Single-photon Entanglement Research Articles

Quantum frequency conversion with coherent transfer of time-bin encoding

Time-bin encoding of photons offers a robust kind of long-distance quantum communication over lossy channels. The diversity of material nodes in quantum networks operating at natural frequencies requires coherent frequency and wave-form conversion of information-carrying photons to provide an efficient quantum interface with optical fibers and various quantum memories, which has been extensively studied. However, the quantum frequency conversion with transfer of time-bin encoding between single photons of different wavelengths has not yet been explored. In this paper, we present a method for efficiently exchanging time-bin encoding in the conversion process between two photons propagating in cold tripod atoms driven by a strong laser field. The latter is designed to slow down photons and suppress their absorption due to electromagnetically induced transparency. Photons interact parametrically through modified atomic coherence, which is utilized also to achieve equal group velocities of photons. We demonstrate the ability of our model to generate entanglement between distant atoms that equally share the original quantum information stored in the ground-state polarization qubits of both atoms. The proposed method for frequency conversion based on modified atomic coherence is promising because it can simplify the implementation of reliable and high-speed quantum communication protocols based on single-photon entanglement.

Single-photon nonlocality in quantum networks

The state obtained when a single photon impinges on a balanced beamsplitter is often known as single-photon entangled and its nonlocal properties have been the subject of intense debates in the quantum optics and foundations communities. It is however clear that a standard Bell test made only of passive optical elements cannot reveal the nonlocality of this state. We show that the nonlocality of single-photon entangled states can nevertheless be revealed in a quantum network made only of beamsplitters and photodetectors. In our protocol, three single-photon entangled states are distributed in a triangle network, introducing indeterminacy in the photons' paths and creating nonlocal correlations without the need for measurements choices. We discuss a concrete experimental realisation and provide numerical evidence of the tolerance of our protocol to standard noise sources. Our results show that single-photon entanglement may constitute a promising solution to generate genuine network-nonlocal correlations useful for Bell-based quantum information protocols.

Certified Quantum Random-Number Generator Based on Single-Photon Entanglement

Quantum entanglement represents an ideal resource to guarantee the security of random numbers employed in many scientific and cryptographic applications. However, entanglement-based certified random number generators are particularly challenging to implement. Here, we demonstrate a certified quantum random number generator based on momentum-polarization entangled single-photon states. The use of single-photon entanglement allows an attenuated laser source to be employed and a simple setup where only linear optical components are utilized. For the latter, a semi-device-independent modeling of the photonic quantum random number generator is developed, which certifies a minimum entropy of $(2.5\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.5)\mathrm{%}$, corresponding to a generation rate of 4.4 kHz. At the expenses of a higher level of trust in the system, the certified minimum entropy can be increased to $(30.1\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.5)\mathrm{%}$, implying a generation rate of 52.7 kHz. Our results show that a simple optical implementation combined with an accurate modeling provide an entanglement-based high-security quantum random number generator using imperfect devices.

Modified quantum delayed-choice experiment without quantum control or entanglement assistance

Wheeler's delayed-choice experiment delays the decision to observe either the wave or particle behavior of a photon until after it has entered the interferometer, and the quantum delayed-choice experiment provides the possibility of observing the wave and particle behaviors with a single experimental setup by introducing quantum control. We here propose a modified quantum delayed-choice experiment without quantum control or entanglement assistance, in which a photon can be prepared in a wave-particle superposition state and the morphing behavior of wave-to-particle transition can be observed easily. It is demonstrated that the presented scheme can allow us to rule out classical hidden-variable models in a device-independent manner via violating dimension witness. We also extend the scheme to the situation of two degrees of freedom, first constructing a hybrid quantum delayed-choice experiment which enables a photon respectively exhibits wave and particle behaviors in different degrees of freedom, and then proposing a scheme to prepare the single-photon wave-particle entanglement. This study is not only meaningful to explore the wave-particle complementarity of photons, but also provides potential for the research of the single-particle nonlocality from the perspective of the wave-particle degree of freedom.

Wave-particle duality in single-photon entanglement

Single-photon entanglement, the entanglement between vacuum state and single-photon state, is essentially the entanglement of particle characteristics. Wave-particle duality indicates that wave property and particle property could coexist. Can we find evidence of wave-behavior entanglement in single-photon entanglement? Here, based on the construction of Bell-like inequality in wave space, we propose a method to verify the wave-particle duality in single-photon entanglement. First, we define the wave state in two-dimensional space relative to the photon number state, and propose a method to measure the wave state. The strong violation of Bell’s inequality based on the joint measurement of wave states indicates the existence of single-photon entanglement, and the wave is the conjugate variable of the particle. Wave state entanglement obtained from Fourier transform of single photon entanglement and the corresponding measurement protocols will provide us with more information-carrying schemes in the field of quantum information. The difference in the representation in photon-number space and wave space implies the wave-particle duality of single photon entanglement.

Efficient reversible entanglement transfer between light and quantum memories

Reversible entanglement transfer between light and matter is a crucial requisite for the ongoing developments of quantum information technologies. Quantum networks and their envisioned applications, e.g., secure communications beyond direct transmission, distributed quantum computing, or enhanced sensing, rely on entanglement distribution between nodes. Although entanglement transfer has been demonstrated, a current roadblock is the limited efficiency of this process that can compromise the scalability of multi-step architectures. Here we demonstrate the efficient transfer of heralded single-photon entanglement into and out of two quantum memories based on large ensembles of cold cesium atoms. We achieve an overall storage-and-retrieval efficiency of 85% together with a preserved suppression of the two-photon component of about 10% of the value for a coherent state. Our work constitutes an important capability that is needed toward large scale networks and increased functionality.

Connecting heterogeneous quantum networks by hybrid entanglement swapping.

Recent advances in quantum technologies are rapidly stimulating the building of quantum networks. With the parallel development of multiple physical platforms and different types of encodings, a challenge for present and future networks is to uphold a heterogeneous structure for full functionality and therefore support modular systems that are not necessarily compatible with one another. Central to this endeavor is the capability to distribute and interconnect optical entangled states relying on different discrete and continuous quantum variables. Here, we report an entanglement swapping protocol connecting such entangled states. We generate single-photon entanglement and hybrid entanglement between particle- and wave-like optical qubits and then demonstrate the heralded creation of hybrid entanglement at a distance by using a specific Bell-state measurement. This ability opens up the prospect of connecting heterogeneous nodes of a network, with the promise of increased integration and novel functionalities.

Solid-state quantum memory for hybrid entanglement involving three degrees of freedom

A quantum memory for photonic entanglement is the basic component in quantum networks. Photons entangled in multiple degrees of freedom enable the mutual transformation of Hilbert spaces for the same particle and different particles, thereby connecting heterogeneous nodes in the quantum network. So far, the quantum storage for photonic entanglement is limited to two degrees of freedom. Here, we demonstrate the heralded storage of single-photon hybrid entanglement involving three degrees of freedom (polarization, orbital angular momentum, and path) using a solid-state medium. The fidelity of the output state with the ideal maximum entangled state is $94.0\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.8%$. The quantum property of the retrieved state is verified by testing the hypothesis of noncontextual hidden-variable theories. These results demonstrate the entanglement interface between light and matter involving multiple degrees of freedom, paving the way for the construction of hybrid quantum networks.

Counterfactual protocol within device independent framework and its insecurity

We consider the counterfactual protocol proposed in Phys. Rev. Lett., 103, 230501 (2009) within a device independent framework and show how its security can easily be compromised. Capitalising on the fact that the protocol is based on the use of a single photon entanglement phenomenon, we propose an equivalent protocol. It can be made secure within such a pessimistic framework against a supra-quantum Eve limited only by the no-signalling principle. The equivalence the protocol demonstrates the possibility of device independent framework for counterfactual quantum cryptography.

Phase Matching Quantum Key Distribution based on Single-Photon Entanglement

Two time-reversal quantum key distribution (QKD) schemes are the quantum entanglement based device-independent (DI)-QKD and measurement-device-independent (MDI)-QKD. The recently proposed twin field (TF)-QKD, also known as phase-matching (PM)-QKD, has improved the key rate bound from O(η) to O(sqrt{{boldsymbol{eta }}}) with η the channel transmittance. In fact, TF-QKD is a kind of MDI-QKD but based on single-photon detection. In this paper, we propose a different PM-QKD based on single-photon entanglement, referred to as single-photon entanglement-based phase-matching (SEPM)-QKD, which can be viewed as a time-reversed version of the TF-QKD. Detection loopholes of the standard Bell test, which often occur in DI-QKD over long transmission distances, are not present in this protocol because the measurement settings and key information are the same quantity which is encoded in the local weak coherent state. We give a security proof of SEPM-QKD and demonstrate in theory that it is secure against all collective attacks and beam-splitting attacks. The simulation results show that the key rate enjoys a bound of O(sqrt{{boldsymbol{eta }}}) with respect to the transmittance. SEPM-QKD not only helps us understand TF-QKD more deeply, but also hints at a feasible approach to eliminate detection loopholes in DI-QKD for long-distance communications.

Noiseless linear amplification for the single-photon entanglement of arbitrary polarization–time-bin qudit**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11474168 and 11747161), the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, China, and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2018M642293).

Single-photon entanglement (SPE) is an important source in quantum communication. In this paper, we put forward a single-photon-assisted noiseless linear amplification protocol to protect the SPE of an arbitrary polarization–time-bin qudit from the photon transmission loss caused by the practical channel noise. After the amplification, the fidelity of the SPE can be effectively increased. Meanwhile, the encoded polarization–time-bin features of the qudit can be well preserved. The protocol can be realized under the current experimental conditions. Moreover, the amplification protocol can be extended to resist complete photon loss and partial photon loss during the photon transmission. After the amplification, we can not only increase the fidelity of the target state, but also solve the decoherence problem simultaneously. Based on the above features, our amplification protocol may be useful in future quantum communication.

Entanglement of single-photons and chiral phonons in atomically thin WSe2

Quantum entanglement is a fundamental phenomenon that, on the one hand, reveals deep connections between quantum mechanics, gravity and spacetime1,2, and on the other hand, has practical applications as a key resource in quantum information processing3. Although it is routinely achieved in photon–atom ensembles4, entanglement involving solid-state5–7 or macroscopic objects8 remains challenging albeit promising for both fundamental physics and technological applications. Here, we report entanglement between collective, chiral vibrations in a two-dimensional WSe2 host—chiral phonons (CPs)—and single-photons emitted from quantum dots9–13 (QDs) present in it. CPs that carry angular momentum were recently observed in WSe2 and are a distinguishing feature of the underlying honeycomb lattice14,15. The entanglement results from a ‘which-way’ scattering process, involving an optical excitation in a QD and doubly-degenerate CPs, which takes place via two indistinguishable paths. Our unveiling of entanglement involving a macroscopic, collective excitation together with strong interactions between CPs and QDs in two-dimensional materials opens up ways for phonon-driven entanglement of QDs and engineering chiral or non-reciprocal interactions at the single-photon level. A ‘which-way’ scattering process can generate entanglement between single photons and collective chiral vibrations in two-dimensional tungsten diselenide. The result opens up ways for engineering non-reciprocal interactions at the quantum level.

A Quantum Secret Sharing Scheme Using Orbital Angular Momentum onto Multiple Spin States Based on Fibonacci Compression Encoding**Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under No. 61702427 and the Doctoral Program of Higher Education under Grant No. SWU115091, the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (XDJK2018C048), and the financial support in part by the 1000-Plan of Chongqing

Since the use of a quantum channel is very expensive for transmitting large messages, it is vital to develop an effective quantum compression encoding scheme that is easy to implement. Given that, with the single-photon spin-orbit entanglement, we propose a quantum secret sharing scheme using orbital angular momentum onto multiple spin states based on Fibonacci compression encoding. In our proposed scheme, we can represent the frequency of any secret message which is typically collection of bits encodings of text or integers as a bitstring using the base Fibonacci sequence, which is encoded multiple spin states for secret shares transmitted to participants. We demonstrate that Fibonacci compression encoding carries excellent properties that enable us to achieve more robust quantum secret sharing schemes with fewer number of photons.

Heralded amplification of single-photon entanglement with polarization feature

Heralded noiseless amplification is beneficial in overcoming transmission photon loss in a noisy quantum channel. We propose a single-photon-assisted heralded noiseless amplification protocol of the single-photon entanglement (SPE), where the single-photon qubit has an arbitrary unknown polarization feature. We focus on both the complete and partial photon loss during the transmission process. After the amplification, the parties can recover the pure less-entangled SPE into a maximally entangled SPE and increase its fidelity. Moreover, the polarization feature of the single-photon qubit will be well preserved and not be leaked. Our protocol can be realized under our current experimental condition. Based on the features above, our protocol may be useful in the quantum secure communication schemes that encode information in the polarization degree of freedom of photons.

Generation of Short Hard-X-Ray Pulses of Tailored Duration Using a Mössbauer Source

We theoretically investigate a scheme for generations of single hard X-ray pulses of controllable duration in the range of 1 ns - 100 ns from a radioactive M\"ossbauer source. The scheme uses a magnetically perturbed $^{57}$FeBO$_3$ crystal illuminated with recoilless 14.4 keV photons from a radioisotope $^{57}$Co nuclide. Such compact X-ray source is useful for the extension of quantum optics to 10 keV energy scale which has been spotlighted in recent years. So far, experimental achievements are mostly performed in synchrotron radiation facilities. However, tabletop and portable hard X-ray sources are still limited for time-resolved measurements and for implementing coherent controls over nuclear quantum optics systems. The availability of compact hard X-ray sources may become the engine to apply schemes of quantum information down to the subatomic scale. We demonstrate that the present method is versatile and provides an economic solution utilizing a M\"ossbauer source to perform time-resolved nuclear scattering, to produce suitable pulses for photon storage and to flexibly generate X-ray single-photon entanglement.

Deterministic delivery of remote entanglement on a quantum network.

Large-scale quantum networks promise to enable secure communication, distributed quantum computing, enhanced sensing and fundamental tests of quantum mechanics through the distribution of entanglement across nodes1-7. Moving beyond current two-node networks8-13 requires the rate of entanglement generation between nodes to exceed the decoherence (loss) rate of the entanglement. If this criterion is met, intrinsically probabilistic entangling protocols can be used to provide deterministic remote entanglement at pre-specified times. Here we demonstrate this using diamond spin qubit nodes separated by two metres. We realize a fully heralded single-photon entanglement protocol that achieves entangling rates of up to 39 hertz, three orders of magnitude higher than previously demonstrated two-photon protocols on this platform 14 . At the same time, we suppress the decoherence rate of remote-entangled states to five hertz through dynamical decoupling. By combining these results with efficient charge-state control and mitigation of spectral diffusion, we deterministically deliver a fresh remote state with an average entanglement fidelity of more than 0.5 at every clock cycle of about 100 milliseconds without any pre- or post-selection. These results demonstrate a key building block for extended quantum networks and open the door to entanglement distribution across multiple remote nodes.

Heralded noiseless amplification for single-photon entangled state with polarization feature

Heralded noiseless amplification is a promising method to overcome the transmission photon loss in practical noisy quantum channel and can effectively lengthen the quantum communication distance. Single-photon entanglement is an important resource in current quantum communications. Here, we construct two single-photon-assisted heralded noiseless amplification protocols for the single-photon two-mode entangled state and single-photon three-mode W state, respectively, where the single-photon qubit has an arbitrary unknown polarization feature. After the amplification, the fidelity of the single-photon entangled state can be increased, while the polarization feature of the single-photon qubit can be well remained. Both the two protocols only require the linear optical elements, so that they can be realized under current experimental condition. Our protocols may be useful in current and future quantum information processing.

Recyclable amplification for single-photon entanglement from photon loss and decoherence

We put forward a highly efficient recyclable single-photon assisted amplification protocol, which can protect single-photon entanglement (SPE) from photon loss and decoherence. Making use of quantum nondemolition detection gates constructed with the help of cross-Kerr nonlinearity, our protocol has some attractive advantages. First, the parties can recover less-entangled SPE to be maximally entangled SPE, and reduce photon loss simultaneously. Second, if the protocol fails, the parties can repeat the protocol to reuse some discarded items, which can increase the success probability. Third, when the protocol is successful, they can similarly repeat the protocol to further increase the fidelity of the SPE. Thereby, our protocol provides a possible way to obtain high entanglement, high fidelity and high success probability simultaneously. In particular, our protocol shows higher success probability in the practical high photon loss channel. Based on the above features, our amplification protocol has potential for future application in long-distance quantum communication.

Protecting single-photon entanglement with practical entanglement source

Single-photon entanglement (SPE) is important for quantum communication and quantum information processing. However, SPE is sensitive to photon loss. In this paper, we discuss a linear optical amplification protocol for protecting SPE. Different from the previous protocols, we exploit the practical spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) source to realize the amplification, for the ideal entanglement source is unavailable in current quantum technology. Moreover, we prove that the amplification using the entanglement generated from SPDC source as auxiliary is better than the amplification assisted with single photons. The reason is that the vacuum state from SPDC source will not affect the amplification, so that it can be eliminated automatically. This protocol may be useful in future long-distance quantum communications.

Efficient Concentration Protocols for the Single-Photon Entanglement State with Polarization Feature

We propose two efficient entanglement concentration protocols (ECPs) for arbitrary less-entangled single-photon entanglement state, in which the photon qubit has the polarization feature. The first ECP is in linear optics, and the second ECP is in nonlinear optics. The two ECPs have some attractive advantages. First, they can preserve the polarization feature of the photon qubit, while all the other existing ECPs for single photon state cannot achieve this goal. Second, they only require one pair of less-entangled single-photon entanglement state and some auxiliary single photons. Third, they only require local operations. Especially, the second ECP can be used repeatedly, which can increase its success probability largely. Based on above properties, our two ECPs, especially the second one may be useful in current and future quantum communication.