Entanglement witnesses form an effective method to locally detect entanglement in the laboratory without having the prior knowledge of the full density matrix. However, separable states can be erroneously indicated as entangled in such detections in the presence of wrong measurements or loss in detectors. Measurement-device-independent entanglement witnesses (MDI-EWs) never detect fake entanglement even under wrong measurements and for a particular kind of lossy detectors. A crucial assumption in the case of faithful detection of entanglement employing MDI-EWs is that the preparation devices producing ``quantum inputs''---which are inputs additional to the quantum state whose entanglement is to be detected---are perfect and there is no noise during their transmission. Here we relax these assumptions and provide a general framework for studying the effect of noise on the quantum inputs, invoking uniform and nonuniform noise models. We derive sufficient conditions on the uniform noisy map for retaining the characteristic of MDI-EWs. We find that in the context of nonuniform and entangling noise, fake entanglement detection is possible even by MDI-EWs. We also investigate various paradigmatic models of local noise and find conditions of revealing entanglement in the class of Werner states.
Entanglement witnesses form an effective method to locally detect entanglement in the laboratory without having the prior knowledge of the full density matrix. However, separable states can be erroneously indicated as entangled in such detections in the presence of wrong measurements or loss in detectors. Measurement-device-independent entanglement witnesses (MDI-EWs) never detect fake entanglement even under wrong measurements and for a particular kind of lossy detectors. A crucial assumption in the case of faithful detection of entanglement employing MDI-EWs is that the preparation devices producing ``quantum inputs''---which are inputs additional to the quantum state whose entanglement is to be detected---are perfect and there is no noise during their transmission. Here we relax these assumptions and provide a general framework for studying the effect of noise on the quantum inputs, invoking uniform and nonuniform noise models. We derive sufficient conditions on the uniform noisy map for retaining the characteristic of MDI-EWs. We find that in the context of nonuniform and entangling noise, fake entanglement detection is possible even by MDI-EWs. We also investigate various paradigmatic models of local noise and find conditions of revealing entanglement in the class of Werner states.
Measurement-device-independent entanglement witnesses (MDI-EWs) enable the detection of entanglement without relying on characterized measurements. However, entanglement criteria for MDI-EWs typically assume the idealized condition that the laboratory input states are precisely the desired ones. In this work, we remove this idealization by considering the realistic scenario in which laboratory input states may be imprecise. We specify a class of MDI-EWs, termed sensitive MDI-EWs, whose entanglement criteria fail under any nonzero imprecision in the input states. We derive sufficient conditions for an MDI-EW to be classified as sensitive, revealing that a large class of MDI-EWs exhibit this sensitivity, consistent with the intuition that sensitive MDI-EWs are common. Additionally, we demonstrate that two well-known MDI-EWs for Werner states are sensitive according to our criteria, one of which recovers the result from a previous study [Phys. Rev. A 104, 012429 (2021)]. Moreover, we clarify the concept of laboratory input states in a way that makes imprecisions experimentally measurable and propose a systematic approach for modifying the criterion of any MDI-EW to accommodate small imprecisions, thus enhancing experimental relevance. A simple MDI-EW example is provided, where our modified criterion is already optimal. This work bridges the gap between idealized theoretical models and practical experimental conditions, paving the way for more robust and accessible entanglement detection in real-world settings.
Measurement-device-independent entanglement witnesses (MDI-EWs) enable the detection of entanglement without relying on characterized measurements. However, the entanglement criteria for MDI-EWs typically assume the idealized condition that the lab input states are precisely the desired ones. In this work, we remove this idealization by considering the realistic scenario in which lab input states may be imprecise. We introduce a new class of MDI-EWs, termed sensitive MDI-EWs, whose entanglement criteria fail under any non-zero imprecision in the input states. We derive sufficient conditions for an MDI-EW to be classified as sensitive, revealing that a large class of MDI-EWs exhibit this sensitivity. Additionally, we demonstrate that two well-known MDI-EWs for Werner states are sensitive according to our criteria, one of which recovers the result from a previous study [Phys. Rev. A 104, 012429 (2021)]. Moreover, we clarify the concept of lab input states in a way that makes imprecisions experimentally measurable, and propose a systematic approach for modifying the criterion of any MDI-EW to accommodate small imprecisions, thus enhancing experimental relevance. A simple MDI-EW example is provided, where our modified criterion is already optimal. This work bridges the gap between idealized theoretical models and practical experimental conditions, paving the way for more robust and accessible entanglement detection in real-world settings.
Imperfections in experimental measurement schemes can lead to falsely identifying, or over estimating, entanglement in a quantum system. A recent solution to this is to define schemes that are robust to measurement imperfections-measurement-device-independent entanglement witness (MDI-EW). This approach can be adapted to witness all entangled qubit states for a wide range of physical systems and does not depend on detection efficiencies or classical communication between devices. Here we extend the theory to remove the necessity of prior knowledge about the two-qubit states to be witnessed. Moreover, we tested this model via a novel experimental implementation for MDI-EW that significantly reduces the experimental complexity. By applying it to a bipartite Werner state, we demonstrate the robustness of this approach against noise by witnessing entanglement down to an entangled state fraction close to 0.4.
The concept of entanglement witnesses forms a useful technique to detect entanglement in realistic quantum devices. Measurement-device-independent nonlinear entanglement witnesses (MDI-NEWs) are a kind of entanglement witness that eliminates dependence on the correct alignments of measurement devices for guaranteeing the existence of entanglement and also detects more entangled states than its linear counterparts. While this method guarantees entanglement independent of measurement alignments, it is still prone to serving wrong results due to other loopholes. Here, we study the response of MDI-NEWs to two categories of faults occurring in experiments. In the first category, the detection loophole, characterized by lost and additional events of outcomes of measurements, is investigated, and bounds which guarantee entanglement are obtained in terms of the efficiency of measurement being performed. In the second category, we study noise associated with the sets of additional quantum inputs required in MDI-NEW scenarios. In this case, a type of noise is identified which still allows the MDI-NEWs to guarantee entanglement. We also show that MDI-NEWs are less or equally robust in comparison to their linear counterparts under the same noise in additional quantum inputs, although the former group detects a larger volume of entangled states in the noiseless scenario than their linear cousins.
The problem of demonstrating entanglement is central to quantum information processing applications. Resorting to standard entanglement witnesses requires one to perfectly trust the implementation of the measurements to be performed on the entangled state, which may be an unjustified assumption. Inspired by the recent work of F. Buscemi [Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 200401 (2012)], we introduce the concept of measurement-device-independent entanglement witnesses (MDI-EWs), which allow one to demonstrate entanglement of all entangled quantum states with untrusted measurement apparatuses. We show how to systematically obtain such MDI-EWs from standard entanglement witnesses. Our construction leads to MDI-EWs that are loss tolerant and can be implemented with current technology.
There always exists an entanglement witness for every entangled quantum state. Negativity of the expectation value of an entanglement witness operator guarantees entanglement of the corresponding state, given that the measurement devices involved are perfect, i.e., the performed measurements actually constitute the witness operator for the state under consideration. In a realistic situation, there are two possible ways of measurements to drive the process away from the ideal one. First, wrong measurements may be performed, and, second, while the measurement operators are implemented correctly, the detection process may be noisy. Entanglement witnesses are prone to both of these imperfections. The concept of measurement-device-independent entanglement witnesses was introduced to remove the first problem. We analyze the ``detection loophole'' in the context of measurement-device-independent entanglement witnesses, which deal with the second problem of imprecise measurements. We obtain an upper bound, a threshold value, on the entanglement witness function in the measurement-device-independent entanglement witness scenario, below which entanglement is guaranteed for given nonideal detector efficiencies, that can involve both lost events and dark counts. We also present a threshold value on the function in the ``worst-case scenario'' where the threshold of the witness operator for guaranteeing entanglement assumes its maximal negative value.