Entanglement is an indispensable quantum resource for quantum information technology. In continuous-variable quantum optics, photon subtraction can increase the entanglement between Gaussian states of light, but for mixed states the extent of this entanglement increase is poorly understood. In this work, we use an entanglement measure based the Rényi-2 entropy to prove that single-photon subtraction increases bipartite entanglement by no more than log 2. This value coincides with the maximal amount of bipartite entanglement that can be achieved with one photon. The upper bound is valid for all Gaussian input states, regardless of the number of modes and the purity.
Entanglement is an indispensable quantum resource for quantum information technology. In continuous-variable quantum optics, photon subtraction can increase the entanglement between Gaussian states of light, but for mixed states the extent of this entanglement increase is poorly understood. In this work, we use an entanglement measure based the Rényi-2 entropy to prove that single-photon subtraction increases bipartite entanglement by no more than log 2. This value coincides with the maximal amount of bipartite entanglement that can be achieved with one photon. The upper bound is valid for all Gaussian input states, regardless of the number of modes and the purity.
Entanglement is an indispensable quantum resource for quantum information technology. In continuous-variable quantum optics, photon subtraction can increase the entanglement between Gaussian states of light, but for mixed states the extent of this entanglement increase is poorly understood. In this work, we use an entanglement measure based the R\'enyi-2 entropy to prove that single-photon subtraction increases bipartite entanglement by no more than log2. This value coincides with the maximal amount of bipartite entanglement that can be achieved with one photon.
Photon subtraction can enhance entanglement, which for pure states induces a decrease in the purity of reduced states. In contrast, by analyzing the purities of Gaussian states before and after subtracting a single photon, we prove that the purity of a Gaussian state can also be increased by less than 20%. On the one hand, it reveals that photon subtraction can reduce entanglement, and on the other hand, it reveals that it can achieve a limited amount of Gaussian state purification. Through the analysis of some examples, we demonstrate the inherent mechanism and applicable scope of photon-subtraction-based purification. In a multimode system, we find that photon subtraction can increase entanglement and purify some of the reduced states simultaneously. We thus present purification through the suppression of Gaussian noise as a new application for photon subtraction in continuous-variable quantum information processing.
Photon subtraction (PS) can enhance entanglement, which, for pure states, induces a decrease in the purity of reduced states. In contrast, by analyzing the purities of Gaussian states before and after subtracting or adding a single photon, we prove that the purity of a Gaussian state can be increased by less than 20%. On the one hand, it reveals that PS and photon addition (PA) can reduce entanglement, and on the other hand, it shows that PS or PA can achieve a limited amount of Gaussian state purification. Through the analysis of several examples, we demonstrate the inherent mechanism and applicable scope of photon-subtraction-based purification. We further compare the performance between PS and PA for purifying single-mode Gaussian states, and analyze their capabilities in generating Wigner negativity within purification regimes. In a multimode system, we find that PS can simultaneously increase entanglement and purify some of the reduced states. These findings demonstrate the new application potential of PS and PA, specifically their capability to directly suppress Gaussian noise.
The faithful distribution of entanglement in continuous-variable systems is essential to many quantum information protocols. As such, entanglement distillation and enhancement schemes are a cornerstone of many applications. The photon subtraction scheme offers enhancement with a relatively simple setup and has been studied in various scenarios. Motivated by recent advances in integrated optics, particularly the ability to build stable multimode interferometers with squeezed input states, a multimodal extension to the enhancement via photon subtraction protocol is studied. States generated with multiple squeezed input states, rather than a single input source, are shown to be more sensitive to the enhancement protocol, leading to increased entanglement at the output. Numerical results show the gain in entanglement is not monotonic with the number of modes or the degree of squeezing in the additional modes. Consequently, the advantage due to having multiple squeezed input states can be maximized when the number of modes is still relatively small (e.g., four). The requirement for additional squeezing is within the current realm of implementation, making this scheme achievable with present technologies.
Subtracting photons from a two-mode squeezed state is a well-known method to increase entanglement. We analyze different strategies of local photon subtraction from a two-mode squeezed state in terms of entanglement gain and success probability. We develop a general framework that incorporates imperfections and losses in all stages of the process: before, during, and after subtraction. By combining all three effects into a single efficiency parameter, we provide analytical and numerical results for subtraction strategies using photon-number-resolving and threshold detectors. We compare the entanglement gain afforded by symmetric and asymmetric subtraction scenarios across the two modes. For a given amount of loss, we identify an optimized set of parameters, such as initial squeezing and subtraction beam splitter transmissivity, that maximize the entanglement gain rate. We identify regimes for which asymmetric subtraction of different Fock states on the two modes outperforms symmetric strategies. In the lossless limit, subtracting a single photon from one mode always produces the highest entanglement gain rate. In the lossy case, the optimal strategy depends strongly on the losses on each mode individually, such that there is no general optimal strategy. Rather, taking losses on each mode as the only input parameters, we can identify the optimal subtraction strategy and required beam splitter transmissivities and initial squeezing parameter. Finally, we discuss the implications of our results for the distillation of continuous-variable quantum entanglement.
Photon subtraction (PS), due to its feasibility in physical implementation, has been widely utilized in Gaussian entanglement distillation. However, in this paper, we will show that photon addition (PA) can be employed to provide an additional enhancement in both the quality of distilled entanglement and the success probability if the input state is a weak two-mode squeezed vacuum state. Moreover, compared with biside PS, the distillation probability gains a $O(\frac{1}{{\ensuremath{\lambda}}^{2}})$ improvement, which increases rapidly when $\ensuremath{\lambda}\ensuremath{\ll}1$. Our PA-based scheme is obtained first by single-photon injection and later by vacuum state projection. The performance of PA in the presence of both an approximated single photon and amplitude-damping noise has been analyzed. Our result sheds more light on the indispensable non-Gaussian ingredients in Gaussian-state distillation and could be of great use in developing more efficient distillation schemes. Finally, the sensitivity of the PA scheme to inefficient photon detection has also been investigated.