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arXiv:2202.09294 · Physical Review X

Quick Quantum Steering: Overcoming Loss and Noise with Qudits

Vatshal Srivastav, Natalia Herrera Valencia, Will McCutcheon, Saroch Leedumrongwatthanakun, Sébastien Designolle, Roope Uola, Nicolas Brunner, Mehul Malik

Published Nov 30, 2022• 37 citations

Abstract

A primary requirement for a robust and unconditionally secure quantum network is the establishment of quantum nonlocal correlations over a realistic channel.While loophole-free tests of Bell nonlocality allow for entanglement certification in such a device-independent setting, they are extremely sensitive to loss and noise, which naturally arise in any practical communication scenario.Quantum steering relaxes the strict technological constraints of Bell nonlocality by reframing it in an asymmetric manner, with a trusted party only on one side.However, tests of quantum steering still require either extremely high-quality entanglement or very low loss.Here we introduce a test of quantum steering that harnesses the advantages of high-dimensional entanglement to be simultaneously noise robust and loss tolerant.Despite being constructed for qudits, our steering test is designed for single-detector measurements and is able to close the fair-sampling loophole in a time-efficient manner.We showcase the improvements over qubit-based systems by experimentally demonstrating quantum steering in up to 53 dimensions, free of the fairsampling loophole, through simultaneous loss and noise conditions corresponding to 14.2-dB loss equivalent to 79 km of telecommunication fiber, and 36% of white noise.We go on to show how the use of high dimensions counterintuitively leads to a dramatic reduction in total measurement time, enabling a quantum steering violation almost 2 orders of magnitude faster obtained by simply doubling the Hilbert space dimension.Our work conclusively demonstrates the significant resource advantages that highdimensional entanglement provides for quantum steering in terms of loss, noise, and measurement time, and opens the door toward practical quantum networks with the ultimate form of security.

DOI: 10.1103/physrevx.12.041023

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A primary requirement for a robust and unconditionally secure quantum network is the establishment of quantum nonlocal correlations over a realistic channel.While loophole-free tests of Bell nonlocality allow for entanglement certification in such a device-independent setting, they are extremely sensitive to loss and noise, which naturally arise in any practical communication scenario.Quantum steering relaxes the strict technological constraints of Bell nonlocality by reframing it in an asymmetric manner, with a trusted party only on one side.However, tests of quantum steering still require either extremely high-quality entanglement or very low loss.Here we introduce a test of quantum steering that harnesses the advantages of high-dimensional entanglement to be simultaneously noise robust and loss tolerant.Despite being constructed for qudits, our steering test is designed for single-detector measurements and is able to close the fair-sampling loophole in a time-efficient manner.We showcase the improvements over qubit-based systems by experimentally demonstrating quantum steering in up to 53 dimensions, free of the fairsampling loophole, through simultaneous loss and noise conditions corresponding to 14.2-dB loss equivalent to 79 km of telecommunication fiber, and 36% of white noise.We go on to show how the use of high dimensions counterintuitively leads to a dramatic reduction in total measurement time, enabling a quantum steering violation almost 2 orders of magnitude faster obtained by simply doubling the Hilbert space dimension.Our work conclusively demonstrates the significant resource advantages that highdimensional entanglement provides for quantum steering in terms of loss, noise, and measurement time, and opens the door toward practical quantum networks with the ultimate form of security.

Quantum key distribution (QKD) brings the promise of communication with information-theoretic security but is limited in practice due to its susceptibility to noise, losses, and device imperfections. To address these challenges, we propose a robust high-dimensional (HD) one-sided device-independent QKD (1sDI-QKD) protocol and present a proof-of-principle experimental implementation using photons entangled in the transverse-spatial degree-of-freedom. We develop a systematic security analysis of HD 1sDI-QKD protocols, leveraging quantum steering to certify security, and evaluate achievable secret key rates for different measurement configurations and system dimensions using reverse reconciliation. Our analysis shows that increasing the dimension enhances robustness against both noise and loss. We then demonstrate the key experimental building blocks required for implementing the protocol: (a) a high-quality source of high-dimensional photonic entanglement, and (b) a fully programmable, high-dimensional multi-outcome measurement device operating in up to dimension 11. Using these components, we obtain positive key rates for all investigated dimensions under the fair-sampling assumption, with the highest key rates achieved for dimension d=7. Finally, we discuss the steps required for a practical, loophole-free implementation of 1sDI-QKD in realistic regimes of loss and noise.

Entanglement is the key resource for many long-range quantum information tasks, including secure communication and fundamental tests of quantum physics. These tasks require robust verification of shared entanglement, but performing it over long distances is presently technologically intractable because the loss through an optical fiber or free-space channel opens up a detection loophole. We design and experimentally demonstrate a scheme that verifies entanglement in the presence of at least 14.8 ± 0.1 dB of added loss, equivalent to approximately 80 km of telecommunication fiber. Our protocol relies on entanglement swapping to herald the presence of a photon after the lossy channel, enabling event-ready implementation of quantum steering. This result overcomes the key barrier in device-independent communication under realistic high-loss scenarios and in the realization of a quantum repeater.

Loophole-free quantum nonlocality often demands experiments with high complexity (defined by all parties' settings and outcomes) and multiple efficient detectors. Here, we identify the fundamental efficiency and complexity thresholds for quantum steering using two-qubit entangled states. Remarkably, it requires only one photon detector on the untrusted side, with efficiency

ε> 1/X

, where

X \geq 2

is the number of settings on that side. This threshold applies to all pure entangled states, in contrast to analogous Bell-nonlocality tests, which require almost unentangled states to be loss-tolerant. We confirm these predictions in a minimal-complexity (

X = 2

for the untrusted party and a single three-outcome measurement for the trusted party), detection-loophole-free photonic experiment with $ε= (51.6 \pm 0.4)\% $.

Quantum nonlocality and its asymmetric counterpart, quantum steering, are among the most intriguing manifestations of quantum mechanics. From a theoretical perspective, they are not only of fundamental significance but also hold promise for a wide range of applications. However, the stringent technological requirements for their experimental observation in a loophole-free way have largely restricted their realization to foundational demonstrations. A major challenge in these setups is the limited detection efficiency of current detectors as to observe nonlocality or steering in the standard scenarios, one requires detectors above a certain critical efficiency which can only be achieved with superconducting detectors. Considering the simplest quantum network, we demonstrate here that quantum steering between two parties, can be demonstrated for any non-zero detection efficiency, if the sources in the network generate states above a critical visibility well-within the current practical limits. This form of quantum steering in networks, is termed swap-steering. Moreover, when the sources are perfect, swap-steering can be observed using any entangled measurement on the untrusted side, even with arbitrarily low detection efficiency. Consequently, two major loopholes, the detection-loophole as well as free-will loophole can be closed easily in quantum steering experiments, when implemented using networks.