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arXiv:2503.21519 · New Journal of Physics

How likely are you to observe non-locality with imperfect detection efficiency and random measurement settings?

Paweł Cieśliński, Tamás Vértesi, Mateusz Kowalczyk, Wiesław Laskowski

Published Jun 27, 2025• 1 citation
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Abstract

Abstract Imperfect detection efficiency remains one of the major obstacles in achieving loophole-free Bell tests over long distances. At the same time, the challenge of establishing a common reference frame for measurements becomes more pronounced as the separation between parties increases. In this work, we tackle both of these issues by examining the impact of limited detection efficiency on the probability of Bell inequality violation with Haar random measurement settings. We derive analytical lower bounds on the violation probability for a two-qubit maximally entangled state, which is tight for correlation inequalities and perfect detection efficiencies. We further investigate it numerically for more qubits and settings using two detection efficiency models and an original method based on the linear programming. Beyond that, we show that the so-called typicality of Bell inequality violation, i.e. almost certain violation of local realism with sufficiently many particles or random measurement directions, holds even if the detection efficiency is limited. Our findings reveal that increasing the number of measurement settings can compensate for efficiency losses above the critical threshold. Additionally, we determine critical detection efficiencies for both two-party and three-party scenarios. For two parties, we recover previously established results, while for three parties, we derive a symmetric critical efficiency of η crit = 2 / 3 for the W and GHZ states within the binning model. In cases involving the no-detection outcome, we present a modified inequality using a pair of orthogonal observables for each party with η crit ≈ 0.7208 , which is notably less than 0.75 for the GHZ state. These results offer deeper insights into the limitations and possibilities for certifying non-locality in the presence of limited detection efficiency, shedding light on its robustness in practical Bell tests.

DOI
10.1088/1367-2630/ade90f

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Abstract Imperfect detection efficiency remains one of the major obstacles in achieving loophole-free Bell tests over long distances. At the same time, the challenge of establishing a common reference frame for measurements becomes more pronounced as the separation between parties increases. In this work, we tackle both of these issues by examining the impact of limited detection efficiency on the probability of Bell inequality violation with Haar random measurement settings. We derive analytical lower bounds on the violation probability for a two-qubit maximally entangled state, which is tight for correlation inequalities and perfect detection efficiencies. We further investigate it numerically for more qubits and settings using two detection efficiency models and an original method based on the linear programming. Beyond that, we show that the so-called typicality of Bell inequality violation, i.e. almost certain violation of local realism with sufficiently many particles or random measurement directions, holds even if the detection efficiency is limited. Our findings reveal that increasing the number of measurement settings can compensate for efficiency losses above the critical threshold. Additionally, we determine critical detection efficiencies for both two-party and three-party scenarios. For two parties, we recover previously established results, while for three parties, we derive a symmetric critical efficiency of η crit = 2 / 3 for the W and GHZ states within the binning model. In cases involving the no-detection outcome, we present a modified inequality using a pair of orthogonal observables for each party with η crit ≈ 0.7208 , which is notably less than 0.75 for the GHZ state. These results offer deeper insights into the limitations and possibilities for certifying non-locality in the presence of limited detection efficiency, shedding light on its robustness in practical Bell tests.
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The observation that violating Bell inequalities with high probability is possible even when the local measurements are randomly chosen, as occurs when local measurements cannot be suitably calibrated or the parties do not share a common reference frame, has recently attracted much theoretical and experimental effort. Here we show that this observation is only valid when the overall detection efficiency is very high ($\ensuremath{\eta}\ensuremath{\ge}0.90$), otherwise, even when using the highest detection efficiency of recent photonic Bell tests, the probability of demonstrating nonlocality is negligible (e.g., it is smaller than 0.020.02%0.02 for $\ensuremath{\eta}=0.785$). Our results show that detection efficiency is a much more critical resource for real-world applications than it was previously thought.
In this paper we investigate the critical efficiency of detectors in order to see Bell nonlocality using multiple copies of the two-qubit maximally entangled state and local Pauli measurements which act in the corresponding qubit subspaces. It is known that for the two-qubit maximally entangled state a symmetric detection efficiency of 82.84%82.84\%82.84% can be tolerated using the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) Bell test. We show that this threshold can be lowered by using multiple copies of the two-qubit maximally entangled state. We get the upper bounds 80.86%80.86\%80.86%, 73.99%73.99\%73.99% and 69.29%69.29\%69.29% on the symmetric detection efficiency threshold for two, three and four copies of the state, where the respective number of measurements per party are 4, 8 and 16. However, in the case of four copies the result is partly due to a heuristic method. In order to get the corresponding Bell inequalities we made use of linear programming for two copies of the state and convex optimization based on Gilbert algorithm for three and four copies of the state.
The outcomes of local measurements made on entangled systems can be certified to be random provided that the generated statistics violate a Bell inequality. This way of producing randomness relies only on a minimal set of assumptions because it is independent of the internal functioning of the devices generating the random outcomes. In this context it is crucial to understand both qualitatively and quantitatively how the three fundamental quantities – entanglement, non-locality and randomness – relate to each other. To explore these relationships, we consider the case where repeated (non projective) measurements are made on the physical systems, each measurement being made on the post-measurement state of the previous measurement. In this work, we focus on the following questions: Given a single entangled system, how many nonlocal correlations in a sequence can we obtain? And from this single entangled system, how many certified random numbers is it possible to generate? In the standard scenario with a single measurement in the sequence, it is possible to generate non-local correlations between two distant observers only and the amount of random numbers is very limited. Here we show that we can overcome these limitations and obtain any amount of certified random numbers from a single entangled pair of qubit in a pure state by making sequences of measurements on it. Moreover, the state can be arbitrarily weakly entangled. In addition, this certification is achieved by near-maximal violation of a particular Bell inequality for each measurement in the sequence. We also present numerical results giving insight on the resistance to imperfections and on the importance of the strength of the measurements in our scheme.
We discuss the problem of finding the most favorable conditions for closing the detection loophole in a test of local realism with a Bell inequality. For a generic nonmaximally entangled two-qubit state and two incompatible bases to be adopted for alternative measurements of two observables $\mathrm{a\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}$ and $\mathrm{b\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}$ on each party, we apply Hardy's proof of nonlocality without inequality and derive an Eberhard-like inequality. For an infinity of nonmaximally entangled states we find that it is possible to refute local realism by requiring perfect detection efficiency for only one of the two observables, say $\mathrm{b\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}$, to be measured on each party: The test is free from the detection loophole for any value of the detection efficiency corresponding to the other observable $\mathrm{a\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}$. The maximum tolerable noise in such a loophole-free observable-asymmetric test is also evaluated.
The outcomes of local measurements made on entangled systems can be certified to be random provided that the generated statistics violate a Bell inequality. This way of producing randomness relies only on a minimal set of assumptions because it is independent of the internal functioning of the devices generating the random outcomes. In this context it is crucial to understand both qualitatively and quantitatively how the three fundamental quantities -- entanglement, non-locality and randomness -- relate to each other. To explore these relationships, we consider the case where repeated (non projective) measurements are made on the physical systems, each measurement being made on the post-measurement state of the previous measurement. In this work, we focus on the following questions: For systems in a given entangled state, how many nonlocal correlations in a sequence can we obtain by measuring them repeatedly? And from this generated sequence of non-local correlations, how many random numbers is it possible to certify? In the standard scenario with a single measurement in the sequence, it is possible to generate non-local correlations between two distant observers only and the amount of random numbers is very limited. Here we show that we can overcome these limitations and obtain any amount of certified random numbers from an entangled pair of qubit in a pure state by making sequences of measurements on it. Moreover, the state can be arbitrarily weakly entangled. In addition, this certification is achieved by near-maximal violation of a particular Bell inequality for each measurement in the sequence. We also present numerical results giving insight on the resistance to imperfections and on the importance of the strength of the measurements in our scheme.