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arXiv:1804.10150 · Physical Review Letters

Postselection-Loophole-Free Bell Violation with Genuine Time-Bin Entanglement

Francesco Vedovato, Costantino Agnesi, Marco Tomasin, Marco Avesani, Jan-Åke Larsson, Giuseppe Vallone, Paolo Villoresi

Published Nov 9, 2018• 67 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Entanglement is an invaluable resource for fundamental tests of physics and the implementation of quantum information protocols such as device-independent secure communications. In particular, time-bin entanglement is widely exploited to reach these purposes both in free space and optical fiber propagation, due to the robustness and simplicity of its implementation. However, all existing realizations of time-bin entanglement suffer from an intrinsic postselection loophole, which undermines their usefulness. Here, we report the first experimental violation of Bell's inequality with "genuine" time-bin entanglement, free of the postselection loophole. We introduced a novel function of the interferometers at the two measurement stations, that operate as fast synchronized optical switches. This scheme allowed us to obtain a postselection-loophole-free Bell violation of more than 9 standard deviations. Since our scheme is fully implementable using standard fiber-based components and is compatible with modern integrated photonics, our results pave the way for the distribution of genuine time-bin entanglement over long distances.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.121.190401

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Entanglement is an invaluable resource for fundamental tests of physics and the implementation of quantum information protocols such as device-independent secure communications. In particular, time-bin entanglement is widely exploited to reach these purposes both in free space and optical fiber propagation, due to the robustness and simplicity of its implementation. However, all existing realizations of time-bin entanglement suffer from an intrinsic postselection loophole, which undermines their usefulness. Here, we report the first experimental violation of Bell's inequality with "genuine" time-bin entanglement, free of the postselection loophole. We introduced a novel function of the interferometers at the two measurement stations, that operate as fast synchronized optical switches. This scheme allowed us to obtain a postselection-loophole-free Bell violation of more than 9 standard deviations. Since our scheme is fully implementable using standard fiber-based components and is compatible with modern integrated photonics, our results pave the way for the distribution of genuine time-bin entanglement over long distances.
Entanglement gives rise to correlations between distant quantum systems that cannot be explained by local realistic theories. Bell inequality violations provide a direct way to reveal these correlations and certify nonlocality, especially when the relevant experimental loopholes are closed. Time-bin encoding, in which quantum information is encoded into well-defined temporal modes, is a commonly used platform for distributing photonic entanglement in optical fibers. Yet loophole-free Bell tests with time-bin entanglement have received comparatively little attention, owing in part to the postselection loophole introduced by conventional interferometric measurements. Here, we demonstrate a fiber-based platform for Bell tests with time-bin entanglement that simultaneously closes the locality, freedom-of-choice, and postselection loopholes. We observe a CHSH violation of S=2.583±0.002S=2.583 \pm 0.002S=2.583±0.002, exceeding the local-realistic bound by over 265 standard deviations. Notably, this rigorous certification of nonlocality is achieved at a separation distance of 49.0±0.749.0 \pm 0.749.0±0.7 m, substantially shorter than previous photonic Bell tests addressing comparable space-time constraints. Beyond its foundational significance, our results demonstrate time-bin entanglement as a viable route towards practical device-independent quantum communication and a future quantum internet.
Entanglement is a unique resource for quantum information processing, which allows for device-independent (DI) quantum communication protocols, such as Quantum Key Distribution and Quantum Random Number Generation. Loophole-free violation of Bell inequalities is a necessary condition for DI protocols. While timebin entanglement is promising for long-distance distribution over fiber optics, its most common implementation suffers from a post-selection loophole (PSL) which invalidates Bell non-locality tests. We present an implementation of a postselection-free “genuine” time-bin entanglement scheme working with 1550 nm biphotons with an estimated Bell violation of S = 2.56.
Time-bin entanglement is a commonly used form of entanglement for quantum communication protocols over fiber networks, due to the natural resilience of this encoding scheme to thermal phase fluctuations and to birefringence in optical fibers. Projective measurements on some bases in the time-bin encoding need, however, postselection in the time domain of the measured events, introducing a loophole in Bell tests and requiring high temporal resolution. In this work, we demonstrate chip-integrated receivers for time-bin entanglement certification, including a high-speed optical switch to remove the temporal postselection loophole. The receivers are realized using thin-film lithium niobate and operate at a switching frequency of 5 GHz. We demonstrate a Bell inequality violation by more than 24 standard deviations without the need for time resolution at the time-bin separation level.
Device-independent quantum communication will require a loophole-free violation of Bell inequalities. In typical scenarios where line of sight between the communicating parties is not available, it is convenient to use energy-time entangled photons due to intrinsic robustness while propagating over optical fibers. Here we show an energy-time Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt Bell inequality violation with two parties separated by 3.7 km over the deployed optical fiber network belonging to the University of Concepción in Chile. Remarkably, this is the first Bell violation with spatially separated parties that is free of the postselection loophole, which affected all previous in-field long-distance energy-time experiments. Our work takes a further step towards a fiber-based loophole-free Bell test, which is highly desired for secure quantum communication due to the widespread existing telecommunication infrastructure.