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High-quality randomness, certified to be unpredictable by eavesdroppers, is key to secure information processing. Quantum mechanics enables randomness certification with minimal trust in the devices used, by exploiting quantum nonlocality. However, such full device independence is challenging to implement. We present a scheme for quantum randomness certification based on quantum steering. The protocol is one-sided device independent, providing high security, but requires only states and measurements that are simple to realize on quantum optics platforms - squeezed vacuum states and homodyne detection. This ease of implementation is demonstrated experimentally and implies that gigahertz random bit rates should be attainable with current technology. Furthermore, our scheme is immune to the detection loophole and represents the closest to full device independence that can be achieved using purely Gaussian states and measurements.

Quantum computing can be realized with numerous different hardware platforms and computational protocols. A highly promising, and potentially scalable, idea is to combine a photonic platform with measurement-induced quantum information processing. In this approach, gate operations can be implemented through optical measurements on a multipartite entangled quantum state—a so-called cluster state. Previously, a few quantum gates on non-universal or non-scalable cluster states have been performed, but a full set of gates for universal scalable quantum computing has not been realized. Here we propose and demonstrate the deterministic implementation of a multi-mode set of measurement-induced quantum gates in a large two-dimensional optical cluster state using phase-controlled continuous-variable quadrature measurements. Each gate is programmed into the phases of high-efficiency quadrature measurements, which execute the transformations by teleportation through the cluster state. We further execute a small quantum circuit consisting of 10 single-mode gates and 2 two-mode gates on a three-mode input state. Fault-tolerant universal quantum computing is possible with this platform if the cluster-state entanglement is improved and a supply of states with Gottesman–Kitaev–Preskill encoding is available.

Continuous variable measurement-based quantum computation on cluster states has in recent years shown great potential for scalable, universal, and fault-tolerant quantum computation when combined with the Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) code and quantum error correction. However, no complete fault-tolerant architecture exists that includes everything from cluster state generation with finite squeezing to gate implementations with realistic noise and error correction. In this work, we propose a simple architecture for the preparation of a cluster state in three dimensions in which gates by gate teleportation can be efficiently implemented. To accommodate scalability, we propose architectures that allow for both spatial and temporal multiplexing, with the temporal encoded version requiring as little as two squeezed light sources. Due to its three-dimensional structure, the architecture supports topological qubit error correction, while GKP error correction is efficiently realized within the architecture by teleportation. To validate fault-tolerance, the architecture is simulated using surface-GKP codes, including noise from GKP-states as well as gate noise caused by finite squeezing in the cluster state. We find a fault-tolerant squeezing threshold of 12.7 dB with room for further improvement.

With the Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) encoding, Clifford gates and error correction can be carried out using simple Gaussian operations. Still, non-Clifford gates, required for universality, require non-Gaussian elements. In their original proposal, GKP suggested a particularly simple method of using a single application of the cubic phase gate to perform the logical non-Clifford T gate. Here we show that this cubic phase gate approach performs extraordinarily poorly, even for arbitrarily large amounts of squeezing in the GKP state. Thus, contrary to common belief, the cubic phase gate is not suitable for achieving universal fault-tolerant quantum computation with GKP states.

Due to its unique scalability potential, continuous-variable quantum optics is a promising platform for large-scale quantum computing. In particular, very large cluster states with a two-dimensional topology that are suitable for universal quantum computing and quantum simulation can be readily generated in a deterministic manner, and routes towards fault tolerance via bosonic quantum error correction are known. In this article we propose a complete measurement-based quantum computing architecture for the implementation of a universal set of gates on the recently generated two-dimensional cluster states [M. V. Larsen etal., Science 366, 369 (2019); W. Asavanant et al., Science 366, 373 (2019)]. We analyze the performance of the various quantum gates that are executed in these cluster states as well as in other two-dimensional cluster states (the bilayer-square lattice and quad-rail lattice cluster states [R. N. Alexander et al., Phys. Rev. A 94, 032327 (2016); N. C. Menicucci, Phys. Rev. A 83, 062314 (2011)]) by estimating and minimizing the associated stochastic noise addition as well as the resulting gate error probability. We compare the four different states and find that, although they all allow for universal computation, the quad-rail lattice cluster state performs better than the other three states, which all exhibit similar performance.

Networking is integral to quantum communications1 and has significant potential for upscaling quantum computer technologies2. Recently, it was realized that the sensing performances of multiple spatially distributed parameters may also be enhanced through the use of an entangled quantum network3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. Here, we experimentally demonstrate how sensing of an averaged phase shift among four distributed nodes benefits from an entangled quantum network. Using a four-mode entangled continuous-variable state, we demonstrate deterministic quantum phase sensing with a precision beyond what is attainable with separable probes. The techniques behind this result can have direct applications in a number of areas ranging from molecular tracking to quantum networks of atomic clocks.

Networking is integral to quantum communications1 and has significant potential for upscaling quantum computer technologies2. Recently, it was realized that the sensing performances of multiple spatially distributed parameters may also be enhanced through the use of an entangled quantum network3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. Here, we experimentally demonstrate how sensing of an averaged phase shift among four distributed nodes benefits from an entangled quantum network. Using a four-mode entangled continuous-variable state, we demonstrate deterministic quantum phase sensing with a precision beyond what is attainable with separable probes. The techniques behind this result can have direct applications in a number of areas ranging from molecular tracking to quantum networks of atomic clocks.