24,809 research outputs found
Indefinite Causal Order in a Quantum Switch
In quantum mechanics events can happen in no definite causal order: in
practice this can be verified by measuring a causal witness, in the same way
that an entanglement witness verifies entanglement. Indefinite causal order can
be observed in a quantum switch, where two operations act in a quantum
superposition of the two possible orders. Here we realise a photonic quantum
switch, where polarisation coherently controls the order of two operations,
and , on the transverse spatial mode of the photons. Our
setup avoids the limitations of earlier implementations: the operations cannot
be distinguished by spatial or temporal position. We show that our quantum
switch has no definite causal order, by constructing a causal witness and
measuring its value to be 18 standard deviations beyond the definite-order
bound
Abrupt Changes in the Dynamics of Quantum Disentanglement
Entanglement evolution in high dimensional bipartite systems under
dissipation is studied. Discontinuities for the time derivative of the lower
bound of entanglement of formation is found depending on the initial conditions
for entangled states. This abrupt changes along the evolution appears as
precursors of entanglement sudden death.Comment: 4 pages and 6 figures, submitted for publicatio
Efficiency in Quantum Key Distribution Protocols with Entangled Gaussian States
Quantum key distribution (QKD) refers to specific quantum strategies which
permit the secure distribution of a secret key between two parties that wish to
communicate secretly. Quantum cryptography has proven unconditionally secure in
ideal scenarios and has been successfully implemented using quantum states with
finite (discrete) as well as infinite (continuous) degrees of freedom. Here, we
analyze the efficiency of QKD protocols that use as a resource entangled
gaussian states and gaussian operations only. In this framework, it has already
been shown that QKD is possible (M. Navascu\'es et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 94,
010502 (2005)) but the issue of its efficiency has not been considered. We
propose a figure of merit (the efficiency ) to quantify the number of
classical correlated bits that can be used to distill a key from a sample of
entangled states. We relate the efficiency of the protocol to the
entanglement and purity of the states shared between the parties.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, OSID style, published versio
Lattice Properties of PbX (X = S, Se, Te): Experimental Studies and ab initio Calculations Including Spin-Orbit Effects
During the past five years the low temperature heat capacity of simple
semiconductors and insulators has received renewed attention. Of particular
interest has been its dependence on isotopic masses and the effect of spin-
orbit coupling in ab initio calculations. Here we concentrate on the lead
chalcogenides PbS, PbSe and PbTe. These materials, with rock salt structure,
have different natural isotopes for both cations and anions, a fact that allows
a systematic experimental and theoretical study of isotopic effects e.g. on the
specific heat. Also, the large spin-orbit splitting of the 6p electrons of Pb
and the 5p of Te allows, using a computer code which includes spin-orbit
interaction, an investigation of the effect of this interaction on the phonon
dispersion relations and the temperature dependence of the specific heat and on
the lattice parameter. It is shown that agreement between measurements and
calculations significantly improves when spin-orbit interaction is included.Comment: 25 pages, 12 Figures, 1 table, submitted to PR
On the structure of the sets of mutually unbiased bases for N qubits
For a system of N qubits, spanning a Hilbert space of dimension d=2^N, it is
known that there exists d+1 mutually unbiased bases. Different construction
algorithms exist, and it is remarkable that different methods lead to sets of
bases with different properties as far as separability is concerned. Here we
derive the four sets of nine bases for three qubits, and show how they are
unitarily related. We also briefly discuss the four-qubit case, give the
entanglement structure of sixteen sets of bases,and show some of them, and
their interrelations, as examples. The extension of the method to the general
case of N qubits is outlined.Comment: 16 pages, 10 tables, 1 figur
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