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arXiv:2007.03786 · Physical Review A

Quantification and observation of genuine three-party coherence: A solution based on classical optics

Xiao‐Feng Qian, S. A. Wadood, A. Nick Vamivakas, Joseph H. Eberly

Published Dec 24, 2020• 14 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We introduce a quantification of genuine three-party pure-state coherence for wave fields, classical and quantum, by borrowing concepts from classical optics. The tensor structure of a classical paraxial light beam composed of three principle degrees of freedom is shown to be equivalent to that of a three-qubit quantum state. The traditional basis-independent optical coherence quantity called degree of polarization is then determined to be the desired quantitative two-party coherence measure. When appropriately generalized, a set of fundamental constraint relations is derived among three two-party coherences. The constraint relations can be geometrically interpreted and visualized as tetrahedra nested within a coherence cube. A measure of three-party coherence is defined based on the constraints. We are reporting completed experimental tests and confirmations of the constraints as well as measurement of three-party coherence in the optical context. Our approach based on classical optics also opens an alternative way to analyze quantum coherence.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.102.062424

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We introduce a quantification of genuine three-party pure-state coherence for wave fields, classical and quantum, by borrowing concepts from classical optics. The tensor structure of a classical paraxial light beam composed of three principle degrees of freedom is shown to be equivalent to that of a three-qubit quantum state. The traditional basis-independent optical coherence quantity called degree of polarization is then determined to be the desired quantitative two-party coherence measure. When appropriately generalized, a set of fundamental constraint relations is derived among three two-party coherences. The constraint relations can be geometrically interpreted and visualized as tetrahedra nested within a coherence cube. A measure of three-party coherence is defined based on the constraints. We are reporting completed experimental tests and confirmations of the constraints as well as measurement of three-party coherence in the optical context. Our approach based on classical optics also opens an alternative way to analyze quantum coherence.
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Abstract Entanglement and polarization of pure, two-qubit systems are known to be constrained by the relationship C 2 + P 2 = 1 . Here, C stands for concurrence, a standard measure of entanglement, and P refers to the degree of polarization of either of the two, single-qubit subsystems. The above constraint may be understood as reflecting that a system cannot be in a pure state, if it is entangled with another one. In order to explore the connection between entanglement and polarization beyond two-qubit systems, we addressed states in which at least one of the parties has dimensionality greater than two. The case of pure, tripartite states offered itself as a timely candidate. We focussed on three qubits and studied the connection between one qubit’s polarization and its entanglement with the other two taken together. We derived new constraints, akin to the above one, and submitted them to experimental tests using single photons entangled in polarization. The latter provided two qubits, each one attached to one photon. The third qubit was chosen to be the path (momentum) of one of the photons. Our experimental results confirmed the validity of the new constraints. Our theoretical results hold also for classical light. Possible experimental tests could be done with so-called structured light beams.
The coherence of an optical beam having multiple degrees of freedom (DoFs) is described by a coherency matrix G spanning these DoFs. This optical coherency matrix has not been measured in its entirety to date--even in the simplest case of two binary DoFs where G is a 4 × 4 matrix. We establish a methodical yet versatile approach--optical coherency matrix tomography--for reconstructing G that exploits the analogy between this problem in classical optics and that of tomographically reconstructing the density matrix associated with multipartite quantum states in quantum information science. Here G is reconstructed from a minimal set of linearly independent measurements, each a cascade of projective measurements for each DoF. We report the first experimental measurements of the 4 × 4 coherency matrix G associated with an electromagnetic beam in which polarization and a spatial DoF are relevant, ranging from the traditional two-point Young's double slit to spatial parity and orbital angular momentum modes.
Light is neither wave nor particle, but both, according to Bohr’s complementarity principle, which was first devised to qualitatively characterize quantum phenomena. Later, quantification was achieved through inequalities such as V2+D2≤1, which engage visibility V and distinguishability D. Recently, equality V2+D2=P2—the polarization coherence theorem (PCT)—was established, incorporating polarization P and addressing both quantum and classical coherences. This shows that Bohr’s complementarity is not restricted to quantum phenomena. We derive an extension of the PCT that also applies to quantum and classical light fields carrying intertwined, dichotomic observables, such as polarization and two-path alternative. We discuss how constraints critically depend on the chosen measurement strategy. This may prompt various experiments to exhibit complementary features that possibly lurk behind hidden coherences.
Quantum coherence, present whenever a quantum system exists in a superposition of multiple classically distinct states, marks one of the fundamental departures from classical physics. Quantum coherence has recently been investigated rigorously within a resource-theoretic formalism. However, the finer-grained notion of multilevel coherence, which explicitly takes into account the number of superposed classical states, has remained relatively unexplored. A comprehensive analysis of multi-level coherence, which acts as the single-party analogue to multi-partite entanglement, is essential for understanding natural quantum processes as well as for gauging the performance of quantum technologies. Here we develop the theoretical and experimental groundwork for characterizing and quantifying multilevel coherence. We prove that non-trivial levels of purity are required for multilevel coherence, as there is a ball of states around the maximally mixed state that do not exhibit multilevel coherence in any basis. We provide a simple necessary and sufficient analytical criterion to verify multilevel coherence, which leads to a complete classification for three-level systems. We present the robustness of multilevel coherence, a bona fide quantifier which we show to be numerically computable via semidefinite programming and experimentally accessible via multilevel coherence witnesses. We further verify and lower-bound the robustness of multilevel coherence by performing a semi-device-independent phase discrimination task, implemented experimentally with four-level probes in a photonic setup. Our results contribute to understanding the operational relevance of genuine multilevel coherence, also by demonstrating the key role it plays in enhanced phase discrimination---a primitive for quantum communication and metrology---and suggest new ways to reliably test the quantum behaviour of physical systems.