Scheme for a linear-optical controlled-phase gate with programmable phase shift

We present a linear-optical scheme for a controlled-phase gate with tunable phase shift programmed by a qubit state. In contrast to all previous tunable controlled-phase gates, the phase shift is not hard-coded into the optical setup, but can be tuned to any value from 0 to pi by the state of a so-called program qubit. Our setup is feasible with current level of technology using only linear-optical components. We provide an experimental feasibility study to assess the gate's implementability. We also discuss options for increasing the success probability up to 1/12 which approaches the success probability of a optimal non-programmable tunable controlled-phase gate.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Experimental measurement of the collectibility of two-qubit states

We present a proof-of-principle experiment demonstrating measurement of the collectibility, a nonlinear entanglement witness proposed by Rudnicki et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 150502 (2011)]. This entanglement witness works for both mixed and pure two-qubit states. In the later case it can be used to measure entanglement in terms of the negativity. We measured the collectibility for three distinct classes of photonic polarization-encoded two-qubit states, i.e., maximally entangled, separable and maximally mixed states. We demonstrate that the measurement procedure is feasible and robust against typical experimental shortcomings such as imperfect two-photon indistinguishability.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

State-dependent linear-optical qubit amplifier

We propose a linear-optical setup for heralded qubit amplification with tunable output qubit fidelity. We study its success probability as a function of output qubit fidelity showing that at the expense of lower fidelity, the setup can considerably increase probability of successful operation. These results are subsequently applied in a proposal for state dependent qubit amplification. Similarly to state-dependent quantum cloning, the a priori information about the input state allows to optimize the qubit amplification procedure to obtain better fidelity versus success probability trade-off.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Resource-efficient linear-optical quantum router

All-linear-optical scheme for fully featured quantum router is presented. This device directs the signal photonic qubit according to the state of one control photonic qubit. In the introduction we formulate the list of requirements imposed on a fully quantum router. Then we describe our proposal showing the exact principle of operation on a linear-optical scheme. Subsequently we provide generalization of the scheme in order to optimize the success probability by means of a tunable controlled-phase gate. At the end, we show how one can modify the device to route multiple signal qubits using the same control qubit.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Entangling efficiency of linear-optical quantum gates

We propose a new measure of non-classicality of quantum gates which is particularly suitable for probabilistic devices. This measure enables to compare, e.g., deterministic devices which prepare entangled states with low amount of entanglement with probabilistic devices which generate highly entangled states but which fail sometimes. We provide examples demonstrating advantages of this new measure over the so far employed entangling power.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figure

Experimental diagnostics of entanglement swapping by a collective entanglement test

The paper reports on experimental diagnostics of entanglement swapping protocol by means of collective entanglement witness. Our approach is suitable to detect disturbances occurring in the preparation of quantum states, quantum communication channel and imperfect Bell-state projection. More specifically we demonstrate that our method can distinguish disturbances such as depolarization, phase-damping, amplitude-damping and imperfect Bell-state measurement by observing four probabilities and estimating collective entanglement witness. Since entanglement swapping is a key procedure for quantum repeaters, quantum relays, device-independent quantum communications or entanglement assisted error correction, this can aid in faster and practical resolution of quality-of-transmission related problems as our approach requires less measurements then other means of diagnostics.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Entanglement-assisted scheme for nondemolition detection of the presence of a single photon

In this paper, we propose a resources-optimal linear-optical scheme for quantum nondemolition detection of single-photon presence. By measuring the state of ancillary photons, the presence of a photon in signal mode is revealed with a success probability of 1/2 without any disturbance to its state. We also show how to tune the setup to perform quantum nondemolition measurement of the signal photon state, and we provide tradeoff between the extracted information and the signal state disturbance. Moreover, the optimality of resources and methods by which to increase the success probability are discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Experimentally attacking quantum money schemes based on quantum retrieval games

The concept of quantum money (QM) was proposed by Wiesner in the 1970s. Its main advantage is that every attempt to copy QM unavoidably leads to imperfect counterfeits. In the Wiesner's protocol, quantum banknotes need to be delivered to the issuing bank for verification. Thus, QM requires quantum communication which range is limited by noise and losses. Recently, Bozzio et al. (2018) have demonstrated experimentally how to replace challenging quantum verification with a classical channel and a quantum retrieval game (QRG). This brings QM significantly closer to practical realisation, but still thorough analysis of the revised scheme QM is required before it can be considered secure. We address this problem by presenting a proof-of-concept attack on QRG-based QM schemes, where we show that even imperfect quantum cloning can, under some circumstances, provide enough information to break a QRG-based QM scheme.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure

Experimental characterization of photon-number noise in Rarity-Tapster type interferometers

In this paper, we develop a simple model describing inherent photon-number noise in Rarity-Tapster type interferometers. This noise is caused by generating photon pairs in the process of spontaneous parametric down-conversion and adding a third photon by attenuating fundamental laser mode to single-photon level. We experimentally verify our model and present resulting signal to noise ratios as well as obtained three-photon generation rates as functions of various setup parameters. Subsequently we evaluate impact of this particular source of noise on quantum teleportation which is a key quantum information protocol using this interferometric configuration.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Interplay between strong and weak measurement: Comparison of three experimental approaches to weak value estimation

Weak values are traditionally obtained using a weak interaction between the measured system and a pointer state. It has, however, been pointed out that weak coupling can be replaced by a carefully tailored strong interaction. This paper provides a direct comparison of two strong interaction-based approaches (strong interaction accompanied by either a suitably prepared pointer state or quantum erasure) and the traditional weak interaction-based method. Presented theoretical derivations explicitly prove analytical equivalence of these approaches which was subsequently certified by an experiment implemented on the platform of linear optics. We find that strong-interaction-based measurements are experimentally less demanding on this platform.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure