Due to practical reasons, experimental and theoretical continuous-variable (CV) quantum information (QI) has been heavily based on Gaussian states. Nevertheless, many CV-QI protocols require the use of non-Gaussian states and operations. Here, we show that the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-steering inequality can be used to obtain a practical witness for the generation of pure bipartite non-Gaussian states. While the scenario requires pure states, we show its broad relevance by reporting the experimental observation of the non-Gaussianity of the CV two-photon state generated in the process of spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC). The observed non-Gaussianity is due only to the intrinsic phase-matching conditions of SPDC.
Due to practical reasons, experimental and theoretical continuous-variable (CV) quantum information (QI) has been heavily based on Gaussian states. Nevertheless, many CV-QI protocols require the use of non-Gaussian states and operations. Here, we show that the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-steering inequality can be used to obtain a practical witness for the generation of pure bipartite non-Gaussian states. While the scenario requires pure states, we show its broad relevance by reporting the experimental observation of the non-Gaussianity of the CV two-photon state generated in the process of spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC). The observed non-Gaussianity is due only to the intrinsic phase-matching conditions of SPDC.
Abstract Non-Gaussian quantum states are a known necessary resource for reaching a quantum advantage and for violating Bell inequalities in continuous variable systems. As one kind of manifestation of quantum correlations, Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen steering enables verification of shared entanglement even when one of the subsystems is not characterized. However, how to detect and classify such an effect for non-Gaussian states is far from being well understood. Here, we present an efficient non-Gaussian steering criterion based on the high-order observables and conduct a systematic investigation into the hierarchy of non-Gaussian steering criteria. Moreover, we apply our criterion to three experimentally-relevant non-Gaussian states under realistic conditions and, in particular, propose a feasible scheme to create multi-component cat states with tunable size by performing a suitable high-order quadrature measurement on the steering party. Our work reveals the fundamental characteristics of non-Gaussianity and quantum correlations, and offers new insights to explore their applications in quantum information processing.
In view of the increasing importance of non-Gaussian entangled states in quantum information protocols like teleportation and violations of Bell inequalities, the steering of continuous variable non-Gaussian entangled states is investigated. Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering for Gaussian states may be demonstrated through the violation of the Reid inequality involving products of the inferred variances of noncommuting observables. However, for arbitrary states the Reid inequality is not always necessary because of the higher-order correlations in such states. One then needs to use the entropic steering inequality. We examine several classes of currently important non-Gaussian entangled states, such as the two-dimensional harmonic oscillator, the photon-subtracted two-mode squeezed vacuum, and the NOON state, in order to demonstrate the steering property of such states. A comparative study of the violation of the Bell inequality for these states shows that the entanglement present is more easily revealed through steering compared to Bell violation for several such states.
Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) steering is an asymmetric form of correlations which is intermediate between quantum entanglement and Bell nonlocality, and can be exploited as a resource for quantum communication with one untrusted party. In particular, steering of continuous-variable Gaussian states has been extensively studied theoretically and experimentally, as a fundamental manifestation of the EPR paradox. While most of these studies focused on quadrature measurements for steering detection, two recent works revealed that there exist Gaussian states which are only steerable by suitable non-Gaussian measurements. In this paper we perform a systematic investigation of EPR steering of bipartite Gaussian states by pseudospin measurements, complementing and extending previous findings. We first derive the density-matrix elements of two-mode squeezed thermal Gaussian states in the Fock basis, which may be of independent interest. We then use such a representation to investigate steering of these states as detected by a simple nonlinear criterion, based on second moments of the correlation matrix constructed from pseudospin operators. This analysis reveals previously unexplored regimes where non-Gaussian measurements are shown to be more effective than Gaussian ones to witness steering of Gaussian states in the presence of local noise. We further consider an alternative set of pseudospin observables, whose expectation value can be expressed more compactly in terms of Wigner functions for all two-mode Gaussian states. However, according to the adopted criterion, these observables are found to be always less sensitive than conventional Gaussian observables for steering detection. Finally, we investigate continuous-variable Werner states, which are non-Gaussian mixtures of Gaussian states, and find that pseudospin measurements are always more effective than Gaussian ones to reveal their steerability. Our results provide useful insights on the role of non-Gaussian measurements in characterizing quantum correlations of Gaussian and non-Gaussian states of continuous-variable quantum systems.
Here, we discuss the development of a new inequality in information theory; a Fano inequality suitable for continuous variables. With this inequality, we show how one can demonstrate Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) steering in the position-momentum statistics of entangled photon pairs from spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC). More importantly, we show how with sufficiently strong position and momentum correlations, we can demonstrate continuous-variable EPR steering without having to assume the photo-detectors have access to the entire joint intensity distribution. Moreover, we demonstrate this experimentally with the position and momentum statistics of entangled photon pairs in SPDC.
Abstract With the rapid advancements in fields such as quantum entanglement distillation and quantum metrology, the limitations of Gaussian states in certain applications within quantum computing and information processing have come to the forefront. This has necessitated the development of methods to prepare non-Gaussian states, which exhibit negative Wigner values and are indispensable for enhancing the capabilities of quantum systems in these tasks. Wigner negativity, a renowned indicator of nonclassicality, is integral to quantum computing and the simulation of continuous-variable systems. It is also employed to discern non-Gaussian characteristics in optical fields. We demonstrate Gaussian Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen (EPR) steering between second and third harmonic generations prior to performing non-Gaussian operations. Inducing non-Gaussian attributes in the second harmonic is achieved by coupling the third harmonic with a vacuum state and subtracting photons via a beamsplitter. The Wigner stochastic trajectory approach is utilized to investigate the non-Gaussian properties of both the second and third harmonics. By varying the coupling parameter lambda λ and the ratio of nonlinear coupling constants κ 2 / κ 1 , symmetric and asymmetric non-Gaussian EPR steering can be observed. This proposed scheme for non-Gaussian EPR steering holds promise for applications in quantum computing and quantum information processing.
We introduce a general witness-based framework for quantifying and operationally activating continuous-variable (CV) resources into discrete-variable (DV) bipartite entanglement or Einstein- Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) steering. For the three standard CV resource theories associated with Wigner negativity (WN), genuine non-Gaussianity (GNG), and standard non-Gaussianity (SNG), we define infinite families of bounded-witness monotones indexed by box constraints on the witness operators. For closed convex free sets, these monotones are faithful, strongly monotonic under free instruments, Lipschitz continuous, and convex. For closed nonconvex free sets, we show that faithfulness requires a two-copy lift and formulate the corresponding strong-monotonicity statement in the lifted theory. We further construct witness-dependent completely positive trace-preserving (CPTP) measure-and-prepare channels whose outputs are two-qubit Werner states. For the representative case n = m = 1, the optimal entanglement and EPR steering attainable within this witness-dependent activation family are exactly proportional to the underlying monotones. We illustrate the framework with odd-parity states, pure-loss single-photon states, and Gottesman- Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) states, and derive explicit lower bounds for pure-state GNG and SNG. More broadly, our results show that closed CV free sets admit witness-based quantifiers with a direct operational interpretation in terms of experimentally accessible DV correlations.