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arXiv:2305.14116 · Physical Review Research

Correcting for finite statistics effects in a quantum steering experiment

Sophie Engineer, Ana C. S. Costa, Alexandre C. Orthey, Xiaogang Qiang, Jianwei Wang, Jeremy L. O’Brien, Jonathan C. F. Matthews, Will McCutcheon, Roope Uola, Sabine Wollmann

Published May 16, 2025• 0 citations
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Abstract

Verifying entanglement between parties is essential for creating secure quantum communication. However, finite statistics can lead to false positive outcomes in any tests for entanglement. Here, we introduce a one-sided device-independent protocol that corrects for apparent signaling effects in experimental probability distributions, caused by statistical fluctuations and experimental imperfections. We use semidefinite programming to identify the optimal inequality, for our experimental probability distribution, without resource-intensive tomography. Our protocol is numerically and experimentally analyzed in the context of random, misaligned measurements, correcting apparent signaling where necessary. Our results show a significantly higher probability of violation than existing state-of-the-art inequalities. This study demonstrates the power of semidefinite programming for entanglement verification and brings quantum networks closer to practical applications.

DOI
10.1103/physrevresearch.7.023156

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Verifying entanglement between parties is essential for creating secure quantum communication. However, finite statistics can lead to false positive outcomes in any tests for entanglement. Here, we introduce a one-sided device-independent protocol that corrects for apparent signaling effects in experimental probability distributions, caused by statistical fluctuations and experimental imperfections. We use semidefinite programming to identify the optimal inequality, for our experimental probability distribution, without resource-intensive tomography. Our protocol is numerically and experimentally analyzed in the context of random, misaligned measurements, correcting apparent signaling where necessary. Our results show a significantly higher probability of violation than existing state-of-the-art inequalities. This study demonstrates the power of semidefinite programming for entanglement verification and brings quantum networks closer to practical applications.
Entangled two-qubit states are the core building blocks for constructing quantum communication networks. Their accurate verification is crucial to the functioning of the networks, especially for untrusted networks. In this work we study the self-testing of two-qubit entangled states via steering inequalities, with robustness analysis against noise. More precisely, steering inequalities are constructed from the tilted Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality and its general form, to verify the general two-qubit entangled states. The study provides a good robustness bound, using both local extraction map and numerical semidefinite-programming methods. In particular, optimal local extraction maps are constructed in the analytical method, which yields the theoretical optimal robustness bound. To further improve the robustness of one-sided self-testing, we propose a family of three measurement settings steering inequalities. The result shows that three-setting steering inequality demonstrates an advantage over two-setting steering inequality on robust self-testing with noise. Moreover, to construct a practical verification protocol, we clarify the sample efficiency of our protocols in the one-sided device-independent scenario.
We theoretically predict, and experimentally verify with entangled photons, that outcome communication is not enough for hidden-state models to reproduce quantum steering. Hidden-state models with outcome communication correspond, in turn, to the well-known instrumental processes of causal inference but in the one-sided device-independent scenario of one black-box measurement device and one well-characterized quantum apparatus. We introduce one-sided device-independent instrumental inequalities to test against these models, with the appealing feature of detecting entanglement even when communication of the black box's measurement outcome is allowed. We find that, remarkably, these inequalities can also be violated solely with steering, i.e., without outcome communication. In fact, an efficiently computable formal quantifier-the robustness of noninstrumentality-naturally arises, and we prove that steering alone is enough to maximize it. Our findings imply that quantum theory admits a stronger form of steering than known until now, with fundamental as well as practical potential implications.
We demonstrate one-sided device-independent self-testing of any pure two-qubit entangled state based on a fine-grained steering inequality. The maximum violation of a fine-grained steering inequality can be used to witness certain steerable correlations, which certify all pure two-qubit entangled states. Our experimental results identify which particular pure two-qubit entangled state has been self-tested and which measurement operators are used on the untrusted side. Furthermore, we analytically derive the robustness bound of our protocol, enabling our subsequent experimental verification of robustness through state tomography. Finally, we ensure that the requisite no-signaling constraints are maintained in the experiment.
Quantum steering refers to the non-classical correlations that can be observed between the outcomes of measurements applied on half of an entangled state and the resulting post-measured states that are left with the other party. From an operational point of view, a steering test can be seen as an entanglement test where one of the parties performs uncharacterised measurements. Thus, quantum steering is a form of quantum inseparability that lies in between the well-known notions of Bell nonlocality and entanglement. Moreover, quantum steering is also related to several asymmetric quantum information protocols where some of the parties are considered untrusted. Because of these facts, quantum steering has received a lot of attention both theoretically and experimentally. The main goal of this review is to give an overview of how to characterise quantum steering through semidefinite programming. This characterisation provides efficient numerical methods to address a number of problems, including steering detection, quantification, and applications. We also give a brief overview of some important results that are not directly related to semidefinite programming. Finally, we make available a collection of semidefinite programming codes that can be used to study the topics discussed in this article.
Bell non-locality between distant quantum systems—that is, joint correlations which violate a Bell inequality—can be verified without trusting the measurement devices used, nor those performing the measurements. This leads to unconditionally secure protocols for quantum information tasks such as cryptographic key distribution. However, complete verification of Bell non-locality requires high detection efficiencies, and is not robust to typical transmission losses over long distances. In contrast, quantum or Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen steering, a weaker form of quantum correlation, can be verified for arbitrarily low detection efficiencies and high losses. The cost is that current steering-verification protocols require complete trust in one of the measurement devices and its operator, allowing only one-sided secure key distribution. Here we present measurement-device-independent steering protocols that remove this need for trust, even when Bell non-locality is not present. We experimentally demonstrate this principle for singlet states and states that do not violate a Bell inequality. Quantum steering is a form of quantum non-locality that can be verified for arbitrarily low detection efficiencies and high losses at the price of requiring complete trust in one of the parties. Here, Kocsis et al. present measurement-device-independent steering protocols that remove this need for trust.
The no-signalling principle is a fundamental assumption in Bell-inequality and quantum-steering experiments. Nonetheless, experimental imperfections can lead to apparent violations beyond those expected from finite-sample statistics. Here, we propose extensions of local hidden variable and local hidden state theories that allow for bounded, operationally quantifiable, amounts of signalling. We show how non-classicality tests can be developed for these models, both through exact methods based on the full set of observed statistics and through corrections to the standard Bell and steering inequalities. We demonstrate the applicability of these methods via two scenarios that feature apparent signalling: an IBM quantum processor and post-selected data from inefficient detectors.