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AIP conference proceedings

Quantum throughput: Estimating the quantumness of optical devices using homodyne measurements

Nathan Killoran, Hauke Häseler, Norbert Lütkenhaus, Timothy C. Ralph, Ping Koy Lam

Published Jan 1, 2011• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

New quantum optical devices such as quantum repeaters, quantum memories, and quantum channels are important components in quantum communication technologies. We outline a method for characterizing such devices via their capacity to preserve entanglement, or quantum throughput. Using minimal experimental resources, we can quantify the entanglement which remains in a test state after interaction with an optical device. Our method provides good estimates in the low‐noise regime.

DOI
10.1063/1.3630182

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New quantum optical devices such as quantum repeaters, quantum memories, and quantum channels are important components in quantum communication technologies. We outline a method for characterizing such devices via their capacity to preserve entanglement, or quantum throughput. Using minimal experimental resources, we can quantify the entanglement which remains in a test state after interaction with an optical device. Our method provides good estimates in the low‐noise regime.
Quantum communication relies on optical implementations of channels, memories, and repeaters. In the absence of perfect devices, a minimum requirement on real-world devices is that they preserve quantum correlations, meaning that they have some throughput of a quantum-mechanical nature. Previous work has verified throughput in optical devices while using minimal resources. We extend this approach to the quantitative regime. Our method is illustrated in a setting where the input consists of two coherent states while the output is measured by two homodyne measurement settings.
Quantum communication devices, such as quantum repeaters, quantum memories, or quantum channels, are unavoidably exposed to imperfections. However, the presence of imperfections can be tolerated, as long as we can verify that such devices retain their quantum advantages. Benchmarks based on witnessing entanglement have proven useful for verifying the true quantum nature of these devices. The next challenge is to characterize how strongly a device is within the quantum domain. We present a method, based on entanglement measures and rigorous state truncation, which allows us to characterize the degree of quantumness of optical devices. This method serves as a quantitative extension to a large class of previously known quantum benchmarks, requiring no additional information beyond what is already used for the nonquantitative benchmarks.
Quantum communication channels and quantum memories are the fundamental building blocks of large-scale quantum communication networks. Estimating their capacity to transmit and store quantum information is crucial in order to assess the performance of quantum communication systems and to detect useful communication paths among the nodes of future quantum networks. However, the estimation of quantum capacities is a challenging task for continuous-variable systems, such as the radiation field, for which a complete characterization via quantum tomography is practically unfeasible. Here we introduce a method for detecting the quantum capacity of continuous-variable communication channels and memories without performing a full process tomography. Our method works in the general scenario where the devices are used a finite number of times, can exhibit correlations across multiple uses, and can change dynamically under the control of a malicious adversary. The method is experimentally friendly and can be implemented using only finitely squeezed states and homodyne measurements.
This thesis is an exploration of quantum repeaters from a practical point of view. Quantum repeaters are devices which help improve the quantum communication capacity of a lossy bosonic channel (which include photonic channels such as optical fiber) beyond what is possible using a purely lossy channel. The analyses in this thesis involve modeling the experimental imperfections inherent in the various devices which comprise a quantum repeater, then combining these models to calculate various quantities of interest. \n \nTwo systems are analyzed in this thesis. One is a simple quantum repeater, while the other is a potential building block for more complex quantum repeaters. \n \nThe simple quantum repeater scheme can be implemented with currently available technology. In it, two parties perform quantum key distribution (QKD) by exchanging photons with two quantum memories placed between them. Its secret key rate ideally scales as the square root of the transmittivity of the optical channel, which is superior to QKD schemes based on direct transmission because key rates for the latter scale at best linearly with transmittivity. Taking into account imperfections in the setup, such as detector efficiency and dark counts, we present parameter regimes in which our protocol outperforms protocols based on direct transmission. We find that implementing our scheme with trapped ions is a promising way to reach the necessary parameter regimes, and that the regimes are easier to reach if the optical channels are very lossy. \n \nThe creation of entanglement between two quantum memories is an important building block in some quantum repeater schemes. We consider a specific quantum memory consisting of an atom trapped in a cavity. The system allows a CNOT operation to be performed between an atom and a photon. We study three methods for taking advantage of this to entangle two atoms: (1) interacting a coherent pulse with each atom, then performing an entangling measurement on the pulses; (2) interacting a single coherent pulse with each atom sequentially; (3) emitting an entangled photon from one atom and interacting it with the other atom. The success probability of each method is compared, as well as the quality of the entangled states produced by each one, taking into account imperfections which appear in a specific experimental implementation of such memories. We find that there is a tradeoff between success probability and entangled state quality when coherent states are used, and that method 3 provides higher-quality entangled states than is possible with the other two methods.
We present a method to test quantum behavior of quantum information processing devices, such as quantum memories, teleportation devices, channels, and quantum key distribution protocols. The test of quantum behavior can be phrased as the verification of effective entanglement. Necessary separability criteria are formulated in terms of a matrix of expectation values in conjunction with the partial transposition map. Our method is designed to reduce the resources for entanglement verification. A particular protocol based on coherent states and homodyne detection is used to illustrate the method. A possible test for the quantum nature of memories using two nonorthogonal signal states arises naturally. Furthermore, closer inspection of the measurement process in terms of the Stokes operators reveals a security threat for quantum key distribution involving phase reference beams.
In this thesis, we develop a number of operational tests and tools for benchmarking the quantum nature of optical quantum communication devices. Using the laws of quantum physics, ideal quantum devices can fundamentally outperform their classical counterparts, or even achieve objectives which are classically impossible. Actual devices will not be ideal, but they may still be capable of facilitating quantum communication. Benchmarking tests, based on the presence of entanglement, can be used to verify whether or not imperfect quantum devices offer any advantage over their classical analogs. The general goal in this thesis is to provide strong benchmarking tools which simultaneously require minimal experimental resources but also offer a wide range of applicability. Another major component is the extension of existing qualitative benchmarks (`Is it quantum or classical?') to more quantitative forms (`How quantum is it?'). We provide a number of benchmarking results applicable to two main situations, namely discrete remote state preparation protocols and continuous-variable quantum device testing. The theoretical tools derived throughout this thesis are also applied to the tasks of certifying a remote state preparation experiment and a continuous-variable quantum memory.