As per the projection postulate, the evolution of the quantum state of a system upon measurement results in state update. In this work we investigate the characterization of updated states of multipartite entangled qubit states with nondestructive weak measurements, involving weakly coupling a pointer to each qubit while considering a relativistic setup involving different reference frames. As is well known, the updated state at intermediate times is frame dependent and outcome randomness, intrinsic to projective measurements, prevents any information from being acquired on the updated state. Here we will see that when weak measurements are implemented there is instead an interplay between randomness and interference, depending on the number of qubits, so as to maintain consistency between descriptions in arbitrary reference frames. Analytical results are given for a small or infinite number of qubits, while for a finite number of qubits we resort to Monte Carlo sampling in order to simulate numerically the results of weak measurements. As a by-product, we show how a single-shot measurement of the pointers' positions allows us to make quantitative predictions on the outcomes that can be obtained for any observable measured on a distant qubit of the multipartite state.
As per the projection postulate, the evolution of the quantum state of a system upon measurement results in state update. In this work we investigate the characterization of updated states of multipartite entangled qubit states with nondestructive weak measurements, involving weakly coupling a pointer to each qubit while considering a relativistic setup involving different reference frames. As is well known, the updated state at intermediate times is frame dependent and outcome randomness, intrinsic to projective measurements, prevents any information from being acquired on the updated state. Here we will see that when weak measurements are implemented there is instead an interplay between randomness and interference, depending on the number of qubits, so as to maintain consistency between descriptions in arbitrary reference frames. Analytical results are given for a small or infinite number of qubits, while for a finite number of qubits we resort to Monte Carlo sampling in order to simulate numerically the results of weak measurements. As a by-product, we show how a single-shot measurement of the pointers' positions allows us to make quantitative predictions on the outcomes that can be obtained for any observable measured on a distant qubit of the multipartite state.
Quantum nonlocality offers a secure way to produce random numbers: Their unpredictability is intrinsic and can be certified just by observing the statistic of the measurement outcomes, without assumptions on how they are produced. To do this, entangled pairs are generated and measured to violate a Bell inequality with the outcome statistics. However, after a projective quantum measurement, entanglement is entirely destroyed and cannot be used again. This fact poses an upper bound to the amount of randomness that can be produced from each quantum state when projective measurements are employed. Instead, by using weak measurements, some entanglement can be maintained and reutilized, and a sequence of weak measurements can extract an unbounded amount of randomness from a single state as predicted in [Phys. Rev. A 95, 020102(R) (2017)]. We study the feasibility of these weak measurements, analyze the robustness to imperfections in the quantum state they are applied to, and then test them using an optical setup based on polarization-entangled photon pairs. We show that the weak measurements are realizable, but can improve the performance of randomness generation only in close-to-ideal conditions.
The experimental detection of multipartite entanglement usually requires a number of appropriately chosen local quantum measurements that are aligned with respect to a previously shared common reference frame. The latter, however, can be a challenging prerequisite, e.g., for satellite-based photonic quantum communication, making the development of alternative detection strategies desirable. One possibility for avoiding the distribution of classical reference frames is to perform a number of local measurements with settings distributed uniformly at random. In this Letter, we follow such a treatment and show that an improved detection and characterization of multipartite entanglement is possible by combining statistical moments of different order. To do so, we make use of designs that are pseudorandom processes allowing us to link the present entanglement criteria to ordinary reference frame independent ones. The strengths of our methods are illustrated in various cases, starting with two qubits and followed by more involved multipartite scenarios.
Abstract Quantum entanglement is usually revealed via a well aligned, carefully chosen set of measurements. Yet, under a number of experimental conditions, for example in communication within multiparty quantum networks, noise along the channels or fluctuating orientations of reference frames may ruin the quality of the distributed states. Here, we show that even for strong fluctuations one can still gain detailed information about the state and its entanglement using random measurements. Correlations between all or subsets of the measurement outcomes and especially their distributions provide information about the entanglement structure of a state. We analytically derive an entanglement criterion for two-qubit states and provide strong numerical evidence for witnessing genuine multipartite entanglement of three and four qubits. Our methods take the purity of the states into account and are based on only the second moments of measured correlations. Extended features of this theory are demonstrated experimentally with four photonic qubits. As long as the rate of entanglement generation is sufficiently high compared to the speed of the fluctuations, this method overcomes any type and strength of localized unitary noise.
In this paper, we investigate the entanglement dynamics of a two-qubit entangled state coupled with its noisy environment, and plan to utilize weak measurement and quantum reversal measurement to study the entanglement dynamics under different decoherence channels in noninertial frames. Through the calculations and analyses, it is shown that the weak measurement can prevent entanglement from coupling to the amplitude damping channel, while the system is under the phase damping and flip channels. This protection protocol cannot prevent entanglement but will accelerate the death of entanglement. In addition, if the system is in the noninertial reference frame, then the effect of weak measurement will be weakened for the amplitude damping channel. Nevertheless, for other decoherence channels, the Unruh effect does not affect the quantum weak measurement, the only exception is that the maximum value of entanglement is reduced to √2/2 of the original value in the inertial frames.
We explore the possibility of using ``weak'' measurements to carry out quantum state tomography via numerical simulations. Given a fixed number of copies of identically prepared states of a qubit, we perform state tomography using weak as well as projective measurements. Due to the collapse of the state after measurement, we cannot reuse the state after a projective measurement. If the coupling strength between the quantum system and the measurement device is made weaker, the disturbance caused to the state can be lowered. This then allows us to reuse the same member of the ensemble for further measurements and thus extract more information from the system. However, this happens at the cost of getting imprecise information from the first measurement. We implement this scheme for a single qubit and show that under certain circumstances, it can outperform the projective measurement-based tomography scheme. This opens up the possibility of new ways of extracting information from quantum ensembles. We study the efficacy of this scheme for different coupling strengths and different ensemble sizes.
The fact that quantum mechanics predicts stronger correlations than classical physics is an essential cornerstone of quantum information processing. Indeed, these quantum correlations are a valuable resource for various tasks, such as quantum key distribution or quantum teleportation, but characterizing these correlations in an experimental setting is a formidable task, especially in scenarios where no shared reference frames are available. By definition, quantum correlations are reference-frame independent, i.e., invariant under local transformations; this physically motivated invariance implies, however, a dedicated mathematical structure and, therefore, constitutes a roadblock for an efficient analysis of these correlations in experiments. Here we provide a method to directly measure any locally invariant property of quantum states using locally randomized measurements, and we present a detailed toolbox to analyze these correlations for two quantum bits. We implement these methods experimentally using pairs of entangled photons, characterizing their usefulness for quantum teleportation and their potential to display quantum nonlocality in its simplest form. Our results can be applied to various quantum computing platforms, allowing simple analysis of correlations between arbitrary distant qubits in the architecture.