No Arabic abstract
We present an experimental realization of a robust quantum communication scheme [Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 220501 (2004)] using pairs of photons entangled in polarization and time. Our method overcomes errors due to collective rotation of the polarization modes (e.g., birefringence in optical fiber or misalignment), is insensitive to the phases fluctuation of the interferometer, and does not require any shared reference frame including time reference, except the need to label different photons. The practical robustness of the scheme is further shown by implementing a variation of the Bennett-Brassard 1984 quantum key distribution protocol over 1 km optical fiber.
Non-classical correlations arising in complex quantum networks are attracting growing interest, both from a fundamental perspective and for potential applications in information processing. In particular, in an entanglement swapping scenario a new kind of correlations arise, the so-called nonbilocal correlations that are incompatible with local realism augmented with the assumption that the sources of states used in the experiment are independent. In practice, however, bilocality tests impose strict constraints on the experimental setup and in particular to presence of shared reference frames between the parties. Here, we experimentally address this point showing that false positive nonbilocal quantum correlations can be observed even though the sources of states are independent. To overcome this problem, we propose and demonstrate a new scheme for the violation of bilocality that does not require shared reference frames and thus constitute an important building block for future investigations of quantum correlations in complex networks.
Simply and reliably detecting and quantifying entanglement outside laboratory conditions will be essential for future quantum information technologies. Here we address this issue by proposing a method for generating expressions which can perform this task between two parties who do not share a common reference frame. These reference frame independent expressions only require simple local measurements, which allows us to experimentally test them using an off-the-shelf entangled photon source. We show that the values of these expressions provide bounds on the concurrence of the state, and demonstrate experimentally that these bounds are more reliable than values obtained from state tomography since characterizing experimental errors is easier in our setting. Furthermore, we apply this idea to other quantities, such as the Renyi and von Neumann entropies, which are also more reliably calculated directly from the raw data than from a tomographically reconstructed state. This highlights the relevance of our approach for practical quantum information applications that require entanglement.
We propose an alignment-free two-party polarization-entanglement transmission scheme for entangled photons by using only linear-optical elements, requiring neither ancillary photons nor calibrated reference frames. The scheme is robust against both the random channel noise and the instability of reference frames, and it is subsequently extended to multi-party Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state transmission. Furthermore, the success probabilities for two- and multi-party entanglement transmission are, in principle, improved to unity when active polarization controllers are used. The distinct characters of a simple structure, easy to be implemented, and a high fidelity and efficiency make our protocol very useful for long-distance quantum communications and distributed quantum networks in practical applications.
Although quantum physics is well understood in inertial reference frames (flat spacetime), a current challenge is the search for experimental evidence of non-trivial or unexpected behaviour of quantum systems in non-inertial frames. Here, we present a novel test of quantum mechanics in a non-inertial reference frame: we consider Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interference on a rotating platform and study the effect of uniform rotation on the distinguishability of the photons. Both theory and experiments show that the rotational motion induces a relative delay in the photon arrival times at the exit beamsplitter and that this delay is observed as a shift in the position of the HOM dip. This experiment can be extended to a full general relativistic test of quantum physics using satellites in Earth orbit and indicates a new route towards the use of photonic technologies for investigating quantum mechanics at the interface with relativity.
Reference-frame-independent quantum key distribution (RFI QKD) protocol can reduce the requirement on the alignment of reference frames in practical systems. However, comparing with the Bennett-Brassard (BB84) QKD protocol, the main drawback of RFI QKD is that Alice needs to prepare six encoding states in the three mutually unbiased bases (X, Y, and Z), and Bob also needs to measures the quantum state with such three bases. Here, we show that the RFI QKD protocol can be secured in the case where Alice sends fewer states. In particular, we find that transmitting three states (two eigenstates of the Z basis and one of the eigenstates in the X basis) is sufficient to obtain the comparable secret key rates and the covered distances, even when the security against coherent attacks with statistical fluctuations of finite-key size is considered. Finally, a proof-of-principle experiment based on time-bin encoding is demonstrated to show the feasibility of our scheme, and its merit to simplify the experimental setup.