arXiv:1111.3521 · Physical Review Letters
Experimental Schmidt Decomposition and State Independent Entanglement Detection
Wiesław Laskowski, Daniel Richart, Christian Schwemmer, Tomasz Paterek, Harald Weinfurter
Abstract
We introduce an experimental procedure for the detection of quantum entanglement of an unknown quantum state with a small number of measurements. The method requires neither a priori knowledge of the state nor a shared reference frame between the observers and can thus be regarded as a perfectly state-independent entanglement witness. The scheme starts with local measurements, possibly supplemented with suitable filtering, which essentially establishes the Schmidt decomposition for pure states. Alternatively we develop a decision tree that reveals entanglement within few steps. These methods are illustrated and verified experimentally for various entangled states of two and three qubits.