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arXiv:1506.06706 · Physical Review A

Process output nonclassicality and nonclassicality depth of quantum-optical channels

Krishna Kumar Sabapathy

Published Apr 5, 2016• 25 citations
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Abstract

We introduce a quantum-optical notion of nonclassicality that we call the process output nonclassicality for multimode quantum channels. The motivation comes from an information-theoretic point of view and the emphasis is on the output states of a channel. We deem a channel to be ``classical'' if its outputs are always classical irrespective of the input, i.e., if the channel is nonclassicality breaking, and nonclassical otherwise. Our condition is stronger than the one considered by Rahimi-Keshari et al., [Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 160401 (2013)] and we compare the two approaches. Using our framework we then quantify the nonclassicality of a quantum process by introducing a noise-robustness type of measure that we call the nonclassicality depth of a channel. It characterizes a certain threshold noise beyond which a given channel outputs only classical states. We achieve this by generalizing a prescription by Lee [Phys. Rev. A 44, R2775 (1991)] to multimode states and then by extension to multimode channels.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.93.042103

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We introduce a quantum-optical notion of nonclassicality that we call the process output nonclassicality for multimode quantum channels. The motivation comes from an information-theoretic point of view and the emphasis is on the output states of a channel. We deem a channel to be ``classical'' if its outputs are always classical irrespective of the input, i.e., if the channel is nonclassicality breaking, and nonclassical otherwise. Our condition is stronger than the one considered by Rahimi-Keshari et al., [Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 160401 (2013)] and we compare the two approaches. Using our framework we then quantify the nonclassicality of a quantum process by introducing a noise-robustness type of measure that we call the nonclassicality depth of a channel. It characterizes a certain threshold noise beyond which a given channel outputs only classical states. We achieve this by generalizing a prescription by Lee [Phys. Rev. A 44, R2775 (1991)] to multimode states and then by extension to multimode channels.
The Glauber-Sudarshan diagonal ``weight'' function provides a natural divide between the quantum-optical notion of classical and nonclassical states of continuous-variable systems. Based on this demarcation, a channel is said to be nonclassicality breaking if it outputs only classical states for any input state. We focus on multimode bosonic Gaussian channels and classify those that are nonclassicality breaking by introducing a criterion that needs to be satisfied by the matrices representing these channels. The criterion can be interpreted as a nonclassicality benchmark for these channels since it quantifies the threshold noise at which there is a complete nonclassical to classical transition of the output states, i.e., it quantifies the robustness of the nonclassicality of the outputs of the channel against Gaussian noise. We then prove a striking ``duality'' between nonclassicality-breaking and entanglement-breaking bosonic Gaussian channels.
We present a framework for studying linear bosonic non-Gaussian channels. Our emphasis is on a class of channels that we call photon-added Gaussian channels and these are experimentally viable with current quantum-optical technologies. A strong motivation for considering these channels is the fact that it is compulsory to go beyond the Gaussian regime for numerous tasks in continuous-variable quantum information processing including universal quantum computation. These channels are obtained by extending Gaussian channels with photon addition applied to the ancilla ports giving rise to a one-parameter family of non-Gaussian channels indexed by photon number n≥1n \geq 1n≥1. We derive its operator-sum representation which is indispensable in the present context. We observe that these channels are Fock-preserving (or coherence non-generating in the Fock basis). Further, noisy Gaussian channels can be expressed as a convex mixture of these non-Gaussian channels. We then report examples of activation of nonclassicality, using this method of photon-addition, at outputs of channels that would otherwise output only classical states. We also derive many structure theorems and information theoretic properties of these channels.
There is a received wisdom about where to draw the boundary between classical and nonclassical for various types of quantum processes. For multipartite states, it is the divide between separable and entangled; for channels, the divide between entanglement breaking and not; for sets of measurements, the divide between compatible and incompatible; for assemblages, the divide between unsteerable and steerable. However, these choices have not been motivated by any unified notion of what it means to be classically explainable. One well-motivated notion of classical explainability is the one based on generalized noncontextuality: A set of circuits is classically explainable if a generalized-noncontextual ontological model can realize the statistics they generate. In this work, we show that this notion can be leveraged to define a classical-nonclassical divide for individual quantum processes of arbitrary type. A set of measurements, for example, is judged to be classical if and only if a particular set of circuits—the one obtained by contracting these measurements with every possible quantum state—is classically explainable in the sense just articulated. We begin the task of characterizing where the classical-nonclassical divide lies according to this proposal for a variety of different types of processes. In particular, we show that all of the following are judged to be nonclassical: every entangled state, every set of incompatible measurements, every non-entanglement-breaking channel, and every steerable assemblage. Our proposal differs from the received wisdom, however, insofar as it also judges certain subsets of the complementary classes to be nonclassical, including certain separable states, compatible sets of measurements, entanglement-breaking channels, and unsteerable assemblages. Finally, we prove structure theorems characterizing the classical-nonclassical divide based on whether a process admits of a specific type of frame representation.
Quantification of nonclassicality and entanglement in a quantum state is crucial for quantum advantage in information processing and computation. Robustness is one of the tractable measures for quantifying quantum resources. Gaussian states are important in continuous variable quantum information for their theoretically simple and experimentally easily accessible. We provide the method of how to calculate the robustness of nonclassicality and enatnglement for Gaussian states. The robustness of nonclassicality or entanglement is demonstrated analytically for one-mode, two-mode Gaussain states and multimode symmetric Gaussian states, the result shows a clear physical meaning for the origin of nonclassicality and entanglement. For squeezed thermal states, the nonclassicality is equal to the entanglement for the two-mode case, while they are far apart for multimode cases.
Nonclassicality and entanglement are notions fundamental to quantum-information processes involving continuous variable systems. That these two notions are intimately related has been intuitively appreciated for quite some time. An aspect of considerable interest is the behavior of these attributes of a state under the action of a noisy channel. Inspired by the notion of entanglement-breaking channels, we define the concept of nonclassicality-breaking channels in a natural manner. We show that the notion of nonclassicality breaking is essentially equivalent---in a clearly defined sense of the term ``essentially''---to the notion of entanglement breaking, as far as bosonic Gaussian channels are concerned. This is notwithstanding the fact that the very notion of entanglement breaking requires reference to a bipartite system, whereas the definition of nonclassicality breaking makes no such reference. Our analysis rests on our classification of channels into nonclassicality-based, as against entanglement-based, types of canonical forms. Our result takes ones intuitive understanding of the close relationship between nonclassicality and entanglement a step closer.
We propose a definition of nonclassicality for a single-mode quantum-optical process based on its action on coherent states. If a quantum process transforms a coherent state to a nonclassical state, it is verified to be nonclassical. To identify nonclassical processes, we introduce a representation for quantum processes, called the process-nonclassicality quasiprobability distribution, whose negativities indicate nonclassicality of the process. Using this distribution, we derive a relation for predicting nonclassicality of the output states for a given input state. We experimentally demonstrate our method by considering the single-photon addition as a nonclassical process and predicting nonclassicality of the output state for an input thermal state.