Robust entanglement through macroscopic quantum jumps

We propose an entanglement generation scheme that requires neither the coherent evolution of a quantum system nor the detection of single photons. Instead, the desired state is heralded by a macroscopic quantum jump. Macroscopic quantum jumps manifest themselves as a random telegraph signal with long intervals of intense fluorescence (light periods) interrupted by the complete absence of photons (dark periods). Here we show that a system of two atoms trapped inside an optical cavity can be designed such that a dark period prepares the atoms in a maximally entangled ground state. Achieving fidelities above 0.9 is possible even when the single-atom cooperativity parameter is as low as 10 and when using a photon detector with an efficiency as low as eta=0.2.     

Bell inequality violation with two remote atomic qubits

We observe violation of a Bell inequality between the quantum states of two remote Yb+ ions separated by a distance of about 1 m with the detection loophole closed. The heralded entanglement of two ions is established via interference and joint detection of two emitted photons, whose polarization is entangled with each ion. The entanglement of remote qubits is also characterized by full quantum state tomography.     

Atom-resonant heralded single photons by interaction-free measurement

We demonstrate the generation of rubidium-resonant heralded single photons for quantum memories. Photon pairs are created by cavity-enhanced down-conversion and narrowed in bandwidth to 7 MHz with a novel atom-based filter operating by "interaction-free measurement" principles. At least 94% of the heralded photons are atom-resonant as demonstrated by a direct absorption measurement with rubidium vapor. A heralded autocorrelation measurement shows g(c)(2)(0)=0.040±0.012, i.e., suppression of multiphoton contributions by a factor of 25 relative to a coherent state. The generated heralded photons can readily be used in quantum memories and quantum networks.     

光学体系宏观-微观纠缠及其在量子密钥分配中的应用

宏观-微观纠缠最早起源于“薛定谔的猫”思想实验, 是指在宏观体系与微观体系之间建立量子纠缠. 实现宏观-微观纠缠可以利用多种物理体系来完成, 本文重点介绍了在光学体系中制备和检验宏观-微观纠缠的发展过程. 从最初的受激辐射单光子量子克隆到光学参量放大, 再到相空间的位移操作, 实验上制备宏观-微观纠缠的方法取得了长足的进步. 利用非线性光学参量放大过程制备的宏观-微观纠缠的光子数可以达到10⁴量级, 人眼已经可以观察到, 因此使用人眼作为探测器来检验宏观-微观纠缠的实验开始出现. 但随后人们意识到, 粗精度的光子数探测器, 例如人眼, 无法严格判定宏观-微观纠缠的存在. 为了解决这个难题, 提出了一种巧妙的方法, 即在制备宏-微观纠缠后, 利用局域操作过程将宏观态再变为微观态, 通过判定微观纠缠存在的方法来判定宏微观纠缠的存在. 之后相空间的位移操作方法将宏观态的粒子数提高到10⁸, 并且实现了纠缠的严格检验. 利用光机械实现宏观-微观纠缠的方案也被提出. 由于量子密钥分配中纠缠是必要条件, 而宏观-微观纠缠态光子数较多这一优势可能会对量子密钥分配的传输距离有所提高. 本文介绍了利用相位纠缠的相干态来进行量子秘钥分配的方案, 探讨了利用宏观-微观纠缠实现量子密钥分配的可能性.     

Interaction of a Three-Level Atom and Field in a Squeezed Vacuum State with Added Photons: Quantum Phase and Nonclassical Properties

We present a detail study of the evolution of nonlocal correlations of an interacting quantum system comprising a three-level atom and a field mode initially prepared in a squeezed vacuum state with added photons. We compare the dynamical behavior of the quantum phase and entanglement by varying the number of photons added to the squeezed vacuum state. Furthermore, we examine the influence of the added-photon number and the squeeze parameter on the dynamical behavior of entanglement, quantum phase, and nonclassical properties of the field. Moreover, we explore the link between the quantum phase and the nonlocal correlation. Finally, we introduce an effective method to generate and maintain a high level of entanglement for this quantum system based on precise parameter ranges.     

Towards High-Dimensional Entanglement in Path: Photon-Source Produced from a Two-Dimensional Atomic Cloud

A photon source with high-dimensional entanglement is able to bring increasing capacity of information in quantum communication.The dimensionality is determined by the chosen degree of freedom of the photons and is limited by the complexity of the physical systems.Here we propose a new type of high-dimensional entangled photon source,generated via path-indistinguishable scheme from a two-dimensional atomic cloud,which is prepared in a magneto-optical trap.To verify the photon source,we demonstrate experimentally the quantum state of the single photons heralded by its partner photon,with homodyne tomographic technology.     

一种新的预报单光子源诱骗态量子密钥分发方案

提出一种新的预报单光子源诱骗态量子密钥分发方案.在发端采用参量下变换产生纠缠光子对,其中之一用来进行预报探测,根据探测结果将另一路光脉冲分成两个集合,其中预报探测有响应的脉冲集合用作信号态,无响应的脉冲集合作为诱骗态.由于探测效率的问题,这两个集合都是有光子的,通过这两个集合的通过率和错误率估计出单光子的通过率和错误率.此方法不需要改变光强,简单可行.仿真结果表明：该方法可以达到完美单光子源的安全通信距离;与预报单光子源的量子密钥分发相比,密钥产生率有了很大的提高;和三强度预报单光子源诱骗态量子密钥分发的 关键词： 量子保密通信 量子密钥分发 诱骗态 预报单光子源     

Multistage entanglement swapping

We report an experimental demonstration of entanglement swapping over two quantum stages. By successful realizations of two cascaded photonic entanglement swapping processes, entanglement is generated and distributed between two photons, that originate from independent sources and do not share any common past. In the experiment we use three pairs of polarization entangled photons and conduct two Bell-state measurements: one between the first and second pair, and one between the second and third pair. This results in projecting the remaining two outgoing photons from pair 1 and 3 into an entangled state, as characterized by an entanglement witness. The experiment represents an important step towards a full quantum repeater where multiple entanglement swapping is a key ingredient.     

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.     

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.     

Conditional preparation of X (2) macroscopic entangled states

Two experimental arrangements consisting of coupled spontaneous parametric down-converters with type-I phase matching pumped simultaneously by a powerful optical field in a coherent state through a balanced beam splitter and linear optical elements are proposed for conditional preparation of macroscopic entangled states in output pumping modes of the studied system. Successful generation of the macroscopic entangled state in the pumping modes is unambiguously heralded by coincident detection of two photons in the generated signal and idler modes of the system. We calculate the amount of entanglement and probabilities of successfully observing the X ⁽²⁾ macroscopic entangled states in the total wavefunction. We show that the proposed schemes can be used to obtain a new type of macroscopic entangled states. The text was submitted by author in English.     

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.     

Joint temporal density measurements for two-photon state characterization

We demonstrate a technique for characterizing two-photon quantum states based on joint temporal correlation measurements using time-resolved single-photon detection by femtosecond up-conversion. We measure for the first time the joint temporal density of a two-photon entangled state, showing clearly the time anticorrelation of the coincident-frequency entangled photon pair generated by ultrafast spontaneous parametric down-conversion under extended phase-matching conditions. The new technique enables us to manipulate the frequency entanglement by varying the down-conversion pump bandwidth to produce a nearly unentangled two-photon state that is expected to yield a heralded single-photon state with a purity of 0.88. The time-domain correlation technique complements existing frequency-domain measurement methods for a more complete characterization of photonic entanglement.     

Quantum Entanglement of Monochromatic and Non-Monochromatic Photons on a Waveguide Beam Splitter

It is well known that the waveguide beam splitter can be used as a source for the quantum entanglement of photons. The analysis of such quantum entanglement is a difficult problem even for monochromatic photons, since the system under study is multiparametric. This paper will show that quantum entanglement can be represented in a simple form not only for monochromatic photons but also for non-monochromatic ones. It will be shown that quantum entanglement for non-monochromatic photons can be very different from monochromatic photons, which can be used to create large quantum entanglement.     

Entanglement and Phase-Sensitivity of a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer for the Coherent Spin State Input

We study quantum entanglement and phase-sensitivity of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer for the coherent spin state input. It’s shown that entanglement and the Heisenberg limit of phase-sensitivity can be obtained adjusting the phase shift and increasing the total photons’ number.     

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.     

Experimental observation of four-photon entanglement from parametric down-conversion

We observe polarization entanglement between four photons produced from a single down-conversion source. The nonclassical correlations between the measurement results violate a generalized Bell inequality for four qubits. The characteristic properties and its easy generation with high interferometric contrast make the observed four-photon state well suited for implementing advanced quantum communication schemes such as multiparty quantum key distribution, secret sharing, and telecloning.     

Heralded amplification of single-photon entanglement with polarization feature

Heralded noiseless amplification is beneficial in overcoming transmission photon loss in a noisy quantum channel. We propose a single-photon-assisted heralded noiseless amplification protocol of the singlephoton entanglement (SPE), where the single-photon qubit has an arbitrary unknown polarization feature. We focus on both the complete and partial photon loss during the transmission process. After the amplification, the parties can recover the pure less-entangled SPE into a maximally entangled SPE and increase its fidelity. Moreover, the polarization feature of the single-photon qubit will be well preserved and not be leaked. Our protocol can be realized under our current experimental condition. Based on the features above, our protocol may be useful in the quantum secure communication schemes that encode information in the polarization degree of freedom of photons.