Entanglement is central to quantum theory, yet detecting it reliably in non-Gaussian systems remains a long-standing challenge. In continuous-variable platforms, inseparability tests based on Gaussian statistics - such as those of Duan and Simon - fail when quantum correlations are encoded in higher moments of the field quadratures. Here we introduce an inseparability criterion that exposes non-Gaussian entanglement that escapes covariance-based criteria by incorporating higher-order quadrature cumulants. The criterion extends Gaussian theory without requiring full state tomography and can be evaluated directly from homodyne and heterodyne data and is possible to extend to arbitrary superpositions of Fock states in two modes. This provides an experimentally viable approach for identifying non-Gaussian resources in continuous-variable platforms.
Entanglement is central to quantum theory, yet detecting it reliably in non-Gaussian systems remains a long-standing challenge. In continuous-variable platforms, inseparability tests based on Gaussian statistics - such as those of Duan and Simon - fail when quantum correlations are encoded in higher moments of the field quadratures. Here we introduce an inseparability criterion that exposes non-Gaussian entanglement that escapes covariance-based criteria by incorporating higher-order quadrature cumulants. The criterion extends Gaussian theory without requiring full state tomography and can be evaluated directly from homodyne and heterodyne data and is possible to extend to arbitrary superpositions of Fock states in two modes. This provides an experimentally viable approach for identifying non-Gaussian resources in continuous-variable platforms.
The characterisation of quantum correlations, also known as entanglement, is central to quantum information theory. Operationally, entanglement gives rise to the notion of quantum non-locality, which challenges the ‘reality’ of quantum mechanics (adopting the terminology of Einstein, Podolski and Rosen) and arguably represents its most distinctive feature, in the sense that it calls for a departure from certain foundational tenets of classical physics. It should thus not come as a surprise that entanglement turns out to be a key resource for the implementation of a number of quantum communication protocols and also necessary to achieve computational speed-ups with quantum hardware, in the sense that accessing regions of the Hilbert space with entangled states allows one to shorten the computational depth of certain algorithms. Not surprisingly, generating and maintaining entanglement is generally difficult in practice, as it requires strong interactions between selected components of a system that must at the same time be isolated from the environment. Thanks to the techniques developed in quantum optical set-ups to achieve squeezed light, entanglement is, however, comparatively accessible with optical quantum continuous variables. As we shall see, in fact, continuous variable entanglement is closely related to the notion of squeezing. It is therefore of the utmost importance to be able to qualify and quantify the entanglement of quantum continuous variables, which is the subject matter of the present chapter. The first part of the chapter is devoted to techniques and criteria based on second moments to detect the entanglement of Gaussian states and also to the description of possible ways to quantify such quantum correlations, bearing in mind that the determination of entanglement monotones of clear operational significance is still an open problem, even in the restricted arena of Gaussian states. Although the criteria based on second moments are sufficient, but not necessary, for the detection of non-Gaussian entanglement too, we will push our analysis further by introducing more general criteria based on higher order statistical moments, which will be put to use to detect, on paper, the quantum correlations of an entangled cat-like state. We will also address the issues of entanglement distillation and quantum non-locality tests, in whose contexts we shall encounter other non-Gaussian operations and states, such as photon-subtracted states.
Very recently, strongly non-Gaussian states have been observed via a direct three-mode spontaneous parametric down-conversion in a superconducting cavity [Phys. Rev. X 10, 011011 (2020)]. The created multiphoton non-Gaussian correlations are attractive and useful for various quantum information tasks. However, how to detect and classify multipartite non-Gaussian entanglement has not yet been completely understood. Here, we present an experimentally practical method to characterize continuous-variable multipartite non-Gaussian entanglement, by introducing a class of nonlinear squeezing parameters involving accessible higher-order moments of phase-space quadratures. As these parameters can depend on arbitrary operators, we consider their analytical optimization over a set of practical measurements, in order to detect different classes of multipartite non-Gaussian entanglement ranging from fully separable to fully inseparable. We demonstrate that the nonlinear squeezing parameters act as an excellent approximation to the quantum Fisher information within accessible third-order moments. The level of the nonlinear squeezing quantifies the metrological advantage provided by those entangled states. Moreover, by analyzing the above-mentioned experiment, we show that our method can be readily used to confirm fully inseparable tripartite non-Gaussian entangled states by performing a limited number of measurements without requiring full knowledge of the quantum state.
The non-Gaussianity of quantum states incarnates an important resource for improving the performance of continuous-variable quantum information protocols. We propose a novel criterion of non-Gaussianity for single-mode rotationally symmetric quantum states via the squared Frobenius norm of higher-order cumulant matrix for the quadrature distribution function. As an application, we study the non-Gaussianities of three classes of single-mode symmetric non-Gaussian states: a mixture of vacuum and Fock states, single-photon added thermal states, and even/odd Schrödinger cat states. It is shown that such a criterion is faithful and effective for revealing non-Gaussianity. We further extend this criterion to two cases of symmetric multi-mode non-Gaussian states and non-symmetric single-mode non-Gaussian states.
Abstract Non-Gaussian quantum states are a known necessary resource for reaching a quantum advantage and for violating Bell inequalities in continuous variable systems. As one kind of manifestation of quantum correlations, Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen steering enables verification of shared entanglement even when one of the subsystems is not characterized. However, how to detect and classify such an effect for non-Gaussian states is far from being well understood. Here, we present an efficient non-Gaussian steering criterion based on the high-order observables and conduct a systematic investigation into the hierarchy of non-Gaussian steering criteria. Moreover, we apply our criterion to three experimentally-relevant non-Gaussian states under realistic conditions and, in particular, propose a feasible scheme to create multi-component cat states with tunable size by performing a suitable high-order quadrature measurement on the steering party. Our work reveals the fundamental characteristics of non-Gaussianity and quantum correlations, and offers new insights to explore their applications in quantum information processing.
The entanglement of Gaussian continuous-variable (CV) states is fully determined by the state's second moments. In contrast, some entangled non-Gaussian states evade every second-moment criterion, and non-Gaussian entanglement detection remains an experimental challenge. The p3-PPT criterion detects entanglement using moments of the partial transpose of the density matrix. This criterion was recently extended to CV systems using photon-number-resolving detectors and multi-copy interferometry; here we introduce a single-copy homodyne protocol that detects bipartite CV entanglement via the same criterion. Unbiased U-statistic estimators for the partial-transpose moments p2 and p3 are constructed directly from randomized homodyne data and used to evaluate the p3-PPT entanglement witnesses: a linear one for detection, and a quadratic one whose violation yields a dimension-free lower bound on the entanglement negativity. The protocol estimates p2 and p3 up to additive error ε at Fock cutoff N from O((N+1)14/3/ε2) measurements at fixed confidence. We demonstrate the protocol on six families of Gaussian and non-Gaussian states, reaching 95% empirical one-sided detection probability from ∼103 to 104 homodyne measurements for states with nˉ≈2, placing non-Gaussian entanglement detection within reach of current homodyne experiments.
We use quantum entanglement witnesses derived from Gaussian operators to study the separable criteria of continuous variable states. We transform the validity of a Gaussian witness to a Bosonic Gaussian channel problem. It follows that the maximal means of two-mode and some four-mode Gaussian operators over product pure states are achieved by vacuum (or coherent states and squeezed states) according to the properties of Bosonic Gaussian channels. Then we have necessary and sufficient criteria of separability not only for Gaussian quantum states, but also for non-Gaussian states prepared by photon adding to or/and subtracting from Gaussian states. The criterion can be further explicitly expressed with covariance matrix of the Gaussian state or covariance matrix of Gaussian kernel of the non-Gaussian state. This opens a way for precise detection of non-Gaussian entanglement.