298 research outputs found
Quantum homodyne tomography of a two-photon Fock state
We present a continuous-variable experimental analysis of a two-photon Fock
state of free-propagating light. This state is obtained from a pulsed
non-degenerate parametric amplifier, which produces two intensity-correlated
twin beams. Counting two photons in one beam projects the other beam in the
desired two-photon Fock state, which is analyzed by using a pulsed homodyne
detection. The Wigner function of the measured state is clearly negative. We
developed a detailed analytic model which allows a fast and efficient analysis
of the experimental results.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures Revised version : corrected typo and reference
Nonclassical radiation from diamond nanocrystals
The quantum properties of the fluorescence light emitted by diamond
nanocrystals containing a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) colored center is
investigated. We have observed photon antibunching with very low background
light. This system is therefore a very good candidate for the production of
single photon on demand. In addition, we have measured larger NV center
lifetime in nanocrystals than in the bulk, in good agreement with a simple
quantum electrodynamical model.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, revised version, to appear in PR
Noiseless Linear Amplification and Quantum Channels
The employ of a noiseless linear amplifier (NLA) has been proven as a useful
tool for mitigating imperfections in quantum channels. Its analysis is usually
conducted within specific frameworks, for which the set of input states for a
given protocol is fixed. Here we obtain a more general description by showing
that a noisy and lossy Gaussian channel followed by a NLA has a general
description in terms of effective channels. This has the advantage of offering
a simpler mathematical description, best suitable for mixed states, both
Gaussian and non-Gaussian. We investigate the main properties of this effective
system, and illustrate its potential by applying it to loss compensation and
reduction of phase uncertainty.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
Single photon quantum cryptography
We report the full implementation of a quantum cryptography protocol using a
stream of single photon pulses generated by a stable and efficient source
operating at room temperature. The single photon pulses are emitted on demand
by a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color center in a diamond nanocrystal. The
quantum bit error rate is less that 4.6% and the secure bit rate is 9500
bits/s. The overall performances of our system reaches a domain where single
photons have a measurable advantage over an equivalent system based on
attenuated light pulses.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Increasing entanglement between Gaussian states by coherent photon subtraction
We experimentally demonstrate that the entanglement between Gaussian
entangled states can be increased by non-Gaussian operations. Coherent
subtraction of single photons from Gaussian quadrature-entangled light pulses,
created by a non-degenerate parametric amplifier, produces delocalized states
with negative Wigner functions and complex structures, more entangled than the
initial states in terms of negativity. The experimental results are in very
good agreement with the theoretical predictions
Identification of Nonlinear Systems Structured by Wiener-Hammerstein Model
Wiener-Hammerstein systems consist of a series connection including a nonlinear static element sandwiched with two linear subsystems. The problem of identifying Wiener-Hammerstein models is addressed in the presence of hard nonlinearity and two linear subsystems of structure entirely unknown (asymptotically stable). Furthermore, the static nonlinearity is not required to be invertible. Given the system nonparametric nature, the identification problem is presently dealt with by developing a two-stage frequency identification method, involving simple inputs
Virtual Entanglement and Reconciliation Protocols for Quantum Cryptography with Continuous Variables
We discuss quantum key distribution protocols using quantum continuous
variables. We show that such protocols can be made secure against individual
gaussian attacks regardless the transmission of the optical line between Alice
and Bob. This is achieved by reversing the reconciliation procedure subsequent
to the quantum transmission, that is, using Bob's instead of Alice's data to
build the key. Although squeezing or entanglement may be helpful to improve the
resistance to noise, they are not required for the protocols to remain secure
with high losses. Therefore, these protocols can be implemented very simply by
transmitting coherent states and performing homodyne detection. Here, we show
that entanglement nevertheless plays a crucial role in the security analysis of
coherent state protocols. Every cryptographic protocol based on displaced
gaussian states turns out to be equivalent to an entanglement-based protocol,
even though no entanglement is actually present. This equivalence even holds in
the absence of squeezing, for coherent state protocols. This ``virtual''
entanglement is important to assess the security of these protocols as it
provides an upper bound on the mutual information between Alice and Bob if they
had used entanglement. The resulting security criteria are compared to the
separability criterion for bipartite gaussian variables. It appears that the
security thresholds are well within the entanglement region. This supports the
idea that coherent state quantum cryptography may be unconditionally secure.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures. Submitted to QI
Qubit-Programmable Operations on Quantum Light Fields
Engineering quantum operations is one of the main abilities we need for
developing quantum technologies and designing new fundamental tests. Here we
propose a scheme for realising a controlled operation acting on a travelling
quantum field, whose functioning is determined by an input qubit. This study
introduces new concepts and methods in the interface of continuous- and
discrete-variable quantum optical systems.Comment: Comments welcom
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