be efficiently simulated with a classical computer, in that the expectation value of local observables can be computed exactly and efficiently. The multiscale entanglement renormalization ansatz is equivalent to a quantum circuit of logarithmic depth that has a very characteristic causal structure. It is also the ansatz underlying entanglement renormalization, a novel coarse-graining scheme for many-body quantum systems on a lattice.     

An important property of entanglement： pairwise entanglement that can only be transferred by an entangled pair

Based on the calculation of all the pairwise entanglements in the n （n ≤ 6）-qubit Heisenberg XX open chain with system impurity, we find an important result： pairwise entanglement can only be transferred by an entangled pair. The non-nearest pairwise entanglements will have the possibility to exist as long as there has been even number of qubits in their middle. This point indicates that we can obtain longer distance entanglement in a solid system.     

Generic preparation and entanglement detection of equal superposition states

Quantum superposition is a fundamental principle of quantum mechanics, so it is not surprising that equal superposition states (ESS) serve as powerful resources for quantum information processing. In this work, we propose a quantum circuit that creates an arbitrary dimensional ESS. The circuit construction is efficient as the number of required elementary gates scales polynomially with the number of required qubits. For experimental realization of the method, we use techniques of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR).We have succeeded in preparing a 9-dimensional ESS on a 4-qubit NMR quantum register. The full tomography indicates that the fidelity of our prepared state with respect to the ideal 9-dimensional ESS is over 96%. We also prove the prepared state is pseudo-entangled by directly measuring an entanglement witness operator. Our result can be useful for the implementation of those quantum algorithms that require an ESS as an input state.     

Generic entanglement generation, quantum statistics, and complementarity

A general and an arbitrarily efficient scheme for entangling the spins (or any spinlike degree of freedom) of two independent uncorrelated identical particles by a combination of two particle interferometry and which way detection is formulated. It is shown that the same setup could be used to identify the quantum statistics of the incident particles from either the sign or the magnitude of measured spin correlations. Our setup also exhibits a curious complementarity between particle distinguishability and the amount of generated entanglement.     

Generic entanglement and standard form for N-mode pure Gaussian states

We investigate the correlation structure of pure N-mode Gaussian resources which can be experimentally generated by means of squeezers and beam splitters, whose entanglement properties are generic. We show that those states are specified (up to local unitaries) by N(N-1)/2 parameters, corresponding to the two-point correlations between any pair of modes. Our construction yields a practical scheme to engineer such generic-entangled N-mode pure Gaussian states by linear optics. We discuss our findings in the framework of Gaussian matrix product states of harmonic lattices, raising connections with entanglement frustration and the entropic area law.     

Two-color continuous-variable entanglement generated in nondegenerate optical parametric oscillator

A scheme is proposed to produce two-color continuous-variable (CV) entanglement in nondegenerate optical parametric oscillator with an injected signal (INOPO). The quantum correlations between signal and idler beams are calculated by applying sufficient inseparability criteria for bipartite CV entanglement. The results indicate that two-color CV entangled beams can be produced when the INOPO is operating both below and above the threshold. The injected signal does not markedly diminish the quantum correlations between the signal and idler beams. The degree of entanglement dependence on damping rates is also investigated.     

Genuine quadripartite macroscopic entanglement generated in two-mode optomechanical systems

We propose a scheme to generate stationary quadripartite entanglement in two-mode optical Fabry-Perot cavity, which consisted of the same two fixed mirrors and the same two perfectly reflective movable mirrors. We treat the whole two-cavity fields-two movable mirrors system as intrinsically quadripartite and investigate quadripartite continuous-variable (CV) entanglement among them. Using the criterion proposed by Loock and Furrsawa, we demonstrate that genuine quadripartite CV entanglement can be generated in this system. This system will provide a way to create genuine quadripartite entanglement in a macroscopic level and will hold good prospects for quantum information and quantum networks.     

Asymptotic manipulations of entanglement can exhibit genuine irreversibility

It is commonly believed that distillation of entanglement can be, in general, irreversible. Perhaps the strongest evidence is constituted by the existence of the bound entangled states. However, even a single example of state exhibiting this irreversibility has not been found so far. We show that for a family of states the process of distillation of entanglement is truly irreversible. These states have a nonzero amount of bound entanglement and, at most, a very small amount of free entanglement.     

Three-colour entanglement generated by an injection-seeded nondegenerate optical parametric oscillator

Three-colour continuous-variable (CV) entanglement can be directly generated by an injection-seeded nondegenerate optical parametric oscillator (INOPO). The quantum correlations among the pump, signal, and idler beams are calculated and discussed by applying sufficient inseparability criteria for CV entanglement. The results clearly show that strong three-colour CV entanglement can be produced by operating the pump above the oscillation threshold. The INOPO is easier to realize experimentally and more steady in comparison to that without an injected signal since the injected signal can increase the nonlinear conversion efficiency and the stability, as well as allow a large degree of tunability. This scheme can be very useful for the applications in quantum communication and computation networks.     

Three qubits in a symmetric environment: Dissipatively generated asymptotic entanglement

We study the asymptotic entanglement of three identical qubits under the action of a Markovian open system dynamics that does not distinguish them. We show that by adding a completely depolarized qubit to a special class of two-qubit states, by letting them reach the asymptotic state and by finally eliminating the added qubit, can provide more entanglement than by direct immersion of the two qubits within the same environment.     

Nondeterminism can be causal

It is shown how a new type of model, based in the abstract properties of computational processes, provides both a mechanism and a novelcausal explanation for the nondeterminism observed in particle interactions. Related work shows that hidden variable theories are at the same time unacceptable.     

How a single photon can mediate entanglement between two others

We describe a novel quantum information protocol, which probabilistically entangles two distant photons that have never interacted. Different from the entanglement swapping protocol, which requires two pairs of maximally entangled photons as the input states, as well as a Bell-state measurement (BSM), the present scheme only requires three photons: two to be entangled and another to mediate the correlation, and no BSM, in a process that we call “entanglement mediation”. Furthermore, in analyzing the paths of the photons in our arrangement, we conclude that one of them, the mediator, exchanges information with the two others simultaneously, which seems to be a new quantum-mechanical feature.     

Anisotropically and high entanglement of biphoton states generated in spontaneous parametric down-conversion

We show both theoretically and experimentally that biphoton wave packets generated via spontaneous parametric down-conversion can be strongly anisotropic and highly entangled. The conditions under which these effects exist are found and discussed.     

Entanglement generated by dissipation and steady state entanglement of two macroscopic objects

Entanglement is a striking feature of quantum mechanics and an essential ingredient in most applications in quantum information. Typically, coupling of a system to an environment inhibits entanglement, particularly in macroscopic systems. Here we report on an experiment where dissipation continuously generates entanglement between two macroscopic objects. This is achieved by engineering the dissipation using laser and magnetic fields, and leads to robust event-ready entanglement maintained for 0.04 s at room temperature. Our system consists of two ensembles containing about 10(12) atoms and separated by 0.5 m coupled to the environment composed of the vacuum modes of the electromagnetic field. By combining the dissipative mechanism with a continuous measurement, steady state entanglement is continuously generated and observed for up to 1 h.     

Purity and entanglement of two-photon polarization states generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion

We elucidate the dependence of purity and entanglement of two-photon states generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion on the parameters of the source, such as crystal length, pump beam divergence, frequency bandwidth, and detectors angular aperture. The effect of crystal anisotropy is taken into account. Numerical simulations are presented for two types of commonly used source configurations.     

Evaluation of polarization entanglement generated by spontaneous parametric downconversion using photon number counting

Spontaneous parametric downconversion (SPDC) is widely used to generate entangled photon pairs; however, multi-pair emissions degrade the quality of the entanglement. We numerically evaluate polarization-entangled photon pairs created by SPDC. The effects of multi-pair emission events on the visibility of two-photon interference and on the fidelity (the probability overlap for ideal and real states) are analyzed using single-photon detectors that can count the number of incoming photons and discard multiphoton events. Compared with conventional threshold single-photon detectors, photon-number resolving single-photon detectors have higher fidelity for the same or lower visibility.