Optimal Decompositions of Barely Separable States

Two families of bipartite mixed quantum states are studied for which it is proved that the number of members in the optimal-decomposition ensemble --- the ensemble realizing the entanglement of formation --- is greater than the rank of the mixed state. We find examples for which the number of states in this optimal ensemble can be larger than the rank by an arbitrarily large factor. In one case the proof relies on the fact that the partial transpose of the mixed state has zero eigenvalues; in the other case the result arises from the properties of product bases that are completable only by embedding in a larger Hilbert space.Comment: 14 Pages (RevTeX), 1 figure (eps). Submitted to the special issue of the J. Mod. Opt. V2: Change in terminology from "ensemble length" to "ensemble cardinality

Quasiprobability distributions in open quantum systems: spin-qubit systems

Quasiprobability distributions (QDs) in open quantum systems are investigated for $SU(2)$, spin like systems, having relevance to quantum optics and information. In this work, effect of both quantum non-demolition (QND) and dissipative open quantum systems, on the evolution of a number of spin QDs are investigated. Specifically, compact analytic expressions for the $W$, $P$, $Q$, and $F$ functions are obtained for some interesting single, two and three qubit states, undergoing general open system evolutions. Further, corresponding QDs are reported for an N qubit Dicke model and a spin-1 system. The existence of nonclassical characteristics are observed in all the systems investigated here. The study leads to a clear understanding of quantum to classical transition in a host of realistic physical scenarios. Variation of the amount of nonclassicality observed in the quantum systems, studied here,are also investigated using nonclassical volume.Comment: 23 pages 13 figure

Quantum phase properties of photon added and subtracted displaced Fock states

Quantum phase properties of photon added and subtracted displaced Fock states (and a set of quantum states which can be obtained as the limiting cases of these states) are investigated from a number of perspectives, and it is shown that the quantum phase properties are dependent on the quantum state engineering operations performed. Specifically, the analytic expressions for quantum phase distributions and angular $Q$ distribution as well as measures of quantum phase fluctuation and phase dispersion are obtained. The uniform phase distribution of the initial Fock states is observed to be transformed by the unitary operation (i.e., displacement operator) into non-Gaussian shape, except for the initial vacuum state. It is observed that the phase distribution is symmetric with respect to the phase of the displacement parameter and becomes progressively narrower as its amplitude increases. The non-unitary (photon addition/subtraction) operations make it even narrower in contrast to the Fock parameter, which leads to broadness. The photon subtraction is observed to be a more powerful quantum state engineering tool in comparison to the photon addition. Further, one of the quantum phase fluctuation parameters is found to reveal the existence of antibunching in both the engineered quantum states under consideration. Finally, the relevance of the engineered quantum states in the quantum phase estimation is also discussed, and photon added displaced Fock state is shown to be preferable for the task.Comment: Quantum phase properties of an engineered quantum state has been studied from various perspective

Exact and Asymptotic Measures of Multipartite Pure State Entanglement

In an effort to simplify the classification of pure entangled states of multi (m) -partite quantum systems, we study exactly and asymptotically (in n) reversible transformations among n'th tensor powers of such states (ie n copies of the state shared among the same m parties) under local quantum operations and classical communication (LOCC). With regard to exact transformations, we show that two states whose 1-party entropies agree are either locally-unitarily (LU) equivalent or else LOCC-incomparable. In particular we show that two tripartite Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states are LOCC-incomparable to three bipartite Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) states symmetrically shared among the three parties. Asymptotic transformations result in a simpler classification than exact transformations. We show that m-partite pure states having an m-way Schmidt decomposition are simply parameterizable, with the partial entropy across any nontrivial partition representing the number of standard ``Cat'' states (|0^m>+|1^m>) asymptotically interconvertible to the state in question. For general m-partite states, partial entropies across different partitions need not be equal, and since partial entropies are conserved by asymptotically reversible LOCC operations, a multicomponent entanglement measure is needed, with each scalar component representing a different kind of entanglement, not asymptotically interconvertible to the other kinds. In particular the m=4 Cat state is not isentropic to, and therefore not asymptotically interconvertible to, any combination of bipartite and tripartite states shared among the four parties. Thus, although the m=4 cat state can be prepared from bipartite EPR states, the preparation process is necessarily irreversible, and remains so even asymptotically.Comment: 13 pages including 3 PostScript figures. v3 has updated references and discussion, to appear Phys. Rev.

Lower- and higher-order nonclassical properties of photon added and subtracted displaced Fock states

Nonclassical properties of photon added and subtracted displaced Fock states have been studied using various witnesses of lower- and higher-order nonclassicality. Compact analytic expressions are obtained for the nonclassicality witnesses. Using those expressions, it is established that these states and the states that can be obtained as their limiting cases (except coherent states) are highly nonclassical as they show the existence of lower- and higher-order antibunching and sub-Poissonian photon statistics, in addition to the nonclassical features revealed through the Mandel $Q_M$ parameter, zeros of Q function, Klyshko's criterion, and Agarwal-Tara criterion. Further, some comparison between the nonclassicality of photon added and subtracted displaced Fock states have been performed using witnesses of nonclassicality. This has established that between the two types of non-Gaussianity inducing operations (i.e., photon addition and subtraction) used here, photon addition influences the nonclassical properties more strongly. Further, optical designs for the generation of photon added and subtracted displaced Fock states from squeezed vacuum state have also been proposed.Comment: A comparative study of the nonclassicality present in photon added and subtracted displaced Fock states shows photon addition is generally preferable nonclassicality inducing operation, while subtraction also has advantage in some cases over additio

Perfect initialization of a quantum computer of neutral atoms in an optical lattice of large lattice constant

We propose a scheme for the initialization of a quantum computer based on neutral atoms trapped in an optical lattice with large lattice constant. Our focus is the development of a compacting scheme to prepare a perfect optical lattice of simple orthorhombic structure with unit occupancy. Compacting is accomplished by sequential application of two types of operations: a flip operator that changes the internal state of the atoms, and a shift operator that moves them along the lattice principal axis. We propose physical mechanisms for realization of these operations and we study the effects of motional heating of the atoms. We carry out an analysis of the complexity of the compacting scheme and show that it scales linearly with the number of lattice sites per row of the lattice, thus showing good scaling behavior with the size of the quantum computer.Comment: 18 page