No Arabic abstract
Establishing quantum entanglement between individual nodes is crucial for building large-scale quantum networks, enabling secure quantum communication, distributed quantum computing, enhanced quantum metrology and fundamental tests of quantum mechanics. However, the shared entanglements have been merely observed in either extremely low-temperature or well-isolated systems, which limits the quantum networks for the real-life applications. Here, we report the realization of heralding quantum entanglement between two atomic ensembles at room temperature, where each of them contains billions of motional atoms. By measuring the mapped-out entangled state with quantum interference, concurrence and correlation, we strongly verify the existence of a single excitation delocalized in two atomic ensembles. Remarkably, the heralded quantum entanglement of atomic ensembles can be operated with the feature of delay-choice, which illustrates the essentiality of the built-in quantum memory. The demonstrated building block paves the way for constructing quantum networks and distributing entanglement across multiple remote nodes at ambient conditions.
We create a multi-partite entangled state by storing a single photon in a crystal that contains many large atomic ensembles with distinct resonance frequencies. The photon is re-emitted at a well-defined time due to an interference effect analogous to multi-slit diffraction. We derive a lower bound for the number of entangled ensembles based on the contrast of the interference and the single-photon character of the input, and we experimentally demonstrate entanglement between over two hundred ensembles, each containing a billion atoms. In addition, we illustrate the fact that each individual ensemble contains further entanglement. Our results are the first demonstration of entanglement between many macroscopic systems in a solid and open the door to creating even more complex entangled states.
We formulate a mixed-state analog of the NLTS conjecture [FH14] by asking whether there exist topologically-ordered systems for which the thermal Gibbs state for constant temperature is globally-entangled in the sense that it cannot even be approximated by shallow quantum circuits. We then prove this conjecture holds for nearly optimal parameters: when the inverse temperature is almost a constant (temperature decays as 1/loglog(n))) and the Hamiltonian is nearly local (log(n)-local). The construction and proof combine quantum codes that arise from high-dimensional manifolds [Has17, LLZ19], the local-decoding approach to quantum codes [LTZ15, FGL18] and quantum locally-testable codes [AE15].
Entanglement measures quantify nonclassical correlations present in a quantum system, but can be extremely difficult to calculate, even more so, when information on its state is limited. Here, we consider broad families of entanglement criteria that are based on variances of arbitrary operators and analytically derive the lower bounds these criteria provide for two relevant entanglement measures: the best separable approximation (BSA) and the generalized robustness (GR). This yields a practical method for quantifying entanglement in realistic experimental situations, in particular, when only few measurements of simple observables are available. As a concrete application of this method, we quantify bipartite and multipartite entanglement in spin-squeezed Bose-Einstein condensates of $sim 500$ atoms, by lower bounding the BSA and the GR only from measurements of first and second moments of the collective spin operator.
The radiation-pressure driven interaction of a coherent light field with a mechanical oscillator induces correlations between the amplitude and phase quadratures of the light. These correlations result in squeezed light -- light with quantum noise lower than shot noise in some quadratures, and higher in others. Due to this lower quantum uncertainty, squeezed light can be used to improve the sensitivity of precision measurements. In particular, squeezed light sources based on nonlinear optical crystals are being used to improve the sensitivity of gravitational wave (GW) detectors. For optomechanical squeezers, thermally driven fluctuations of the mechanical oscillators position makes it difficult to observe the quantum correlations at room temperature, and at low frequencies. Here we present a measurement of optomechanically (OM) squeezed light, performed at room-temperature, in a broad band near audio-frequency regions relevant to GW detectors. We observe sub-poissonian quantum noise in a frequency band of 30 kHz to 70 kHz with a maximum reduction of 0.7 $pm$ 0.1 dB below shot noise at 45 kHz. We present two independent methods of measuring this squeezing, one of which does not rely on calibration of shot noise.
Entanglement, an essential feature of quantum theory that allows for inseparable quantum correlations to be shared between distant parties, is a crucial resource for quantum networks. Of particular importance is the ability to distribute entanglement between remote objects that can also serve as quantum memories. This has been previously realized using systems such as warm and cold atomic vapours, individual atoms and ions, and defects in solid-state systems. Practical communication applications require a combination of several advantageous features, such as a particular operating wavelength, high bandwidth and long memory lifetimes. Here we introduce a purely micromachined solid-state platform in the form of chip-based optomechanical resonators made of nanostructured silicon beams. We create and demonstrate entanglement between two micromechanical oscillators across two chips that are separated by 20 centimetres. The entangled quantum state is distributed by an optical field at a designed wavelength near 1550 nanometres. Therefore, our system can be directly incorporated in a realistic fibre-optic quantum network operating in the conventional optical telecommunication band. Our results are an important step towards the development of large-area quantum networks based on silicon photonics.