We find a sufficient condition to imprint the single-mode bosonic phase-space nonclassicality onto a bipartite state as modal entanglement and vice versa using an arbitrary beam splitter. Surprisingly, the entanglement produced or detected in this way depends only on the nonclassicality of the marginal input or output states, regardless of their purity and separability. In this way, our result provides a sufficient condition for generating entangled states of arbitrary high temperature and arbitrary large number of particles. We also study the evolution of the entanglement within a lossy Mach-Zehnder interferometer and show that unless both modes are totally lost, the entanglement does not diminish.
We find a sufficient condition to imprint the single-mode bosonic phase-space nonclassicality onto a bipartite state as modal entanglement and vice versa using an arbitrary beam splitter. Surprisingly, the entanglement produced or detected in this way depends only on the nonclassicality of the marginal input or output states, regardless of their purity and separability. In this way, our result provides a sufficient condition for generating entangled states of arbitrary high temperature and arbitrary large number of particles. We also study the evolution of the entanglement within a lossy Mach-Zehnder interferometer and show that unless both modes are totally lost, the entanglement does not diminish.
Abstract Beam splitters are routinely used for generating entanglement. Their entangling properties have been studied extensively, with nonclassicality of the input states a prerequisite for entanglement at the output. Here we quantify the amount of entanglement generated by weakly-reflecting beam splitters, and look for nonclassical states that are not entangled by general beam splitters. We extend the known class of results to mixed and non-Gaussian states, finding that inputting highly nonclassical combinations of unpolarized states that are squeezed and displaced onto a beam splitter can still yield separable output states. This is important in light of the challenge of characterizing mixed state entanglement. We further identify a parallel between SU(2) unpolarized states and the two-mode vacuum. Our result is crucial for understanding the generation of modal entanglement by beam splitters.
If a single-mode nonclassical light is combined with the vacuum on a beam splitter, then the output state is entangled. As proposed in [Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 173602 (2005)], by measuring the output-state entanglement for a balanced lossless beam splitter, one can quantify the input-state nonclassicality. These measures of nonclassicality (referred to as entanglement potentials) can be based, in principle, on various entanglement measures, leading to the negativity (NP) and concurrence (CP) potentials, and the potential for the relative entropy of entanglement (REEP). We search for the maximal nonclassicality, which can be achieved by comparing two entanglement measures for arbitrary two-qubit states and those which can be generated from a photon-number qubit via a balanced lossless beam-splitter, where the qubit basis states are the vacuum and single-photon states. Surprisingly, we find that the maximal nonclassicality, measured by the REEP for a given value of the NP, can be increased (if NP<0.527) by using either a tunable beam splitter or by amplitude damping of the output state of the balanced beam splitter. We also show that the maximal nonclassicality, measured by the NP for a given value of the REEP, can be increased by dephasing. The entanglement itself is not increased by these local losses, but the possible ratios of different measures are affected. Moreover, we show that partially-mixed states can be more nonclassical than both pure states and completely-mixed states, by comparing the NP for a given value of the REEP. This implies that not all entanglement measures can be used as entanglement potentials. Alternatively, a single balanced lossless beam splitter is not always transferring the whole nonclassicality of its input state into the entanglement of its output modes. Applying a lossy beam splitter can solve this problem at least for the cases analyzed in this paper.
In quantum optics a pure state is considered classical, relative to the statistics of photodetection, if and only if it is a coherent state. A different and newer notion of nonclassicality is based on modal entanglement. One example that relates these two notions is the Hong-Ou-Mandel effect, where modal entanglement is generated by a beamsplitter from the nonclassical photon-number state $|1\ensuremath{\rangle}\ensuremath{\bigotimes}|1\ensuremath{\rangle}$. This suggests that beamsplitters or, more generally, linear-optical networks are mediators of the two notions of nonclassicality. In this Brief Report, we show the following: Given a nonclassical pure-product-state input to an N-port linear-optical network, the output is almost always mode entangled; the only exception is a product of squeezed states, all with the same squeezing strength, input to a network that does not mix the squeezed and antisqueezed quadratures. Our work thus gives a necessary and sufficient condition for a linear network to generate modal entanglement from pure-product inputs, a result that is of immediate relevance to the boson-sampling problem.
If a single-mode nonclassical light is combined with the vacuum on a beam splitter, then the output state is entangled. As proposed in [Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 173602 (2005)], by measuring this output-state entanglement for a balanced lossless beam splitter, one can quantify the input-state nonclassicality. These measures of nonclassicality (referred to as entanglement potentials) can be based, in principle, on various entanglement measures, leading to the negativity (NP) and concurrence (CP) potentials, and the potential for the relative entropy of entanglement (REEP). We search for the maximal relative nonclassicality, which can be achieved by comparing two entanglement measures for (i) arbitrary two-qubit states and (ii) those which can be generated from a photon-number qubit via a balanced lossless beam splitter, where the qubit basis states are the vacuum and single-photon states. Surprisingly, we find that the maximal relative nonclassicality, measured by the REEP for a given value of the NP, can be increased (if NP<0.527) by using either a tunable beam splitter or by amplitude damping of the output state of the balanced beam splitter. We also show that the maximal relative nonclassicality, measured by the NP for a given value of the REEP, can be increased by phase damping (dephasing). Note that the entanglement itself is not increased by these losses (since they act locally), but the possible ratios of different measures are affected. Moreover, we show that partially dephased states can be more nonclassical than both pure states and completely dephased states, by comparing the NP for a given value of the REEP. Thus, one can conclude that not all standard entanglement measures can be used as entanglement potentials. Alternatively, one can infer that a single balanced lossless beam splitter is not always transferring the whole nonclassicality of its input state into the entanglement of its output modes. The application of a lossy beam splitter can solve this problem, at least for the cases analyzed in this paper.
The behavior of general nonclassical two-mode Gaussian states at a beam splitter is investigated. Single-mode nonclassicality as well as two-mode entanglement of both input and output states are analyzed suggesting their suitable quantifiers. These quantifiers are derived from local and global invariants of linear unitary two-mode transformations such that the sum of input (or output) local nonclassicality measures and entanglement measure gives a global invariant. This invariant quantifies the global nonclassicality resource. Mutual transformations of local nonclassicalities and entanglement induced by the beam splitter are analyzed considering incident noisy twin beams, single-mode noisy squeezed vacuum states, and states encompassing both squeezed states and twin beams. A rich tapestry of interesting nonclassical output states is predicted.
In the context of bipartite bosonic systems, two notions of classicality of correlations can be defined: P classicality, based on the properties of the Glauber-Sudarshan P function; and C classicality, based on the entropic quantum discord. It has been shown that these two notions are maximally inequivalent in a static (metric) sense, as they coincide only on a set of states of zero measure. We extend and reinforce quantitatively this inequivalence by addressing the dynamical relation between these types of nonclassicality in a paradigmatic quantum-optical setting: the linear mixing at a beam splitter of a single-mode Gaussian state with a thermal reference state. Specifically, we show that almost all P-classical input states generate outputs that are not C classical. Indeed, for the case of zero thermal reference photons, the more P-classical resources at the input the less C classicality at the output. In addition, we show that the P classicality at the input---as quantified by the nonclassical depth---does instead determine quantitatively the potential of generating output entanglement. This endows the nonclassical depth with a new operational interpretation: it gives the maximum number of thermal reference photons that can be mixed at a beam splitter without destroying the output entanglement.