Graph states are a central resource in measurement-based quantum information processing. In the photonic qubit architecture based on Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) encoding, the generation of high-fidelity graph states composed of realistic, finite-
energy approximate GKP-encoded qubits thus constitutes a key task. We consider the finite-energy approximation of GKP qubit states given by a coherent superposition of shifted finite-squeezed vacuum states, where the displacements are Gaussian distributed. We present an exact description of graph states composed of such approximate GKP qubits as a coherent superposition of a Gaussian ensemble of randomly displaced ideal GKP-qubit graph states. We determine the transformation rules for the covariance matrix and the mean displacement vector of the Gaussian distribution of the ensemble under tools such as GKP-Steane error correction and fusion operations that can be used to grow large, high-fidelity GKP-qubit graph states. The former captures the noise in the graph state due to the finite-energy approximation of GKP qubits, while the latter relates to the possible absolute displacement errors on the individual qubits due to the homodyne measurements that are a part of these tools. The rules thus help in pinning down an exact coherent error model for graph states generated from truly finite-energy GKP qubits, which can shed light on their error correction properties.
For space-based laser communications, when the mean photon number per received optical pulse is much smaller than one, there is a large gap between communications capacity achievable with a receiver that performs individual pulse-by-pulse detection,
and the quantum-optimal joint-detection receiver that acts collectively on long codeword-blocks of modulated pulses; an effect often termed superadditive capacity. In this paper, we consider the simplest scenario where a large superadditive capacity is known: a pure-loss channel with a coherent-state binary phase-shift keyed (BPSK) modulation. The two BPSK states can be mapped conceptually to two non-orthogonal states of a qubit, described by an inner product that is a function of the mean photon number per pulse. Using this map, we derive an explicit construction of the quantum circuit of a joint-detection receiver based on a recent idea of belief-propagation with quantum messages (BPQM) (arXiv:1607.04833). We quantify its performance improvement over the Dolinar receiver that performs optimal pulse-by-pulse detection, which represents the best classical approach. We analyze the scheme rigorously and show that it achieves the quantum limit of minimum average error probability in discriminating 8 (BPSK) codewords of a length-5 binary linear code with a tree factor graph. Our result suggests that a BPQM-receiver might attain the Holevo capacity of this BPSK-modulated pure-loss channel. Moreover, our receiver circuit provides an alternative proposal for a quantum supremacy experiment, targeted at a specific application that can potentially be implemented on a small, special-purpose, photonic quantum computer capable of performing cat-basis universal qubit logic.
Entanglement distillation is a key primitive for distributing high-quality entanglement between remote locations. Probabilistic noiseless linear amplification based on the quantum scissors is a candidate for entanglement distillation from noisy conti
nuous-variable (CV) entangled states. Being a non-Gaussian operation, quantum scissors is challenging to analyze. We present a derivation of the non-Gaussian state heralded by multiple quantum scissors in a pure loss channel with two-mode squeezed vacuum input. We choose the reverse coherent information (RCI)---a proven lower bound on the distillable entanglement of a quantum state under one-way local operations and classical communication (LOCC), as our figure of merit. We evaluate a Gaussian lower bound on the RCI of the heralded state. We show that it can exceed the unlimited two-way LOCCassisted direct transmission entanglement distillation capacity of the pure loss channel. The optimal heralded Gaussian RCI with two quantum scissors is found to be significantly more than that with a single quantum scissors, albeit at the cost of decreased success probability. Our results fortify the possibility of a quantum repeater scheme for CV quantum states using the quantum scissors.
Quantum repeaters are indispensable for high-rate, long-distance quantum communications. The vision of a future quantum internet strongly hinges on realizing quantum repeaters in practice. Numerous repeaters have been proposed for discrete-variable (
DV) single-photon-based quantum communications. Continuous variable (CV) encodings over the quadrature degrees of freedom of the electromagnetic field mode offer an attractive alternative. For example, CV transmission systems are easier to integrate with existing optical telecom systems compared to their DV counterparts. Yet, repeaters for CV have remained elusive. We present a novel quantum repeater scheme for CV entanglement distribution over a lossy bosonic channel that beats the direct transmission exponential rate-loss tradeoff. The scheme involves repeater nodes consisting of a) two-mode squeezed vacuum (TMSV) CV entanglement sources, b) the quantum scissors operation to perform nondeterministic noiseless linear amplification of lossy TMSV states, c) a layer of switched, mode multiplexing inspired by second-generation DV repeaters, which is the key ingredient apart from probabilistic entanglement purification that makes DV repeaters work, and d) a non-Gaussian entanglement swap operation. We report our exact results on the rate-loss envelope achieved by the scheme.
We consider quantum key distribution (QKD) and entanglement distribution using a single-sender multiple-receiver pure-loss bosonic broadcast channel. We determine the unconstrained capacity region for the distillation of bipartite entanglement and se
cret key between the sender and each receiver, whenever they are allowed arbitrary public classical communication. A practical implication of our result is that the capacity region demonstrated drastically improves upon rates achievable using a naive time-sharing strategy, which has been employed in previously demonstrated network QKD systems. We show a simple example of the broadcast QKD protocol overcoming the limit of the point-to-point strategy. Our result is thus an important step toward opening a new framework of network channel-based quantum communication technology.
In the lore of quantum metrology, one often hears (or reads) the following no-go theorem: If you put vacuum into one input port of a balanced Mach-Zehnder Interferometer, then no matter what you put into the other input port, and no matter what your
detection scheme, the sensitivity can never be better than the shot noise limit (SNL). Often the proof of this theorem is cited to be in Ref. [C. Caves, Phys. Rev. D 23, 1693 (1981)], but upon further inspection, no such claim is made there. A quantum-Fisher-information-based argument suggestive of this no-go theorem appears in Ref. [M. Lang and C. Caves, Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 173601 (2013)], but is not stated in its full generality. Here we thoroughly explore this no-go theorem and give the rigorous statement: the no-go theorem holds whenever the unknown phase shift is split between both arms of the interferometer, but remarkably does not hold when only one arm has the unknown phase shift. In the latter scenario, we provide an explicit measurement strategy that beats the SNL. We also point out that these two scenarios are physically different and correspond to different types of sensing applications.
Bosonic channels are important in practice as they form a simple model for free-space or fiber-optic communication. Here we consider a single-sender two-receiver pure-loss bosonic broadcast channel and determine the unconstrained capacity region for
the distillation of bipartite entanglement and secret key between the sender and each receiver, whenever they are allowed arbitrary public classical communication. We show how the state merging protocol leads to achievable rates in this setting, giving an inner bound on the capacity region. We also evaluate an outer bound on the region by using the relative entropy of entanglement and a `reduction by teleportation technique. The outer bounds match the inner bounds in the infinite-energy limit, thereby establishing the unconstrained capacity region for such channels. Our result could provide a useful benchmark for implementing a broadcasting of entanglement and secret key through such channels. An important open question relevant to practice is to determine the capacity region in both this setting and the single-sender single-receiver case when there is an energy constraint on the transmitter.
Device-independent quantum key distribution (DIQKD) guarantees unconditional security of secret key without making assumptions about the internal workings of the devices used. It does so using the loophole-free violation of a Bells inequality. The pr
imary challenge in realizing DIQKD in practice is the detection loophole problem that is inherent to photonic tests of Bells inequalities over lossy channels. We revisit the proposal of Curty and Moroder [Phys. Rev. A 84, 010304(R) (2011)] to use a linear optics-based entanglement-swapping relay (ESR) to counter this problem. We consider realistic models for the entanglement sources and photodetectors; more precisely, (a) polarization-entangled states based on pulsed spontaneous parametric downconversion (SPDC) sources with infinitely higher order multi-photon components and multimode spectral structure, and (b) on-off photodetectors with non-unit efficiencies and non-zero dark count probabilities. We show that the ESR-based scheme is robust against the above imperfections and enables positive key rates at distances much larger than what is possible otherwise.
Over the past 20 years, bright sources of entangled photons have led to a renaissance in quantum optical interferometry. Optical interferometry has been used to test the foundations of quantum mechanics and implement some of the novel ideas associate
d with quantum entanglement such as quantum teleportation, quantum cryptography, quantum lithography, quantum computing logic gates, and quantum metrology. In this paper, we focus on the new ways that have been developed to exploit quantum optical entanglement in quantum metrology to beat the shot-noise limit, which can be used, e.g., in fiber optical gyroscopes and in sensors for biological or chemical targets. We also discuss how this entanglement can be used to beat the Rayleigh diffraction limit in imaging systems such as in LIDAR and optical lithography.
Boson sampling is a specific quantum computation, which is likely hard to implement efficiently on a classical computer. The task is to sample the output photon number distribution of a linear optical interferometric network, which is fed with single
-photon Fock state inputs. A question that has been asked is if the sampling problems associated with any other input quantum states of light (other than the Fock states) to a linear optical network and suitable output detection strategies are also of similar computational complexity as boson sampling. We consider the states that differ from the Fock states by a displacement operation, namely the displaced Fock states and the photon-added coherent states. It is easy to show that the sampling problem associated with displaced single-photon Fock states and a displaced photon number detection scheme is in the same complexity class as boson sampling for all values of displacement. On the other hand, we show that the sampling problem associated with single-photon-added coherent states and the same displaced photon number detection scheme demonstrates a computational complexity transition. It transitions from being just as hard as boson sampling when the input coherent amplitudes are sufficiently small, to a classically simulatable problem in the limit of large coherent amplitudes.
