We report deterministic measurement of time-polarization hyperentangled two-photon Bell states with common single-photon detectors. Optical fiber distributed Bell states are detected with 84−93% success, demonstrating that our method may enable superdense coding over fiber channels.
A complete and deterministic Bell state measurement was realized by a simple linear optics experimental scheme which adopts two-photon polarization-momentum hyperentanglement. The scheme, which is based on the discrimination among the single photon Bell states of the hyperentangled state, requires the adoption of standard single photon detectors. The four polarization Bell states have been measured with average fidelity $F=0.889\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.010$ by using the linear momentum degree of freedom as the ancilla. The feasibility of the scheme has been characterized as a function of the purity of momentum entanglement.
Adopting quantum communication to modern networking requires transmitting quantum information through a fiber-based infrastructure. We report the first demonstration of superdense coding over optical fiber links, taking advantage of a complete Bell-state measurement enabled by time-polarization hyperentanglement, linear optics, and common single-photon detectors. We demonstrate the highest single-qubit channel capacity to date utilizing linear optics, 1.665±0.018, and we provide a full experimental implementation of a hybrid, quantum-classical communication protocol for image transfer.
We show how hyperentanglement allows us to deterministically distinguish between all four polarization Bell states of two photons. In this proof-of-principle experiment, we employ the intrinsic time-energy correlation of photon pairs generated with high temporal definition in addition to the polarization entanglement obtained from parametric down-conversion. For the identification, no nonlinear optical elements or auxiliary photons are needed. The new possibilities this complete Bell measurement offers are demonstrated by realizing an optimal dense coding protocol.
We present a theoretical scheme for the complete Bell state measurement (BSM) for high-dimensional hyperentangled photons in polarization and path degrees of freedom (DOFs), in which the polarization entanglement is in two-dimensional Hilbert space and the path entanglement is in four-dimensional Hilbert space. This 2×4-dimensional photonic quantum system contains 64 mutually orthogonal high-dimensional hyperentangled Bell states, which can be unambiguously discriminated by using weak cross-Kerr nonlinearity, linear optical element, and single-photon detector. This is the first complete BSM scheme for high-dimensional hyperentangled photons in two DOFs assisted by the quantum nonlinear effect, and we also demonstrate its application in the quantum superdense coding protocol, which allows the transmission of log 2 64=6 bits of classical information via just sending one photon. Moreover, our scheme only requires the achievable small nonlinear phase shift, and it can provide new avenues for other BSM-based quantum information technologies involving photonic high-dimensional hyperentanglement.
We propose a simple scheme for complete Bell-state measurement of photons using hyperentangled states---entangled in multiple degrees of freedom. In addition to hyperentanglement, our scheme requires only linear optics and single photon detectors, and is realizable with current technology. At the cost of additional classical communication, our Bell-state measurement can be implemented nonlocally. We discuss the possible application of these results to quantum dense coding and quantum teleportation.