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arXiv:1609.06126 · Physical Review Letters

Device-Independent Bounds on Detection Efficiency

Jochen Szangolies, Hermann Kampermann, Dagmar Bruß

Published Jun 27, 2017• 11 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

In many quantum information applications, a minimum detection efficiency must be exceeded to ensure success. Protocols depending on the violation of a Bell inequality, for instance, may be subject to the so-called detection loophole: Imperfect detectors may yield spurious violations, which consequently cannot be used to ensure, say, quantum cryptographic security. Hence, we investigate the possibility of giving lower bounds on detector efficiency even if an adversary has full control over both the source and the detectors. To this end, we present a technique to systematically derive Bell inequalities free from the detection loophole using only the observed measurements statistics. The violation of these inequalities certifies that the detectors used exceed a certain minimal efficiency.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.118.260401

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In many quantum information applications, a minimum detection efficiency must be exceeded to ensure success. Protocols depending on the violation of a Bell inequality, for instance, may be subject to the so-called detection loophole: Imperfect detectors may yield spurious violations, which consequently cannot be used to ensure, say, quantum cryptographic security. Hence, we investigate the possibility of giving lower bounds on detector efficiency even if an adversary has full control over both the source and the detectors. To this end, we present a technique to systematically derive Bell inequalities free from the detection loophole using only the observed measurements statistics. The violation of these inequalities certifies that the detectors used exceed a certain minimal efficiency.
This article provides a comprehensive review of the critical role of detection efficiency in demonstrating non-classicality across various device-independent and semi-device-independent scenarios. The central focus is the detection loophole, a challenge in which imperfect detectors can allow classical hidden variable models to mimic quantum correlations, thus masking genuine non-classicality. As a review, the article revisits the paradigmatic Bell scenario, detailing the efficiency requirements for the CHSH inequality, such as the 2/3 threshold for symmetric efficiencies, and traces the historical trajectory toward the first loophole-free tests. The analysis extends to other causal structures to explore how efficiency requirements are affected in different contexts. These include the instrumental scenario, which for binary variables has recently been shown to follow the same inefficiency bounds as the bipartite dichotomic Bell scenario; the prepare-and-measure scenario, where inefficiencies impact the certification of a quantum system's dimension and create security breaches in protocols such as Quantum Key Distribution (QKD); and the bilocality scenario, which exemplifies how employing multiple independent sources can significantly relax the required efficiencies to certify non-classical correlations.
The demonstration and use of nonlocality, as defined by Bell's theorem, rely strongly on dealing with nondetection events due to losses and detectors'inefficiencies. Otherwise, the so-called detection loophole could be exploited. The only way to avoid this is to have detection efficiencies that are above a certain threshold. We introduce the intermediate assumption of limited detection efficiency, that is, in each run of the experiment, the overall detection efficiency is lower bounded by η(min)>0. Hence, in an adversarial scenario, the adversaries have arbitrary large but not full control over the inefficiencies. We analyze the set of possible correlations that satisfy limited detection locality and show that they necessarily satisfy some linear Bell-like inequalities. We prove that quantum theory predicts the violation of one of these inequalities for all η(min)>0. Hence, nonlocality can be demonstrated with arbitrarily small limited detection efficiencies. We validate this assumption experimentally via a twin-photon implementation in which two users are provided with one photon each out of a partially entangled pair. We exploit on each side a passive switch followed by two measurement devices with fixed settings. Assuming the switches are not fully controlled by an adversary, nor by hypothetical local variables, we reveal the nonlocality of the established correlations despite a low overall detection efficiency.
Loophole-free violations of Bell inequalities are crucial for fundamental tests of quantum nonlocality. They are also important for future applications in quantum information processing, such as device-independent quantum key distribution. Based on a detector model which includes detector inefficiencies and dark counts, we estimate the minimal requirements on detectors needed for performing loophole-free bipartite and tripartite Bell tests. Our numerical investigation is based on a hierarchy of semidefinite programs for characterizing possible quantum correlations. We find that for bipartite setups with two measurement choices and our detector model, the optimal inequality for a Bell test is equivalent to the Clauser–Horne inequality.
The detection loophole is a well-known loophole in Bell nonlocality motivated by the inefficiency of detectors used in Bell experiments. However, this inefficiency is actually a ubiquitous feature of any photonic platform for quantum networks since photons are readily absorbed by the surrounding environment. When the quantum system, usually a photon, is lost, what should the parties output? The most natural choice is to fall back to a deterministic strategy where each party produces an output via a function of her local input. In this paper, we study how to choose such a fallback strategy for general Bell inequalities with respect to different efficiencies ηηη to maximize the possible violation. We mathematically prove that for the CHSH inequality, there exists a fallback strategy that is optimal for all ηηη. However, in general, we find that the optimal fallback strategy can vary with ηηη, sometimes in surprising ways. For example, we find an example of a Bell inequality where the optimal fallback strategy near the threshold efficiency is not an optimal deterministic strategy in the lossless setting. Our results can reduce the efficiency requirements for closing the detection loophole and thus are useful for applications of Bell inequality violation, such as quantum telepathy or device-independent quantum key distribution.
Abstract The detection loophole problem arises when quantum devices fail to provide an output for some runs. If treating these devices in a device-independent manner, failure to include the unsuccessful runs in the output statistics can lead to an adversary falsifying security i.e. Bell inequality violation. If the devices fail with too high frequency, known as the detection threshold, then no security is possible, as the full statistics cannot violate a Bell inequality. In this work we provide an intuitive local hidden-variable strategy that the devices may use to falsify any two-party, binary-outcome no-signalling distribution up to a threshold of 2(m A + m B − 8)/(m A m B − 16), where m A, m B refer to the number of available inputs choices to the two parties. This value is the largest analytically predicted lower bound for no-signalling distributions. We strongly conjecture it gives the true detection threshold for m A = m B, and for computationally tractable scenarios we provide the Bell inequality which verifies this. We also prove that a non-trivial detection threshold remains, even when allowing one party an arbitrary number of input choices.
Quantum causality violates classical intuitions of cause and effect and is a unique quantum feature different from other quantum phenomena such as entanglement and quantum nonlocality. In order to avoid the detection loophole in quantum causality, we initiate the study of the detection efficiency requirement for observing quantum causality. We first show that previous classical causal inequalities require detection efficiency at least 95.9795.97%95.97 (89.4489.44%89.44) to show violation with quantum (nonsignaling) correlations. Next we derive a classical causal inequality I222{I}_{222}I222​ and show that it requires lower detection efficiency to be violated, 92.3992.39%92.39 for quantum correlations and 81.6581.65%81.65 for nonsignaling correlations, hence substantially reducing the requirement on detection. Then we extend this causal inequality to the case of multiple measurement settings and analyze the corresponding detection efficiency. After that, we show that previous quantum causal inequalities require detection efficiency at least 94.2994.29%94.29 to violate with nonsignaling correlations. We subsequently derive a quantum causal bound J222{J}_{222}J222​ that has a lower detection efficiency requirement of 91.0291.02%91.02 for violation with nonsignaling correlations. Our work paves the way towards an experimental demonstration of quantum causality and shows that causal inequalities significantly differ from Bell inequalities in terms of the detection efficiency requirement.