NOON States Research Articles

On the dissipative dynamics of entangled states in coupled-cavity quantum electrodynamics arrays

We examine the dissipative dynamics of N00N states with an arbitrary photon number N in two architectures of fiber-coupled optical ring resonators (RRs) interacting with two-level quantum emitters (QEs). One architecture consists of a two-way cascaded array of emitter–cavity systems, while in the other architecture, we consider two fiber-coupled RRs, each coupled to multiple dipole–dipole interacting (DDI) QEs. Our focus in this paper is to study how an initially prepared multiple excitation atomic N00N state transfers to the RRs and then how rapidly it decays in these open cavity quantum electrodynamics setups while varying the emitter–cavity coupling strengths, emitter–cavity detuning, and backscattering from cavity modes. We present a general theoretical formalism valid for any arbitrary numbers of QEs, RRs, and N numbers in the N00N state for both schemes. As examples, we discuss the cases of single- and two-excitation N00N states and report the comparison of our findings in both schemes. As one of the main results, we conclude that the array scheme tends to store N00N for longer times, while the DDI scheme supports higher fidelity values. The results of this study may find applications in designing new multiparty entanglement-based protocols in quantum metrology and quantum lithography.

Heralded path-entangled NOON states generation from a reconfigurable photonic chip

Maximal multi-photon entangled states, known as NOON states, play an essential role in quantum metrology. With the number of photons growing, NOON states are becoming increasingly powerful and advantageous for obtaining supersensitive and super-resolved measurements. In this paper, we propose a universal scheme for generating three- and four-photon path-entangled NOON states on a reconfigurable photonic chip via photons subtracted from pairs and detected by heralding counters. Our method is postselection free, enabling phase supersensitive measurements and sensing at the Heisenberg limit. Our NOON-state generator allows for integration of quantum light sources as well as practical and portable precision phase-related measurements.

Probing quantum nonlinearity of cavity-QED systems with quantum light

Giant optical circular birefringence (GCB) induced by a single quantum-dot-confined spin in an optical microcavity finds wide applications in quantum and optical technologies, such as quantum gates, quantum transistors, quantum repeaters, quantum routers, etc. If the system is probed with a classical light, such as the laser light where the photons are uncorrelated with each other, then the single-photon GCB is detected. In this work we develop a general approach to investigate the many-body dynamics of $n$ photons bound to one quantum emitter and apply this method to calculate the $n$-photon GCB probed with quantum light in Fock states. With suppressed atomic saturation, quantum light loads photons into dressed states more efficiently than classical light such that the whole Jaynes-Cummings energy ladder and the quantum nonlinearity related to the multiphoton transitions can be observed. The $n$-photon GCB lying at the cavity mode resonance allows the spin-cavity quantum gates and quantum transistors to extend from single-photon to $n$-photon operations and generate entangled photonic Fock states, i.e., the NOON states which are useful for quantum metrology and lithography.

Scalable multiphoton quantum metrology with neither pre- nor post-selected measurements

The quantum statistical fluctuations of electromagnetic fields establish a limit, known as the shot-noise limit, on the sensitivity of optical measurements performed with classical technologies. However, quantum technologies are not constrained by this shot-noise limit. In this regard, the possibility of using every photon produced by quantum sources of light to estimate small physical parameters, beyond the shot-noise limit, constitutes one of the main goals of quantum optics. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a scalable protocol for quantum-enhanced optical phase estimation across a broad range of phases, with neither pre- nor post-selected measurements. This is achieved through the efficient design of a source of spontaneous parametric downconversion in combination with photon-number-resolving detection. The robustness of two-mode squeezed vacuum states against loss allows us to outperform schemes based on N00N states, in which the loss of a single photon is enough to remove all phase information from a quantum state. In contrast to other schemes that rely on N00N states or conditional measurements, the sensitivity of our technique could be improved through the generation and detection of high-order photon pairs. This unique feature of our protocol makes it scalable. Our work is important for quantum technologies that rely on multiphoton interference such as quantum imaging, boson sampling, and quantum networks.

Equivalence regimes for geometric quantum discord and local quantum uncertainty

The concept of quantum discord aims at unveiling quantum correlations that go beyond those described by entanglement. Its original formulation [J. Phys. A 34, 6899 (2001); Phys. Rev. Lett 88, 017901 (2002)] is difficult to compute even for the simplest case of two-qubits systems. Alternative formulations have been developed to address this drawback, such as the geometric measure of quantum discord [Phys. Rev. A 87, 062303 (2013)] and the local quantum uncertainty [Phys. Rev. Lett 110, 240402 (2013)] that can be evaluated in closed form for some quantum systems, such as two-qubit systems. We show here that these two measures of quantum discord are equivalent for 2 x D dimensional bipartite quantum systems. By considering the relevant example of N00N states for phase estimation in lossy environments, we also show that both metrics of quantum discord quantify the decrease of quantum Fisher information of the phase estimation protocol. Given their ease of computation in 2 x D bipartite systems, the geometric measure of quantum discord and the local quantum uncertainty demonstrate their relevance as computable measures of quantum discord.

Quantum enhanced multiple-phase estimation with multi-mode N00N states

Quantum metrology can achieve enhanced sensitivity for estimating unknown parameters beyond the standard quantum limit. Recently, multiple-phase estimation exploiting quantum resources has attracted intensive interest for its applications in quantum imaging and sensor networks. For multiple-phase estimation, the amount of enhanced sensitivity is dependent on quantum probe states, and multi-mode N00N states are known to be a key resource for this. However, its experimental demonstration has been missing so far since generating such states is highly challenging. Here, we report generation of multi-mode N00N states and experimental demonstration of quantum enhanced multiple-phase estimation using the multi-mode N00N states. In particular, we show that the quantum Cramer-Rao bound can be saturated using our two-photon four-mode N00N state and measurement scheme using a 4 × 4 multi-mode beam splitter. Our multiple-phase estimation strategy provides a faithful platform to investigate multiple parameter estimation scenarios.

Entanglement and U(D)-spin squeezing in symmetric multi-quDit systems and applications to quantum phase transitions in Lipkin\u2013Meshkov\u2013Glick D-level atom models

Collective spin operators for symmetric multi-quDit (namely identical D-level atom) systems generate a U(D) symmetry. We explore generalizations to arbitrary D of SU(2)-spin coherent states and their adaptation to parity (multi-component Schrödinger cats), together with multi-mode extensions of NOON states. We write level, one- and two-quDit reduced density matrices of symmetric N-quDit states, expressed in the last two cases in terms of collective U(D)-spin operator expectation values. Then, we evaluate level and particle entanglement for symmetric multi-quDit states with linear and von Neumann entropies of the corresponding reduced density matrices. In particular, we analyze the numerical and variational ground state of Lipkin–Meshkov–Glick models of 3-level identical atoms. We also propose an extension of the concept of SU(2)-spin squeezing to SU(D) and relate it to pairwise D-level atom entanglement. Squeezing parameters and entanglement entropies are good markers that characterize the different quantum phases, and their corresponding critical points, that take place in these interacting D-level atom models.

Coherent perfect absorption of quantum light

Coherent perfect absorption (CPA) was introduced as a classical optics phenomenon of a standing-wave absorption by a subwavelength film. In this paper, we develop a theory of CPA of quantized standing waves taking account of a subwavelength thickness of the absorber. This approach allows us to merge all known quantum effects of CPA under a single theory and introduce other regimes of CPA including CPA of NOON states with arbitrary number of entangled photons, orthogonally squeezed vacuum states, continuous variable entangled states, and Schr\"odinger cat states. Detailed analysis of the quantum regime of CPA sheds light on fundamental aspects of quantum light dissipation and its practical implementation in quantum optics and quantum information.

Enhanced two-photon absorption of frequency-entangled N00N states in type-I SPDC

We study the two-photon absorption properties of frequency-entangled N00N states produced in a Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometer using type-I degenerate photon pairs, generated via spontaneous parametric down-conversion. By comparing our results with N00N states with no frequency entanglement, we demonstrate enhanced two-photon absorption due to frequency entanglement. We also derive an analytic expression for the enhancement factor which is found to be greater than one for all finite values of the ratio of the bandwidth of the pump to the bandwidth of the detected photons. We have also found suppression and enhancement in the two-photon absorption probabilities for specific time delays applied to the N00N states.

Double-port measurements for robust quantum optical metrology

It has been proposed and demonstrated that path-entangled Fock states (PEFSs) are robust against photon loss over NOON states [S. D. Huver \emph{et al.}, Phys. Rev. A \textbf{78}, 063828 (2008)]. However, the demonstration was based on a measurement scheme which was yet to be implemented in experiments. In this work, we quantitatively illustrate the advantage of PEFSs over NOON states in the presence of photon losses by analytically calculating the quantum Fisher information. To realize such an advantage in practice, we then investigate the achievable sensitivities by employing three types of feasible measurements: parity, photon-number-resolving, and homodyne measurements. We here apply a double-port measurement strategy where the photons at each output port of the interferometer are simultaneously detected with the aforementioned types of measurements.

Engineering distributed atomic NOON states via single-photon detection

We propose a simple and novel scheme to generate a NOON state for the atoms trapped in two separate cavities by means of single-photon detection. The light–atom interaction entangles the frequency spectrum of light and the atomic collective spins, and the photon–atom entangled state is converted to a purely atomic NOON state by time-resolved detection on the transmitted photon. The fidelity of the NOON state reduces in the presence of dissipation. We further propose an effective protocol to improve the fidelity, which yields a high-fidelity many-atom NOON state. Our scheme can be implemented with the current technology.

Coherence-based characterization of macroscopic quantumness

One of the most elusive problems in quantum mechanics is the transition between classical and quantum physics. This problem can be traced back to the Schr\"{o}dinger's cat. A key element that lies at the center of this problem is the lack of a clear understanding and characterization of macroscopic quantum states. Our understanding of Macroscopic Quantumness relies on states such as the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger(GHZ) or the NOON state. Here we take a first principle approach to this problem. We start from coherence as the key quantity that captures the notion of quantumness and demand the quantumness to be collective and macroscopic. To this end, we introduce macroscopic coherence which is the coherence between macroscopically distinct quantum states. We construct a measure that quantifies how global and collective the coherence of the state is. Our work also provides a first-principle way to derive well-established states like the GHZ and the NOON state as the states that maximize our measure. This new approach paves the way towards a better understanding of the Quantum-to-Classical transition.

Non-classical light in a J x photonic lattice

We report the study of non-classical light in a photonic lattice having a parabolic coupling distribution, also known as a J x photonic lattice. We focus on a two-photon Fock state, a two-photon N00N state, a single-mode squeezed state and a coherent state as inputs to the lattice. We investigate the possibility of a perfect transfer of the mean photon number as well as the quantum state from one waveguide mode to another. We study photon–photon correlation for the two-photon N00N state. For the single-mode squeezed state we perform a detailed study of the evolution of the squeezing factor and entanglement between the waveguide modes. Our findings suggest a perfect transfer of the average photon number in all cases and a perfect transfer of the quantum state in the cases of the two-photon Fock state and the two-photon N00N state only, but not in the cases of the squeezed and coherent states. Our results should have applications in the physical implementation of photonic continuous-variable quantum-information processing.

NOON states with ultracold bosonic atoms via resonance- and chaos-assisted tunneling

We theoretically investigate the generation of microscopic atomic NOON states, corresponding to the coherent |N,0> + |0,N> superposition with N ~ 5 particles, via collective tunneling of interacting ultracold bosonic atoms within a symmetric double-well potential in the self-trapping regime. We show that a periodic driving of the double well with suitably tuned amplitude and frequency parameters allows one to substantially boost this tunneling process without altering its collective character. The time scale to generate the NOON superposition, which corresponds to half the tunneling time and would be prohibitively large in the undriven double well for the considered atomic populations, can thereby be drastically reduced, which renders the realization of NOON states through this protocol experimentally feasible. Resonance- and chaos-assisted tunneling are identified as key mechanisms in this context. A quantitative semiclassical evaluation of their impact onto the collective tunneling process allows one to determine the optimal choice for the driving parameters in order to generate those NOON states as fast as possible.

Publisher’s Note: Superresolving phase measurement with short-wavelength NOON states by quantum frequency up-conversion [Phys. Rev. Applied 7 , 064025 (2017)

Received 5 November 2020DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.14.059903© 2020 American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasEntanglement productionOptical interferometryOptical quantum information processingQuantum metrologyQuantum opticsQuantum state engineeringSecond order nonlinear optical processesTechniquesSuper-resolution techniquesGeneral PhysicsQuantum InformationAtomic, Molecular & Optical

NOON state generation beyond the Lamb–Dicke limit in trapped-ion systems

In this paper, we show that multi-phonon NOON states can be generated in a two-dimensional anisotropic trapped-ion system. In the proposal, two laser pulses are applied to an ion along different directions in the ion trap plane to exchange the information between the external and internal states of the ion. Different from the previous frameworks, the proposal is outside the Lamb–Dicke regime. The distinct advantage of the proposed scheme is that the entanglement generation is deterministic and no measurement on the system is required. Numerical simulations show that the fidelity of the prepared entangled states is strongly affected by Lamb–Dicke parameters.

Multimode N00N states in driven atomtronic circuits

We propose a method to generate multi-mode N00N states with arrays of ultracold atoms. Our protocol requires a strong relative offset among the wells and a drive of the interparticle interaction at a frequency resonant with the offsets. The proposal is demonstrated by a numerical and a Floquet analysis of the quantum dynamics of a ring-shaped atomtronics circuit made of M weakly coupled optical traps. We generate a hierarchy of energy scales down to very few low-energy states where N00N dynamics takes place, making multi-mode N00N states appear at nearly regular time intervals. The production of multi-mode N00N states can be probed by time-of-flight imaging. Such states may be used to build a multiple beam splitter.

Optimal quantum phase estimation in an atomic gyroscope based on a Bose-Hubbard model

We investigate the optimal quantum state for an atomic gyroscope based on a three-site Bose-Hubbard model. In previous studies, various states such as the uncorrelated state, the BAT state and the NOON state are employed as the probe states to estimate the phase uncertainty. In this article, we present a Hermitian operator H and an equivalent unitary parametrization transformation to calculate the quantum Fisher information for any initial states. Exploiting this equivalent unitary parametrization transformation, we can seek the optimal state that gives the maximal quantum Fisher information on both lossless and lossy conditions. As a result, we find that the squeezed entangled state (SES) and the entangled even squeezed state (EESS) can significantly enhance the precision for moderate loss rates compared with previous proposals.

Generating spatially entangled itinerant photons with waveguide quantum electrodynamics.

Realizing a fully connected network of quantum processors requires the ability to distribute quantum entanglement. For distant processing nodes, this can be achieved by generating, routing, and capturing spatially entangled itinerant photons. In this work, we demonstrate the deterministic generation of such photons using superconducting transmon qubits that are directly coupled to a waveguide. In particular, we generate two-photon N00N states and show that the state and spatial entanglement of the emitted photons are tunable via the qubit frequencies. Using quadrature amplitude detection, we reconstruct the moments and correlations of the photonic modes and demonstrate state preparation fidelities of 84%. Our results provide a path toward realizing quantum communication and teleportation protocols using itinerant photons generated by quantum interference within a waveguide quantum electrodynamics architecture.

Integrated Source of Path-Entangled Photon Pairs with Efficient Pump Self-Rejection.

We present a theoretical proposal for an integrated four-wave mixing source of narrow-band path-entangled photon pairs with efficient spatial pump self-rejection. The scheme is based on correlated loss in a system of waveguides in Kerr nonlinear media. We calculate that this setup gives the possibility for upwards of 100 dB pump rejection, without additional filtering. The effect is reached by driving the symmetric collective mode that is strongly attenuated by an engineered dissipation, while photon pairs are born in the antisymmetric mode. A similar set-up can additionally be realized for the generation of two-photon NOON states, also with pump self-rejection. We discuss the implementation of the scheme by means of the coherent diffusive photonics, and demostrate its feasibility in both glass (such as fused silica-glass and IG2) and planar semiconductor waveguide structures in indium phosphide (InP) and in silicon.