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arXiv:1412.7730 · Nature Communications

Detection of entanglement in asymmetric quantum networks and multipartite quantum steering

Daniel Cavalcanti, Paul Skrzypczyk, G. H. Aguilar, Ranieri Nery, P. H. Souto Ribeiro, Stephen Patrick Walborn

Published Aug 3, 2015• 202 citations
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Abstract

The future of quantum communication relies on quantum networks composed by observers sharing multipartite quantum states. The certification of multipartite entanglement will be crucial to the usefulness of these networks. In many real situations it is natural to assume that some observers are more trusted than others in the sense that they have more knowledge of their measurement apparatuses. Here we propose a general method to certify all kinds of multipartite entanglement in this asymmetric scenario and experimentally demonstrate it in an optical experiment. Our results, which can be seen as a definition of genuine multipartite quantum steering, give a method to detect entanglement in a scenario in between the standard entanglement and fully device-independent scenarios, and provide a basis for semi-device-independent cryptographic applications in quantum networks.

DOI
10.1038/ncomms8941

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The future of quantum communication relies on quantum networks composed by observers sharing multipartite quantum states. The certification of multipartite entanglement will be crucial to the usefulness of these networks. In many real situations it is natural to assume that some observers are more trusted than others in the sense that they have more knowledge of their measurement apparatuses. Here we propose a general method to certify all kinds of multipartite entanglement in this asymmetric scenario and experimentally demonstrate it in an optical experiment. Our results, which can be seen as a definition of genuine multipartite quantum steering, give a method to detect entanglement in a scenario in between the standard entanglement and fully device-independent scenarios, and provide a basis for semi-device-independent cryptographic applications in quantum networks.
Abstract Recently, Cavalcanti et al (2015) proposed a method to certify the presence of entanglement in asymmetric networks, where some users do not have control over the measurements they are performing. Such asymmetry naturally emerges in realistic situations, such as in cryptographic protocols over quantum networks. Here we implement such ‘semi-device-independent’ techniques to experimentally witness all types of entanglement on a three-qubit photonic W state. Furthermore, we analyse the amount of genuine randomness that can be certified in this scenario from any bipartition of the three-qubit W state.
Genuine multipartite entanglement represents the strongest type of entanglement, which is an essential resource for quantum information processing. Standard methods to detect genuine multipartite entanglement, e.g., entanglement witnesses, state tomography, or quantum state verification, require full knowledge of the Hilbert space dimension and precise calibration of measurement devices, which are usually difficult to acquire in an experiment. The most radical way to overcome these problems is to detect entanglement solely based on the Bell-like correlations of measurement outcomes collected in the experiment, namely, device independently. However, it is difficult to certify genuine entanglement of practical multipartite states in this way, and even more difficult to quantify it, due to the difficulty in identifying optimal multipartite Bell inequalities and protocols tolerant to state impurity. In this Letter, we explore a general and robust device-independent method that can be applied to various realistic multipartite quantum states in arbitrary finite dimension, while merely relying on bipartite Bell inequalities. Our method allows us both to certify the presence of genuine multipartite entanglement and to quantify it. Several important classes of entangled states are tested with this method, leading to the detection of genuinely entangled states. We also certify genuine multipartite entanglement in weakly entangled Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states, showing that the method applies equally well to less standard states.
Distributed quantum information in networks is paramount for global secure quantum communication. Moreover, it finds applications as a resource for relevant tasks, such as clock synchronization, magnetic field sensing, and blind quantum computation. For quantum network analysis and benchmarking of implementations, however, it is crucial to characterize the topology of networks in a way that reveals the nodes between which entanglement can be reliably distributed. Here, we demonstrate an efficient scheme for this topology certification. Our scheme allows for distinguishing, in a scalable manner, different networks consisting of bipartite and multipartite entanglement sources. It can be applied to semi-device-independent scenarios also, where the measurement devices and network nodes are not well characterized and trusted. We experimentally demonstrate our approach by certifying the topology of different six-qubit networks generated with polarized photons, employing active feed-forward and time multiplexing. Our methods can be used for general simultaneous tests of multiple hypotheses with few measurements, being useful for other certification scenarios in quantum technologies.
Experimental demonstration of entanglement needs to have a precise control of experimentalist over the system on which the measurements are performed as prescribed by an appropriate entanglement witness. To avoid such trust problem, recently device-independent entanglement witnesses (\emph{DIEW}s) for genuine tripartite entanglement have been proposed where witnesses are capable of testing genuine entanglement without precise description of Hilbert space dimension and measured operators i.e apparatus are treated as black boxes. Here we design a protocol for enhancing the possibility of identifying genuine tripartite entanglement in a device independent manner. We consider three mixed tripartite quantum states none of whose genuine entanglement can be detected by applying standard \emph{DIEW}s, but their genuine tripartite entanglement can be detected by applying the same when distributed in some suitable entanglement swapping network.
Detection of entanglement in quantum networks consisting of many parties is one of the important steps toward building quantum communication and computation networks. We consider a scenario where the measurement devices used for this certification are uncharacterized. In this case, it is well known that by using quantum states as inputs for the measurement devices it is possible to detect any entangled state (a situation known as measurement-device-independent entanglement witnessing). Here we go beyond entanglement detection and provide methods to estimate the amount of entanglement in a quantum network. We also consider the task of randomness certification and show that randomness can be certified in a variety of cases, including single-partite experiments or setups using only separable states.
We consider quantum steering certification in multipartite networks, with a focus on minimal trust scenarios: all-except-one parties are untrusted and treated device-independently. We show that it is always possible to lift steering certification to the measurement-device-independent regime, in which even the (last) trusted party can treat their local hardware as a black-box, except for a set of fiduciary quantum states used as the inputs to the experiment. This holds both for finite-dimensional systems as well as for bosonic continuous-variable systems, which we characterize in terms of semi-quantum games in the bipartite case. Additionally, we introduce measurement-device-independent network steering protocols based entirely on Gaussian operations -- which cannot be used for fully device-independent protocols, and thus become instead a viable option for minimal trust certification as soon as a single trusted input is inserted in the network. Our results present a basis for steering-based applications (such as randomness generation) with minimal trust beyond full nonlocality and with feasible experimental requirements.