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arXiv:1702.01387 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Revealing nonclassicality beyond Gaussian states via a single marginal distribution

Jiyong Park, Yao Lu, Jaehak Lee, Yangchao Shen, Kuan Zhang, Shuaining Zhang, Muhammad Suhail Zubairy, Kihwan Kim, Hyunchul Nha

Published Jan 11, 2017• 43 citations
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Abstract

A standard method to obtain information on a quantum state is to measure marginal distributions along many different axes in phase space, which forms a basis of quantum-state tomography. We theoretically propose and experimentally demonstrate a general framework to manifest nonclassicality by observing a single marginal distribution only, which provides a unique insight into nonclassicality and a practical applicability to various quantum systems. Our approach maps the 1D marginal distribution into a factorized 2D distribution by multiplying the measured distribution or the vacuum-state distribution along an orthogonal axis. The resulting fictitious Wigner function becomes unphysical only for a nonclassical state; thus the negativity of the corresponding density operator provides evidence of nonclassicality. Furthermore, the negativity measured this way yields a lower bound for entanglement potential-a measure of entanglement generated using a nonclassical state with a beam-splitter setting that is a prototypical model to produce continuous-variable (CV) entangled states. Our approach detects both Gaussian and non-Gaussian nonclassical states in a reliable and efficient manner. Remarkably, it works regardless of measurement axis for all non-Gaussian states in finite-dimensional Fock space of any size, also extending to infinite-dimensional states of experimental relevance for CV quantum informatics. We experimentally illustrate the power of our criterion for motional states of a trapped ion, confirming their nonclassicality in a measurement-axis-independent manner. We also address an extension of our approach combined with phase-shift operations, which leads to a stronger test of nonclassicality, that is, detection of genuine non-Gaussianity under a CV measurement.

DOI
10.1073/pnas.1617621114

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While negativity in phase space is a well-known signature of nonclassicality, a wide variety of nonclassical states require their characterization beyond negativity. We establish a framework of nonclassicality in phase space that addresses nonclassical states comprehensively with a direct experimental evidence. This includes the negativity of phase-space distribution as a special case and further analyzes quantum states with positive distributions effectively. We prove that it detects all nonclassical Gaussian states and all non-Gaussian states of arbitrary dimension remarkably by examining three phase-space points only. Our formalism also provides an experimentally accessible lower bound for a nonclassicality measure based on trace distance. Importantly, this foundational approach can be further adapted to constitute practical tests in two directions looking into particle and wave nature of bosonic systems, via an array of nonideal on-off detectors and coarse-grained homodyne measurement, respectively. All these tests are practically powerful in characterizing nonclasssical states reliably against noise, making a versatile tool for a broad range of quantum systems in quantum technologies.
We propose a hierachy of nonclassicality criteria in phase space. Our formalism covers the negativity in phase space as a special case and further adresses nonclassicality for quantum states with positive phase-space distributions. Remarkably, it enables us to detect every nonclassical Gaussian state and every finite dimensional state in Fock basis by looking into only three phase-space points. Furthermore, our approach provides an experimentally accessible lower bound for the nonclassicality measure based on trace distance. We also extend our method to detecting genuine quantum non-Gaussianity of a state with a non-negative Wigner function. We finally establish our formalism by employing generalized quasiprobability distributions to demonstrate its power for a practical test using an on-off detector array.
We theoretically propose and experimentally demonstrate a nonclassicality test of a single-mode field in phase space, which has an analogy with the nonlocality test proposed by Banaszek and Wódkiewicz [Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 2009 (1999)]. Our approach to deriving the classical bound draws on the fact that the Wigner function of a coherent state is a product of two independent distributions as if the orthogonal quadratures (position and momentum) in phase space behave as local realistic variables. Our method detects every pure nonclassical Gaussian state, which can also be extended to mixed states. Furthermore, it sets a bound for all Gaussian states and their mixtures, thereby providing a criterion to detect a genuine quantum non-Gaussian state. Remarkably, our phase-space approach with invariance under Gaussian unitary operations leads to an optimized test for a given non-Gaussian state. We experimentally show how this enhanced method can manifest quantum non-Gaussianity of a state by simply choosing phase-space points appropriately, which is essentially equivalent to implementing a squeezing operation on a given state.
We present how nonclassicality and entanglement can be characterized and detected efficiently for continuous variable systems. Of particular interest is the use of homodyne detections to measure quadrature amplitudes at minimum level to confirm nonclassicality and entanglement beyond Gaussian states. We introduce a systematic method for a functional form of uncertainty relations, which can be efficiently employed to experimentally detect non-Gaussian states comprehensively. Our approach for quantum correlations unifies a framework for quantum entanglement and quantum steering, which include the known results for Gaussian states and provides a better tool for non-Gaussian states than existing methods, e.g. entropic uncertainty relations.
We present Bell-type tests of nonclassicality and non-Gaussianity for single-mode fields employing a generalized quasiprobability function. Our nonclassicality tests are based on the observation that two orthogonal quadratures in phase space (position and momentum) behave as independent realistic variables for a coherent state. Taking four (three) points at the vertices of a rectangle (right triangle) in phase space, our tests detect every pure nonclassical Gaussian state and a range of mixed Gaussian states. These tests also set an upper bound for all Gaussian states and their mixtures, which thereby provide criteria for genuine quantum non-Gaussianity. We optimize the non-Gaussianity tests by employing a squeezing transformation in phase space that converts a rectangle (right triangle) to a parallelogram (triangle), which enlarges the set of non-Gaussian states detectable in our formulation. We address fundamental and practical limits of our generalized phase-space tests by looking into their relation with decoherence under a lossy Gaussian channel and their robustness against finite data and nonoptimal choice of phase-space points. Furthermore, we demonstrate that our parallelogram test can identify useful resources for nonlocality testing in phase space.
Non-Gaussian bosonic states are ubiquitous in interacting light--matter systems, many-body platforms, and relativistic quantum field settings, but their quantitative characterization is hindered by the infinite-dimensional Hilbert space and by the poor scalability of Fock-space truncation methods. We introduce an exact finite-manifold encoding for states supported on a finite span of Gaussian branches, enabling the use of standard finite-dimensional quantum-information tools directly on an effective density matrix whose entries are determined by Gaussian overlaps. As demonstrations, we obtain closed-form and numerically stable evaluations of entropies and relative-entropy non-Gaussianity, and derive an analytic expression for the bipartite entanglement negativity of arbitrary multimode two-branch Gaussian superpositions, including a minimal which-branch dephasing model. Our framework provides a practical bridge between experimentally accessible continuous-variable resources (e.g., cat-like and measurement-conditioned states) and discrete-variable information measures, with immediate applications to benchmarking non-Gaussian resources in several quantum technology platforms.