© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

Terms Privacy Legal Notice

arXiv:1210.2119 · New Journal of Physics

Entanglement reactivation in separable environments

Stefano Pirandola

Published Nov 26, 2013• 49 citations

Abstract

Combining two entanglement-breaking channels into a correlated-noise environment restores the distribution of entanglement. Surprisingly, this reactivation can be induced by the injection of separable correlations from the composite environment. In any dimension (finite or infinite), we can construct classically correlated 'twirling' environments which are entanglement-breaking in the transmission of single systems but entanglement-preserving when two systems are transmitted. Here entanglement is simply preserved by the existence of decoherence-free subspaces. Remarkably, even when such subspaces do not exist, a fraction of the input entanglement can still be distributed. This is found in separable Gaussian environments, where distillable entanglement is able to survive the two-mode transmission, despite being broken in any single-mode transmission by the strong thermal noise. In the Gaussian setting, entanglement restoration is a threshold process, occurring only after a critical amount of correlations has been injected. Such findings suggest new perspectives for distributing entanglement in realistic environments with extreme decoherence, identifying separable correlations and classical memory effects as physical resources for 'breaking entanglement-breaking'.

DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/15/11/113046

Related papers

Breaking entanglement-breaking by classical correlations

Stefano Pirandola

The inevitable interaction between quantum systems and environment induces effects of decoherence which may be so strong as to destroy any initial entanglement between the systems, a phenomenon known as "entanglement breaking". Here we show the simplest examples where the combination of two entanglement-breaking channels into a joint correlated-noise environment reactivates the distribution of entanglement, with classes of entangled states which are perfectly transmitted from a middle station (Charlie) to two remote stations (Alice and Bob). Surprisingly, this reactivation is induced by the presence of purely-classical correlations in the joint environment, whose state is separable with zero discord. This paradoxical effect is proven for quantum systems with Hilbert spaces of any dimension, both finite and infinite.

arXiv:1307.5699•Jul 22, 2013•1 citation

Restoring broken entanglement by separable correlations

Gaetana Spedalieri, Stefano Pirandola

We consider two bosonic Gaussian channels whose thermal noise is strong enough to break bipartite entanglement. In this scenario, we discuss how the presence of separable correlations between the two channels is able to restore the broken entanglement. This reactivation occurs not only in a scheme of direct distribution, where a third party (Charlie) broadcasts entangled states to remote parties (Alice and Bob), but also in a configuration of indirect distribution which is based on entanglement swapping. In both schemes, the amount of entanglement remotely activated can be large enough to be distilled by one-way distillation protocols.

arXiv:1509.01091•Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•May 7, 2015•0 citations

Experimental entanglement restoration on entanglement-breaking channels

Fabio Sciarrino, Eleonora Nagali, F. De Martini +2 more

Quantum entanglement, a fundamental property ensuring security of key distribution and efficiency of quantum computing, is extremely sensitive to decoherence. Different procedures have been developed in order to recover entanglement after propagation over a noisy channel. However, besides a certain amount of noise, entanglement is completely lost. In this case the channel is called entanglement breaking and any multi-copy distillation methods cannot help to restore even a bit of entanglement. We report the experimental realization of a new method which restores entanglement from a single photon entanglement breaking channel. The method based on measurement of environmental light and quantum feed-forward correction can reveal entanglement even if this one completely disappeared. This protocol provides new elements to overcome decoherence effects.

arXiv:0804.3542•Apr 22, 2008•0 citations

Asymptotic Limits of Entanglement Transmission

Piotr Masajada, Aby Philip, Alexander Streltsov

Reliable distribution of quantum entanglement over long distances is a central challenge in quantum information science, fundamentally limited by decoherence in noisy communication channels. In this work, we investigate the asymptotic limits of entanglement distribution across homogeneous linear repeater chains with arbitrary intermediate LOCC processing. We establish a strict dichotomy: the asymptotic preservation of entanglement over arbitrarily long distances is possible if and only if the underlying quantum channel admits a correctable subspace. For channels lacking such a subspace, we prove that the transmitted state converges exponentially fast to the set of separable states, rendering standard LOCC filtering insufficient. To counteract this exponential degradation, we analyze ``networks'' employing parallel channel uses per link. We derive a fundamental lower bound on the required number of parallel channel uses per elementary link, proving that for broad classes of channels without a correctable subspace, the number of parallel channels per link must scale at least logarithmically with the number of intermediate stations to sustain a non-zero amount of entanglement. This provides a code-independent bound for the number of physical links for the considered homogeneous one-way architecture. For depolarizing noise below the corresponding coding threshold, the logarithmic lower bound is achievable.

quant-pharXiv:2605.23443•May 25, 2026•0 citations

EXPERIMENTAL ENTANGLEMENT RESTORATION ON NOISY CHANNELS BY MEASURING ENVIRONMENT

Eleonora Nagali, Fabio Sciarrino, F. De Martini +2 more

In the last years, different procedures have been developed in order to recover entanglement after propagation over a noisy channel. However, above a certain amount of noise, entanglement is completely lost. In this case the channel is called "entanglement-breaking" and any multi-copy distillation methods cannot help to reveal even a bit of entanglement. We report the experimental realization of a new protocol which restores entanglement from a single photon entanglement-breaking channel by measuring the information leaking out into the environment. Such restoration entanglement procedure provides new elements to overcome decoherence effects, a subject of renowed interest in quantum communication in the last decade.

International Journal of Quantum Information•Jan 1, 2009•5 citations

Non-Markovian Reactivation of Quantum Relays

Stefano Pirandola, Carlo Ottaviani, Christian S. Jacobsen +4 more

We consider a quantum relay which is used by two parties to perform several continuous-variable protocols: Entanglement swapping, distillation, quantum teleportation, and quantum key distribution. The theory of these protocols is extended to a non-Markovian model of decoherence characterized by correlated Gaussian noise. Even if bipartite entanglement is completely lost at the relay, we show that the various protocols can progressively be reactivated by the separable noise-correlations of the environment. In fact, above a critical amount, these correlations are able to restore the distribution of quadripartite entanglement, which can be localized into an exploitable bipartite form by the action of the relay. Our findings are confirmed by a proof-of-principle experiment and show the potential advantages of non-Markovian effects in a quantum network architecture.

arXiv:1505.07457•May 27, 2015•2 citations

Combining two entanglement-breaking channels into a correlated-noise environment restores the distribution of entanglement. Surprisingly, this reactivation can be induced by the injection of separable correlations from the composite environment. In any dimension (finite or infinite), we can construct classically correlated 'twirling' environments which are entanglement-breaking in the transmission of single systems but entanglement-preserving when two systems are transmitted. Here entanglement is simply preserved by the existence of decoherence-free subspaces. Remarkably, even when such subspaces do not exist, a fraction of the input entanglement can still be distributed. This is found in separable Gaussian environments, where distillable entanglement is able to survive the two-mode transmission, despite being broken in any single-mode transmission by the strong thermal noise. In the Gaussian setting, entanglement restoration is a threshold process, occurring only after a critical amount of correlations has been injected. Such findings suggest new perspectives for distributing entanglement in realistic environments with extreme decoherence, identifying separable correlations and classical memory effects as physical resources for 'breaking entanglement-breaking'.

The inevitable interaction between quantum systems and environment induces effects of decoherence which may be so strong as to destroy any initial entanglement between the systems, a phenomenon known as "entanglement breaking". Here we show the simplest examples where the combination of two entanglement-breaking channels into a joint correlated-noise environment reactivates the distribution of entanglement, with classes of entangled states which are perfectly transmitted from a middle station (Charlie) to two remote stations (Alice and Bob). Surprisingly, this reactivation is induced by the presence of purely-classical correlations in the joint environment, whose state is separable with zero discord. This paradoxical effect is proven for quantum systems with Hilbert spaces of any dimension, both finite and infinite.

We consider two bosonic Gaussian channels whose thermal noise is strong enough to break bipartite entanglement. In this scenario, we discuss how the presence of separable correlations between the two channels is able to restore the broken entanglement. This reactivation occurs not only in a scheme of direct distribution, where a third party (Charlie) broadcasts entangled states to remote parties (Alice and Bob), but also in a configuration of indirect distribution which is based on entanglement swapping. In both schemes, the amount of entanglement remotely activated can be large enough to be distilled by one-way distillation protocols.

Quantum entanglement, a fundamental property ensuring security of key distribution and efficiency of quantum computing, is extremely sensitive to decoherence. Different procedures have been developed in order to recover entanglement after propagation over a noisy channel. However, besides a certain amount of noise, entanglement is completely lost. In this case the channel is called entanglement breaking and any multi-copy distillation methods cannot help to restore even a bit of entanglement. We report the experimental realization of a new method which restores entanglement from a single photon entanglement breaking channel. The method based on measurement of environmental light and quantum feed-forward correction can reveal entanglement even if this one completely disappeared. This protocol provides new elements to overcome decoherence effects.

Reliable distribution of quantum entanglement over long distances is a central challenge in quantum information science, fundamentally limited by decoherence in noisy communication channels. In this work, we investigate the asymptotic limits of entanglement distribution across homogeneous linear repeater chains with arbitrary intermediate LOCC processing. We establish a strict dichotomy: the asymptotic preservation of entanglement over arbitrarily long distances is possible if and only if the underlying quantum channel admits a correctable subspace. For channels lacking such a subspace, we prove that the transmitted state converges exponentially fast to the set of separable states, rendering standard LOCC filtering insufficient. To counteract this exponential degradation, we analyze ``networks'' employing parallel channel uses per link. We derive a fundamental lower bound on the required number of parallel channel uses per elementary link, proving that for broad classes of channels without a correctable subspace, the number of parallel channels per link must scale at least logarithmically with the number of intermediate stations to sustain a non-zero amount of entanglement. This provides a code-independent bound for the number of physical links for the considered homogeneous one-way architecture. For depolarizing noise below the corresponding coding threshold, the logarithmic lower bound is achievable.

In the last years, different procedures have been developed in order to recover entanglement after propagation over a noisy channel. However, above a certain amount of noise, entanglement is completely lost. In this case the channel is called "entanglement-breaking" and any multi-copy distillation methods cannot help to reveal even a bit of entanglement. We report the experimental realization of a new protocol which restores entanglement from a single photon entanglement-breaking channel by measuring the information leaking out into the environment. Such restoration entanglement procedure provides new elements to overcome decoherence effects, a subject of renowed interest in quantum communication in the last decade.

We consider a quantum relay which is used by two parties to perform several continuous-variable protocols: Entanglement swapping, distillation, quantum teleportation, and quantum key distribution. The theory of these protocols is extended to a non-Markovian model of decoherence characterized by correlated Gaussian noise. Even if bipartite entanglement is completely lost at the relay, we show that the various protocols can progressively be reactivated by the separable noise-correlations of the environment. In fact, above a critical amount, these correlations are able to restore the distribution of quadripartite entanglement, which can be localized into an exploitable bipartite form by the action of the relay. Our findings are confirmed by a proof-of-principle experiment and show the potential advantages of non-Markovian effects in a quantum network architecture.