We examine the internal structure of two-mode entanglement criteria for quadrature- and number-phase-squeezed states. For criteria obtained from the partial transpose of the Schrödinger--Robertson inequality, we show that the additional covariance term effectively performs an optimization over the intra-mode rotations entering the criterion. We demonstrate this both for quadrature variables and for number-phase-squeezed states. We further show that Simon's criterion carries out this optimization automatically, which motivates a Simon-like criterion for number-phase-squeezed states that performs the optimization directly in the number-phase plane. We also analyze entanglement in terms of the product of the noises of the two modes, which we call the noise area. Analytically and numerically, we explore whether widely used entanglement criteria can be interpreted as searches for a noise area below unity. In particular, for the product form of the Duan--Giedke--Cirac--Zoller criterion, we show numerically that the minimum noise area obtained after optimization over intra-mode rotations equals the input nonclassicality that a beam splitter needs to generate the same amount of entanglement as the state under consideration. Finally, for Gaussian states we introduce an alternative entanglement measure that can also be extended to multimode settings, and we outline several open questions, including a simpler definition of entanglement depth for number-phase-squeezed states.
We examine the internal structure of two-mode entanglement criteria for quadrature- and number-phase-squeezed states. For criteria obtained from the partial transpose of the Schrödinger--Robertson inequality, we show that the additional covariance term effectively performs an optimization over the intra-mode rotations entering the criterion. We demonstrate this both for quadrature variables and for number-phase-squeezed states. We further show that Simon's criterion carries out this optimization automatically, which motivates a Simon-like criterion for number-phase-squeezed states that performs the optimization directly in the number-phase plane. We also analyze entanglement in terms of the product of the noises of the two modes, which we call the noise area. Analytically and numerically, we explore whether widely used entanglement criteria can be interpreted as searches for a noise area below unity. In particular, for the product form of the Duan--Giedke--Cirac--Zoller criterion, we show numerically that the minimum noise area obtained after optimization over intra-mode rotations equals the input nonclassicality that a beam splitter needs to generate the same amount of entanglement as the state under consideration. Finally, for Gaussian states we introduce an alternative entanglement measure that can also be extended to multimode settings, and we outline several open questions, including a simpler definition of entanglement depth for number-phase-squeezed states.
Nonclassicality of a single-mode field is equivalent to the rank of two-mode entanglement this field generates at the output of a beam-splitter [Phys. Rev. A 89, 052302 (2014)]. We derive a measure for the nonclassicality of a single-mode field using the two-mode inseparability measure of Simon-Peres-Horodecki. Degree of the single-mode nonclassicality requires the knowledge of only ⟨a^2⟩ and ⟨a^†a^⟩. This condition/measure is both a necessary and sufficient condition for Gaussian single-mode states. We show that this measure increases with squeezing strength and display a jump at the critical coupling for a superradiant phase transition. Additionally, we derive a simple analytical condition, ∣⟨a^2⟩∣>⟨a^†a^⟩, for nonclassicality from Duan-Giedke-Cirac-Zoller criterion. In a forthcoming study, we use the derived measure to show the following. Non-causal linear optical response of an optomechanical cavity emerges at the same critical cavity-mechanical coupling where output field becomes nonclassical.
We consider a way to generate operational inequalities to test nonclassicality (or quantumness) of multimode bosonic fields (or multiparty bosonic systems) that unifies the derivation of many known inequalities and allows to propose new ones. The nonclassicality criteria are based on Vogel's criterion corresponding to analyzing the positivity of multimode P functions or, equivalently, the positivity of matrices of expectation values of, e.g., creation and annihilation operators. We analyze not only monomials but also polynomial functions of such moments, which can sometimes enable simpler derivations of physically relevant inequalities. As an example, we derive various classical inequalities which can be violated only by nonclassical fields. In particular, we show how the criteria introduced here easily reduce to the well-known inequalities describing (a) multimode quadrature squeezing and its generalizations, including sum, difference, and principal squeezing; (b) two-mode one-time photon-number correlations, including sub-Poisson photon-number correlations and effects corresponding to violations of the Cauchy-Schwarz and Muirhead inequalities; (c) two-time single-mode photon-number correlations, including photon antibunching and hyperbunching; and (d) two- and three-mode quantum entanglement. Other simple inequalities for testing nonclassicality are also proposed. We have found some general relations between the nonclassicality and entanglement criteria, in particular those resulting from the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality. It is shown that some known entanglement inequalities can be derived as nonclassicality inequalities within our formalism, while some other known entanglement inequalities can be seen as sums of more than one inequality derived from the nonclassicality criterion. This approach enables a deeper analysis of the entanglement for a given nonclassicality.
In the first part of this dissertation a framework for categorizing entropic measures of nonclassical correlations in bipartite quantum states is presented. The measures are based on the difference between a quantum entropic quantity and the corresponding classical quantity obtained from measurements on the two systems. Three types of entropic quantities are used, and three different measurement strategies are applied to these quantities. Many of the resulting measures of nonclassical correlations have been proposed previously. Properties of the various measures are explored, and results of evaluating the measures for two-qubit quantum states are presented. To demonstrate how these measures differ from entanglement we move to the set of Bell-diagonal states for two qubits, which can be depicted as a tetrahedron in three dimensions. We consider the level surfaces of entanglement and of the correlation measures from our framework for Bell-diagonal states. This provides a complete picture of the structure of entanglement and discord for this simple case and, in particular, of their nonanalytic behavior under decoherence. The pictorial approach also indicates how to show that all of the proposed correlation measures are neither convex nor concave. In the second part we look at two practical interferometric setups that use nonclassical states of light to enhance their performance. First we consider an interferometer powered by laser light (a coherent state) into one input port and ask the following question: what is the best state to inject into the second input port, given a constraint on the mean number of photons this state can carry, in order to optimize the interferometer's phase sensitivity? This question is the practical question for high-sensitivity interferometry. We answer the question by considering the quantum Cram\'er-Rao bound for such a setup. The answer is squeezed vacuum. Then we analyze the ultimate bounds on the phase sensitivity of an interferometer, given the constraint that the state input to the interferometer's initial 50:50 beam splitter B is a product state of the two input modes. Requiring a product state is a natural restriction: if one were allowed to input an arbitrary, entangled two-mode state ∣Ξ⟩ to the beam splitter, one could generally just as easily input the state B∣Ξ⟩ directly into the two modes after the beam splitter, thus rendering the beam splitter unnecessary. We find optimal states for a fixed photon number and for a fixed mean photon number. Our results indicate that entanglement is not a crucial resource for quantum-enhanced interferometry. Initially the analysis for both of these setups is performed for the idealized case of a lossless interferometer. Then the analysis is extended to the more realistic scenario where the interferometer suffers from photon losses.
A key requirement of any separable quantum state is that its density matrix has a positive partial transpose. For continuous bipartite quantum states, violation of this condition may be tested via the hierarchy of negative-partial-transpose (NPT) based entanglement criteria introduced by Shchukin and Vogel [Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 230502 (2005)]. However, a procedure for selecting the optimal NPT-based criterion is currently lacking. Here, we develop a framework to select the optimal criterion by determining the level of confidence of criteria within the Shchukin and Vogel hierarchy for finite measurement number, environmental noise, and the optimal allocation of measurement resources. To demonstrate the utility of our approach, we apply our statistical framework to prominent example Gaussian and non-Gaussian states, including the two-mode squeezed vacuum state, the quanta-subtracted two-mode squeezed vacuum state, and the two-mode Schrödinger-cat state. Beyond bipartite inseparability tests, our framework can be applied to any Hermitian matrix constructed of observable moments and thus can be utilized for a wide variety of other nonclassicality criteria and multi-mode entanglement tests.
Abstract Nonclassicality of a single-mode state can be quantified by the entanglement (potential) the state creates at the output of a beam splitter. Thus, beam splitter transformation can be utilized for obtaining single-mode nonclassicality conditions (quantifications) from two-mode entanglement criteria (measures). Here, (i) we employ this relation to quantify the single-mode nonclassicality (SMNc) of a nonlinear crystal field generating second harmonic signals. (ii) We also manage to witness the SMNc of superradiant emission, a non-Gaussian state, in a Dicke phase transition. Entanglement potential, at the beam splitter output, is obtained in terms of measurable single-mode quantities. Thus, presence of a beam splitter in an experiment is not necessary. Employing the beam splitter method, one can also utilize hybrid entanglement criteria as SMNc conditions working well in different classes of single-mode states. (iii) We also work on essentials of the entanglement-SMNc relation: one obtains the generalized squeezing condition ⟨ â † â ⟩ < |⟨ â 2 ⟩| as the SMNc condition when an optimized form of Duan–Giedke–Cirac–Zoller criterion [PRL 84, 2722] is used at the output of the beam splitter.
Nonclassicality is an interesting property of light having applications in many different contexts of quantum optics, quantum information and computation. Nonclassical states produce substantial amount of reduced noise in optical communications. Furthermore, they often behave as sources of entangled quantum states, which are the most elementary requirement for quantum teleportation. We study various nonclassical properties of coherent states and Schrödinger cat states in a setting of noncommutative space resulting from the generalized uncertainty relation, first, in a complete analytical fashion and, later, by computing their entanglement entropies, which in turn provide supporting arguments behind our analytical results. By using standard theoretical frameworks, they are shown to produce considerably improved squeezing and nonclassicality and, hence, significantly higher amount of entanglement in comparison to the usual quantum mechanical models. Both the nonclassicality and the entanglement can be enhanced further by increasing the noncommutativity of the underlying space. In addition, we find as a by-product some rare explicit minimum uncertainty quadrature and number squeezed states, i.e., ideal squeezed states.