Search

Multipartite entanglement is an essential resource for quantum information tasks, but characterizing entanglement structures in continuous variable systems remains challenging, especially in multimode non-Gaussian scenarios. In this work, we introduce a method for detecting multipartite entanglement structures in arbitrary continuous variable states, which also reveals genuine multipartite entanglement. By leveraging the quantum Fisher information, we propose a criterion for characterizing entanglement and offer a systematic approach to identify feasible operators that capture quantum correlations in multimode non-Gaussian states. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our method on over 10000 randomly generated multimode-entangled quantum states, achieving a high success rate in entanglement detection. Additionally, our method exhibits enhanced robustness against losses by expanding the set of accessible operators. This work provides a general framework for characterizing entanglement structures in diverse continuous variable systems, enabling a number of experimentally relevant applications.

Device-independent randomness certification based on Bell nonlocality does not require any assumptions about the devices and therefore provides adequate security. Great effort has been made to demonstrate that nonlocality is necessary for generating quantum randomness, but the minimal resource required for random number generation has not been clarified. Here we first prove and experimentally demonstrate that violating any two-input Bell inequality is both necessary and sufficient for certifying randomness, however, for the multi-input cases, this sufficiency ceases to apply, leading to certain states exhibiting Bell nonlocality without the capability to certify randomness. We examine two typical classes of Bell inequalities with multi-input and multi-output, the facet inequalities and Salavrakos-Augusiak-Tura-Wittek-Ac\'in-Pironio Bell inequalities, in the high-dimensional photonic system, and observe the violation of the latter one can always certify randomness which is not true for the former. The private randomness with a generation rate of 1.867\pm0.018 bits per photon pair is obtained in the scenario of Salavrakos-Augusiak-Tura-Wittek-Ac\'in-Pironio Bell inequalities with 3-input and 4-output. Our work unravels the internal connection between randomness and nonlocality, and effectively enhances the performance of tasks such as device-independent random number generation., Comment: 25 pages, 6 figures

We propose a quantum Rabi square model where both the nearest-neighbor and the next-nearest-neighbor photon hopping are allowed among four quantum Rabi systems located at the vertices of a square. By tuning the next-nearest hopping strength, we realize a first-order phase transition between the antiferromagnetic superradiant phase and the frustrated superradiant phase, as well as a second-order phase transition between the normal and the superradiant phases. To understand the emergence of such phases, we show analytically that the effect induced by next-nearest hopping is equivalent to that of an artificial gauge phase. Our findings suggest that the next-nearest-neighbor hopping can serve as an alternative for the gauge phase to realize quantum control in applications of quantum simulation and quantum materials, and that our model represents a basic building block for the frustrated $J_1$-$J_2$ quantum spin model on square lattices.

Optical Schrodinger's cat (SC) is highly anticipated because of the potential of realizing fault-tolerant quantum computing, but the practical merit is only shown when the amplitude is larger than 2. However, such high-amplitude cats have not been prepared due to the limitations rooted in the existing method. Here, we demonstrate a principle that a large SC-like state can be generated by the superposition of two kittens in which two nearby coherent states interfere and grow to an enlarged coherent-like state. Further, we propose a scheme to breed the cat beyond the limitation in the former works with a high probability by realizing the superposition of two SCs in coupled waveguides. The principle and scheme demonstrated here provide a new perspective on understanding quantum superposition in phase space and a better solution for the efficient generation of SCs on chips.

The discovery of the non-Hermitian skin effect (NHSE) has revolutionized our understanding of wave propagation in non-Hermitian systems, highlighting unexpected localization effects beyond conventional theories. Here, we discover that NHSE, accompanied by multi-type spectral phases, can be induced by manipulating nonconservative couplings. By characterizing the spectrum through the windings of the energy bands, we demonstrate that band structures with identical, opposite, and even twisted windings can be achieved. These inequivalent types of spectra originate from the multi-channel interference resulting from the interplay between conservative and nonconservative couplings. Associated with the multi-type spectra, unipolar and bipolar NHSE with different eigenmode localizations can be observed. Additionally, our findings link the nonreciprocal transmission properties of the system to multiple spectral phases, indicating a connection with the skin modes. This work paves new pathways for investigating non-Hermitian topological effects and manipulating nonreciprocal energy flow., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

Genuine multipartite entanglement (GME) is not only fundamental interesting for the study of quantum-to-classical transition, but also is essential for realizing universal quantum computing and quantum networks. Here we investigate the multipartite entanglement (ME) dynamics in a linear chain of N LC resonators interacting optomechanically with a common thermal acoustic reservoir. By presenting the exact analytical solutions of system evolution, we predict the periodic generation of non-Gaussian ME, including the discrete and continuous variables entanglement. Interestingly, the GME is obtained even though the system is in a heat bath. The mechanism relies on the special acoustic environment featuring frequency comb structure. More importantly, our proposed model also allows the periodic generation of entangled multipartite cat states (MCSs), i.e., a typical GHZ state, with high fidelity. This work fundamentally broadens the fields of ME, and have wide applications in implementing thermal-noise-resistant quantum information processing and many-body quantum simulation., Comment: 25 pages, 9 figures

We study the squeezing dynamics in a Kerr-nonlinear oscillator, and quantify the metrological usefulness of the resulting states. Even if the nonlinearity limits the attainable squeezing by making the evolution non-Gaussian, the states obtained still have a high quantum Fisher information for sensing displacements. However, contrary to the Gaussian case, the amplitude of the displacement cannot be estimated by simple quadrature measurements. Therefore, we propose the use of a measurement-after-interaction protocol where a linear quadrature measurement is preceded by an additional nonlinear evolution, and show the significant sensitivity enhancement that can be obtained. Our results are robust when considering realistic imperfections such as energy relaxation, and can be implemented in state-of-the-art experimental setups.

Increasing the number of entangled entities is crucial for achieving exponential computational speedups and secure quantum networks. Despite recent progress in generating large-scale entanglement through continuous-variable (CV) cluster states, translating these technologies to photonic chips has been hindered by decoherence, limiting the number of entangled entities to 8. Here, we demonstrate 60-mode CVcluster states in a chip-based optical microresonator pumped by chromatic lasers. Resonantly-enhanced four-wave mixing processes establish entanglement between equidistant spectral quantum modes (qumodes), forming a quantum analogue of optical frequency combs. Decoherence is minimized to achieve unprecedented two-mode raw squeezing (>3 dB) from a chip. Using bichromatic and trichromatic pump lasers, we realize one- and two-dimensional cluster states with up to 60 qumodes. Our work provides a compact and scalable platform for constructing large-scale entangled quantum resources, which are appealing for performing computational and communicational tasks with quantum advantages.

The exotic phase transitions and multistabilities in atom-cavity coupled systems have attracted tremendous interests recently. In this work, we investigate the effect of photon hopping between two Dicke cavities, which induces rich quantum phases for steady states and dynamic process. Starting from a generic dimer system where the two cavities are not necessarily identical, we analytically prove all possible steady-state phases, which are confirmed by numerical calculations. We then focus on the special case with two identical cavities, where all the steady states are confirmed by exact solutions. We show that photon hopping is a convenient and powerful tool to manipulate the quantum phases and induce multistable behavior in this system.

Understanding entanglement of potentially high-dimensional multipartite quantum systems is crucial across different disciplines in quantum sciences. We take inspiration from covariance matrix based techniques to derive a nonlinear criterion that can be used to lower bound the dimensionality vector of mixed quantum states, revealing both the level of multipartiteness and the dimensionality of the entanglement in the quantum states. The technique is based on a system of inequalities that has to be satisfied by all quantum states with a given entanglement dimensionality vector, which can be checked via linear programming. We test our condition on paradigmatic classes of high-dimensional multipartite entangled states like imperfect Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states and find that, in comparison with other available criteria our method provides a significant advantage, which is enhanced especially in the case that the dimensions of the individual particles are different from each other.

Entanglement in continuous-variable non-Gaussian states provides irreplaceable advantages in many quantum information tasks. However, the sheer amount of information in such states grows exponentially and makes a full characterization impossible. Here, we develop a neural network that allows us to use correlation patterns to effectively detect continuous-variable entanglement through homodyne detection. Using a recently defined stellar hierarchy to rank the states used for training, our algorithm works not only on any kind of Gaussian state but also on a whole class of experimentally achievable non-Gaussian states, including photon-subtracted states. With the same limited amount of data, our method provides higher accuracy than usual methods to detect entanglement based on maximum-likelihood tomography. Moreover, in order to visualize the effect of the neural network, we employ a dimension reduction algorithm on the patterns. This shows that a clear boundary appears between the entangled states and others after the neural network processing. In addition, these techniques allow us to compare different entanglement witnesses and understand their working. Our findings provide a new approach for experimental detection of continuous-variable quantum correlations without resorting to a full tomography of the state and confirm the exciting potential of neural networks in quantum information processing., Comment: 9 pages (incl. appendix), 6 figures, comments welcome!

We analyse the conditional states in which one part of a split spin-squeezed state is left, upon performing a collective spin measurement on the other part. For appropriate measurement directions and outcomes, we see the possibility of obtaining states with high quantum Fisher information, even reaching the Heisenberg limit. This allows us to propose a metrological protocol that can outperform standard approaches, for example in a situation where the number of particles in the probe is bounded. The robustness of this protocol is investigated by considering realistic forms of noise present in cold-atom experiments, such as particle number fluctuations and imperfect detection. Ultimately, we show how this measurement-based state preparation approach can allow for the conditional (\ie heralded) preparation of spin Schr\"{o}dinger's cat states even when the initial state before splitting is only mildly squeezed.

Non-Gaussian quantum states are a known necessary resource for reaching a quantum advantage and for violating Bell inequalities in continuous variable systems. As one kind of manifestation of quantum correlations, Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) steering enables verification of shared entanglement even when one of the subsystems is not characterized. However, how to detect and classify such an effect for non-Gaussian states is far from being well understood. Here, we present an efficient non-Gaussian steering criterion based on the high-order observables and conduct a systematic investigation into the hierarchy of non-Gaussian steering criteria. Moreover, we apply our criterion to three experimentally-relevant non-Gaussian states under realistic conditions and, in particular, propose a feasible scheme to create multi-component cat states with tunable size by performing a suitable high-order quadrature measurement on the steering party. Our work reveals the fundamental characteristics of non-Gaussianity and quantum correlations, and offers new insights to explore their applications in quantum information processing.

We introduce feedback-measurement technologies to achieve flexible control of Weyl points and conduct the first experimental demonstration of Weyl type I-II transition in mechanical systems. We demonstrate that non-Hermiticity can expand the Fermi arc surface states from connecting Weyl points to Weyl rings, and lead to a localization transition of edge states influenced by the interplay between band topology and the non-Hermitian skin effect. Our findings offer valuable insights into the design and manipulation of Weyl points in mechanical systems, providing a promising avenue for manipulating topological modes in non-Hermitian systems.

Continuous U(1) gauge symmetry, which guarantees the conservation of the total excitations in linear bosonic systems, will be broken when it comes to the strong-coupling regime where the rotation wave approximation (RWA) fails. Here we develop analytic solutions for multi-mode bosonic systems with XX-type couplings beyond RWA, and proposed a novel scheme to implement high-fidelity quantum state transfer (QST) and entanglement preparation (EP) with high speed. The scheme can be realized with designated coupling strength and pulse duration with which the excitation number keeps unchanged regardless of the breakdown of the global U(1) symmetry. In the QST tasks, we consider several typical quantum states and demonstrate that this method is robust against thermal noise and imperfections of experimental sequence. In the EP tasks, the scheme is successfully implemented for the preparation of Bell states and W-type states, within a shortest preparation time., Comment: 30 pages, 8 figures

Entanglement in bipartite systems has been applied for the generation of secure random numbers, which are playing an important role in cryptography or scientific numerical simulations. Here, we propose to use multipartite entanglement distributed between trusted and untrusted parties for generating randomness of arbitrary dimensional systems. We show that the distributed structure of several parties leads to additional protection against possible attacks by an eavesdropper, resulting in more secure randomness generated than in the corresponding bipartite scenario. Especially, randomness can be certified in the group of untrusted parties, even there is no randomness exists in either of them individually. We prove that the necessary and sufficient resource for quantum randomness in this scenario is multipartite quantum steering when two measurement settings are performed on the untrusted parties. However, the sufficiency no longer holds with more measurement settings. Finally, we apply our analysis to some experimentally realized states and show that more randomness can be extracted in comparison to the existing analysis., Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures

The novel quantum effects induced by the free-electron-photons interaction have attracted increasing interest due to their potential applications in ultrafast quantum information processing. Here, we propose a scheme to generate optical cat states based on the quantum interference of multi-path free-electron-photons interactions that take place simultaneously with strong coupling strength. By performing a projection measurement on the electron, the state of light changes significantly from a coherent state into a non-Gaussian state with either Wigner negativity or squeezing property, both possess metrological power to achieve quantum advantage. More importantly, we show that the Wigner negativity oscillates with the coupling strength, and the optical cat states are successfully generated with high fidelity at all the oscillation peaks. This oscillation reveals the quantum interference effect of the multiple quantum pathways in the interaction of the electron with photons, by that various nonclassical states of light are promising to be fast prepared and manipulated. These findings inspire further exploration of emergent quantum phenomena and advanced quantum technologies with free electrons.

Remote state preparation enables one to prepare and manipulate quantum state non-locally. As an essential quantum resource, optical cat state is usually prepared locally by subtracting photons from a squeezed vacuum state. For remote quantum information processing, it is essential to prepare and manipulate optical cat states remotely based on Gaussian entanglement, which remains a challenge. Here, we present experimental preparation of optical cat states based on a remotely distributed two-mode Gaussian entangled state in a lossy channel. By performing photon subtraction and homodyne projective measurement at Alice's station, an optical cat state is prepared remotely at Bob's station. Furthermore, the prepared cat state is rotated by changing Alice's measurement basis of homodyne detection, which demonstrates the remote manipulation of it. By distributing two modes of the two-mode Gaussian entangled state in lossy channels, we demonstrate that the remotely prepared cat state can tolerate much more loss in Alice's channel than that in Bob's channel. We also show that cat states with amplitudes larger than 2 can be prepared by increasing the squeezing level and subtracting photon numbers. Our results make a crucial step toward remote hybrid quantum information processing involving discrete- and continuous-variable techniques.

Nonlinear magnonics studies the nonlinear interaction between magnons and other physical platforms (phonon, photon, qubit, spin texture) to generate novel magnon states for information processing. In this tutorial, we first introduce the nonlinear interactions of magnons in pure magnetic systems and hybrid magnon-phonon and magnon-photon systems. Then we show how these nonlinear interactions can generate exotic magnonic phenomena. In the classical regime, we will cover the parametric excitation of magnons, bistability and multistability, and the magnonic frequency comb. In the quantum regime, we will discuss the single magnon state, Schr\"{o}dinger cat state and the entanglement and quantum steering among magnons, photons and phonons. The applications of the hybrid magnonics systems in quantum transducer and sensing will also be presented. Finally, we outlook the future development direction of nonlinear magnonics., Comment: 50 pages, 26 figures

We expand the toolbox for studying Bell correlations in multipartite systems by introducing permutationally invariant Bell inequalities (PIBIs) involving few-body correlators. First, we present around twenty families of PIBIs with up to three- or four-body correlators, that are valid for arbitrary number of particles. Compared to known inequalities, these show higher noise robustenss, or the capability to detect Bell correlations in highly non-Gaussian spin states. We then focus on finding PIBIs that are of practical experimental implementation, in the sense that the associated operators require collective spin measurements along only a few directions. To this end, we formulate this search problem as a semidefinite program that embeds the constraints required to look for PIBIs of the desired form.

We consider the problem of detecting the dimensionality of entanglement with the use of correlations between measurements in randomized directions. First, exploiting the recently derived covariance matrix criterion for the entanglement dimensionality [S. Liu et al., arXiv:2208.04909], we derive an inequality that resembles well-known entanglement criteria, but contains different bounds for the different dimensionalities of entanglement. This criterion is invariant under local changes of $su(d)$ bases and can be used to find regions in the space of moments of randomized correlations, generalizing the results of [S. Imai et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 150501 (2021)] to the case of entanglement-dimensionality detection. In particular, we find analytical boundary curves for the different entanglement dimensionalities in the space of second- and fourth-order moments of randomized correlations for all dimensions $d_a = d_b = d$ of a bipartite system. We then show how our method works in practice, also considering a finite statistical sample of correlations, and we also show that it can detect more states than other entanglement-dimensionality criteria available in the literature, thus providing a method that is both very powerful and potentially simpler in practical scenarios. We conclude by discussing the partly open problem of the implementation of our method in the multipartite scenario.

Non-Gaussian states (NGSs) with higher-order correlation properties have wide-range applications in quantum information processing. However, the generation of such states with high quality still faces practical challenges. Here, we propose a protocol to faithfully generate two types of mechanical NGSs, i.e., Schr\"{o}dinger cat states and Fock states, in open optomechanical systems, even when the cooperativity is smaller than one ($g^2/\kappa\gamma<1$). In contrast to the usual scheme, a short squeezed field is pumped to rapidly entangle with a mechanical resonator via a beam-splitter-like optomechanical interaction, effectively reducing the mechanical decoherence. Furthermore, by performing an additional amplifier and a following multi photon subtraction on the entangled optical field, one can selectively obtain the high-fidelity mechanical cat and Fock states. This protocol is robust to various imperfections, allowing it to be implemented with state-of-the-art experimental systems with close to unit fidelity. Moreover, it can be extended to generate a four-component cat state and provide possibilities for future quantum applications of NGSs., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures with additional supplementary information (10 pages, 6 figures)

Characterization and categorization of quantum correlations are both fundamentally and practically important in quantum information science. Although quantum correlations such as non-separability, steerability, and non-locality can be characterized by different theoretical models in different scenarios with either known (trusted) or unknown (untrusted) knowledge of the associated systems, such characterization sometimes lacks unambiguous to experimentalist. In this work, we propose the physical interpretation of nonlocal quantum correlation between two systems. In the absence of {\it complete local description} of one of the subsystems quantified by the {\it local uncertainty relation}, the correlation between subsystems becomes nonlocal. Remarkably, different nonlocal quantum correlations can be discriminated from a single uncertainty relation derived under local hidden state (LHS)-LHS model only. We experimentally characterize the two-qubit Werner state in different scenarios., Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures. Comments are welcome

Optical downconversion is a key resource for generating nonclassical states. Very recently, direct nondegenerate triple-photon spontaneous downconversion (NTPSD) with bright photon triplets and strong third-order correlations has been demonstrated in a superconducting device (2020 Phys. Rev. X 10 011011). Besides, linear and nonlinear tripartite entanglement in this process have also been predicted (2018 Phys. Rev. Lett. 120 043601; 2020 Phys. Rev. Lett. 125 020502). In this paper, we consider the generation of nonclassical optical quantum superpositions and investigate nonlinear quantum steering effects in NTPSD.We find that large-size Schr\"odinger cat states of one downconverted mode can be achieved when the other two modes are subjected to homodyne detection. Also, a two-photon Bell entangled state can be generated when only one mode is homodyned.We further reveal that such ability of remote state steering originates from nonlinear quantum steerable correlations among the triplets. This is specifically embodied by the seeming violation of the Heisenberg uncertainty relation for the inferred variances of two noncommutating higher-order quadratures of downconverted modes, based on the outcomes of homodyne detection on the other mode, i.e., nonlinear quantum steering, compared to original EPR steering. Our results demonstrate non-Gaussian nonclassical features in NTPSD and would be useful for the fundamental tests of quantum physics and implementations of optical quantum technologies.

High-dimensional entanglement has been identified as an important resource in quantum information processing, and also as a main obstacle for simulating quantum systems. Its certification is often difficult, and most widely used methods for experiments are based on fidelity measurements with respect to highly entangled states. Here, instead, we consider covariances of collective observables, as in the well-known Covariance Matrix Criterion (CMC)[1] and present a generalization of the CMC for determining the Schmidt number of a bipartite system. This is potentially particularly advantageous in many-body systems, such as cold atoms, where the set of practical measurements is very limited and only variances of collective operators can typically be estimated. To show the practical relevance of our results, we derive simpler Schmidt-number criteria that require similar information as the fidelity-based witnesses, yet can detect a wider set of states. We also consider paradigmatic criteria based on spin covariances, which would be very helpful for experimental detection of high-dimensional entanglement in cold atom systems. We conclude by discussing the applicability of our results to a multiparticle ensemble and some open questions for future work., Comment: 25 pages

Einstein-Rosen-Podolsky (EPR) steering or quantum steering describes the "spooky-action-at-a-distance" that one party is able to remotely alter the states of the other if they share a certain entangled state. Generally, it admits an operational interpretation as the task of verifying entanglement without trust in the steering party's devices, making it lying intermediate between Bell nonlocality and entanglement. Together with the asymmetrical nature, quantum steering has attracted a considerable interest from theoretical and experimental sides over past decades. In this Perspective, we present a brief overview of the EPR steering with emphasis on recent progress, discuss current challenges, opportunities and propose various future directions. We look to the future which directs research to a larger-scale level beyond massless and microscopic systems to reveal steering of higher dimensionality, and to build up steered networks composed of multiple parties., Comment: PRX Quantum accepted

We study the transport properties of a driven-dissipative quantum network, where multiple bosonic cavities such as photonic microcavities are coupled through a nonreciprocal bus with unidirectional transmission. For short-range coupling between the cavities, the occurrence of nonreciprocal amplification can be linked to a topological phase transition of the underlying dynamic Hamiltonian. However, for long-range coupling, we find that the nonreciprocal amplification transition deviates drastically from the topological phase transition. Nonetheless, we show that the nonreciprocal amplification transition can be connected to the emergence of zero-energy edge states of an auxiliary Hamiltonian with chiral symmetry even in the long-range coupling limit. We also investigate the stability, the crossover from short to long-range coupling, and the bandwidth of the nonreciprocal amplification. Our work has potential application in signal transmission and amplification, and also opens a window to non-Hermitian systems with long-range coupling and nontrivial boundary effects., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

Very recently, strongly non-Gaussian states have been observed via a direct three-mode spontaneous parametric down-conversion in a superconducting cavity [Phys. Rev. X 10, 011011 (2020)]. The created multi-photon non-Gaussian correlations are attractive and useful for various quantum information tasks. However, how to detect and classify multipartite non-Gaussian entanglement has not yet been completely understood. Here, we present an experimentally practical method to characterize continuous-variable multipartite non-Gaussian entanglement, by introducing a class of nonlinear squeezing parameters involving accessible higher-order moments of phase-space quadratures. As these parameters can depend on arbitrary operators, we consider their analytical optimization over a set of practical measurements, in order to detect different classes of multipartite non-Gaussian entanglement ranging from fully separable to fully inseparable. We demonstrate that the nonlinear squeezing parameters act as an excellent approximation to the quantum Fisher information within accessible third-order moments. The level of the nonlinear squeezing quantifies the metrological advantage provided by those entangled states. Moreover, by analyzing the above mentioned experiment, we show that our method can be readily used to confirm fully inseparable tripartite non-Gaussian entangled states by performing a limited number of measurements without requiring full knowledge of the quantum state., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures

Non-Gaussian states with Wigner negativity are of particular interest in quantum technology due to their potential applications in quantum computing and quantum metrology. However, how to create such states at a remote location remains a challenge, which is important for efficiently distributing quantum resource between distant nodes in a network. Here, we experimentally prepare optical non-Gaussian state with negative Wigner function at a remote node via local non-Gaussian operation and shared Gaussian entangled state existing quantum steering. By performing photon subtraction on one mode, Wigner negativity is created in the remote target mode. We show that the Wigner negativity is sensitive to loss on the target mode, but robust to loss on the mode performing photon subtraction. This experiment confirms the connection between the remotely created Wigner negativity and quantum steering. As an application, we present that the generated non-Gaussian state exhibits metrological power in quantum phase estimation., Comment: Phys. Rev. Lett. (Accepted)

Whether the observables of a physical system admit real values is of fundamental importance to a deep understanding of nature. In this work, we report a device-independent experiment to confirm that the joint reality of two observables on a single two-level system is incompatible with the assumption of operational completeness, which is strictly weaker than that of preparation noncontextuality. We implement two observables on a trapped $^{171}{\rm Yb}^{+}$ ion to test this incompatibility via violation of certain inequalities derived from both linear and nonlinear criteria. Moreover, by introducing a highly controllable dephasing channel, we show that the nonlinear criterion is more robust against noise. Our results push the fundamental limit to delineate the quantum-classical boundary and pave the way for exploring relevant problems in other scenarios., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures

Magnon cat state represents a macroscopic quantum superposition of collective magnetic excitations of large number spins that not only provides fundamental tests of macroscopic quantum effects but also finds applications in quantum metrology and quantum computation. In particular, remote generation and manipulation of Schr\"{o}dinger cat states are particularly interesting for the development of long-distance and large-scale quantum information processing. Here, we propose an approach to remotely prepare magnon even/odd cat states by performing local non-Gaussian operations on the optical mode that is entangled with magnon mode through pulsed optomagnonic interaction. By evaluating key properties of the resulting cat states, we show that for experimentally feasible parameters they are generated with both high fidelity and nonclassicality, and with a size large enough to be useful for quantum technologies. Furthermore, the effects of experimental imperfections such as the error of projective measurements and dark count when performing single-photon operations have been discussed, where the lifetime of the created magnon cat states is expected to be $t\sim1\,\mu$s., Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures

We present an experimentally practical method to reveal Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering in non-Gaussian spin states by exploiting a connection to quantum metrology. Our criterion is based on the quantum Fisher information, and uses bounds derived from generalized spin-squeezing parameters that involve measurements of higher-order moments. This leads us to introduce the concept of conditional spin-squeezing parameters, which quantify the metrological advantage provided by conditional states, as well as detect the presence of an EPR paradox.

Non-local point-to-point correlations between two photons have been used to produce "ghost" images without placing the camera towards the object. Here we theoretically demonstrated and analyzed the advantage of non-Gaussian quantum light in improving the image quality of ghost imaging system over traditional Gaussian light source. For any squeezing degree, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the ghost image can be enhanced by the non-Gaussian operations of photon addition and subtraction on the two-mode squeezed light source. We find striking evidence that using non-Gaussian coherent operations, the SNR can be promoted to a high level even within the extremely weak squeezing regime. The resulting insight provides new experimental recipes of quantum imaging using non-Gaussian light for illumination.

Schr\"odinger held that a local quantum system has some objectively real quantum state and no other (hidden) properties. He therefore took the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) phenomenon, which he generalized and called `steering', to require nonlocal wavefunction collapse. Because this would entail faster-than-light (FTL) information transmission, he doubted that it would be seen experimentally. Here we report a demonstration of EPR steering with entangled photon pairs that puts--in Schr\"odinger's interpretation--a non-zero lower bound on the amount of FTL information transmission. We develop a family of $n$-setting loss-tolerant EPR-steering inequalities allowing for a size-$d$ classical message sent from Alice's laboratory to Bob's. For the case $n=3$ and $d=2$ (one bit) we observe a statistically significant violation. Our experiment closes the efficiency and locality loopholes, and we address the freedom-of-choice loophole by using quantum random number generators to independently choose Alice's and Bob's measurement basis settings. To close the efficiency and locality loopholes simultaneously, we introduce methods for quickly switching between three mutually unbiased measurement bases and for accurately characterizing the efficiency of detectors. From the space-time arrangement of our experiment, we can conclude that if the mechanism for the observed bipartite correlations is that Alice's measurement induces wave-function collapse of Bob's particle, then more than one bit of information must travel from Alice to Bob at more than three times the speed of light., Comment: 10 pages plus 9 pages of supplemental material. v2 includes changes to text explaining Eq. (2), in section V.1., and in first paragraph of section VI

Famous double-slit or double-path experiments, implemented in a Young's or Mach-Zehnder interferometer, have confirmed the dual nature of quantum matter, When a stream of photons, neutrons, atoms, or molecules, passes through two slits, either wave-like interference fringes build up on a screen, or particle-like which-path distribution can be ascertained. These quantum objects exhibit both wave and particle properties but exclusively, depending on the way they are measured. In an equivalent Mach-Zehnder configuration, the object displays either wave or particle nature in the presence or absence of a beamsplitter, respectively, that represents the choice of which-measurement. Wheeler further proposed a gedanken experiment, in which the choice of which-measurement is delayed, i.e. determined after the object has already entered the interferometer, so as to exclude the possibility of predicting which-measurement it will confront. The delayed-choice experiments have enabled significant demonstrations of genuine two-path duality of different quantum objects. Recently, a quantum controlled version of delayed-choice was proposed by Ionicioiu and Terno, by introducing a quantum-controlled beamsplitter that is in a coherent superposition of presence and absence. It represents a controllable experiment platform that can not only reveal wave and particle characters, but also their superposition. Moreover, a quantitative description of two-slit duality relation was initialized in Wootters and Zurek's seminal work and formalized by Greenberger,et. al. as D2+V2<=1, where D is the distinguishability of whichpath information, and V is the contrast visibility of interference. In this regard, getting which-path information exclusively reduces the interference visibility, and vice versa. This double-path duality relation has been tested in pioneer experiments and recently in delayed-choice measurements., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures

Wigner negativity, as a well-known indicator of nonclassicality, plays an essential role in quantum computing and simulation using continuous-variable systems. Recently, it has been proven that Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering is a prerequisite to generate Wigner negativity between two remote modes. Motivated by the demand of real-world quantum network, here we investigate the shareability of generated Wigner negativity in the multipartite scenario from a quantitative perspective. By establishing a monogamy relation akin to the generalized Coffman-Kundu-Wootters inequality, we show that the amount of Wigner negativity cannot be freely distributed among different modes. Moreover, for photon subtraction -- one of the main experimentally realized non-Gaussian operations -- we provide a general method to quantify the remotely generated Wigner negativity. With this method, we find that there is no direct quantitative relation between the Gaussian steerability and the amount of generated Wigner negativity. Our results pave the way for exploiting Wigner negativity as a valuable resource for numerous quantum information protocols based on non-Gaussian scenario.

We discuss the realization of a universal set of ultrafast single- and two-qubit operations with superconducting quantum circuits and investigate the most relevant physical and technical limitations that arise when pushing for faster and faster gates. With the help of numerical optimization techniques, we establish a fundamental bound on the minimal gate time, which is determined independently of the qubit design solely by its nonlinearity. In addition, important practical restrictions arise from the finite qubit transition frequency and the limited bandwidth of the control pulses. We show that for highly anharmonic flux qubits and commercially available control electronics, elementary single- and two-qubit operations can be implemented in about 100 picoseconds with residual gate errors below $10^{-4}$. Under the same conditions, we simulate the complete execution of a compressed version of Shor's algorithm for factoring the number 15 in about one nanosecond. These results demonstrate that compared to state-of-the-art implementations with transmon qubits, a hundredfold increase in the speed of gate operations with superconducting circuits is still feasible., Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures

As two valuable quantum resources, Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen entanglement and steering play important roles in quantum-enhanced communication protocols. Distributing such quantum resources among multiple remote users in a network is a crucial precondition underlying various quantum tasks. We experimentally demonstrate the deterministic distribution of two- and three-mode Gaussian entanglement and steering by transmitting separable states in a network consisting of a quantum server and multiple users. In our experiment, entangled states are not prepared solely by the quantum server, but are created among independent users during the distribution process. More specifically, the quantum server prepares separable squeezed states and applies classical displacements on them before spreading out, and users simply perform local beam-splitter operations and homodyne measurements after they receive separable states. We show that the distributed Gaussian entanglement and steerability are robust against channel loss. Furthermore, one-way Gaussian steering is achieved among users that is useful for further directional or highly asymmetric quantum information processing.

It is widely recognized that a physical system can only respond to a periodic driving significantly when the driving frequency matches the normal mode frequency of the system, which leads to resonance. Off-resonant phenomena are rarely considered because of the difficulty to realize strong coupling between physical systems and off-resonant waves. Here we examine the response of a magnetic system to squeezed light and surprisingly find that the magnons are maximally excited when the effective driving frequency is several orders of magnitude larger than the resonant frequency. The generated magnons are squeezed which brings the advantage of tunable squeezing through an external magnetic field. Furthermore, we demonstrate that such off-resonant quasi-particle excitation is universal in all the hybrid systems in which the coherent and parametric interaction of bosons exists and that it is purely a quantum effect, which is rooted in the quantum fluctuations of particles in the squeezed vacuum. Our findings may provide an unconventional route to study off-resonant phenomena and may further benefit the use of hybrid matter-light systems in continuous variable quantum information., Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures

Continuous-variable (CV) systems are attracting increasing attention in the realization of universal quantum computation. Several recent experiments have shown the feasibility of using CV systems to, e.g., encode a qubit into a trapped-ion mechanical oscillator and perform logic gates [Nature 566, 513-517 (2019)]. The essential next step is to protect the encoded qubit from quantum decoherence, e.g., the motional decoherence due to the interaction between a mechanical oscillator and its environment. Here we propose a scheme to suppress quantum decoherence of a single-mode harmonic oscillator used to encode qubits by introducing a nonperturbative leakage elimination operator (LEO) specifically designed for this purpose. Remarkably, our nonperturbative LEO can be used to analytically derive exact equations of motion without approximations. It also allows us to prove that the effectiveness of these LEOs only depends on the integral of the pulse sequence in the time domain, while details of the pulse shape does not make a significant difference when the time period is chosen appropriately. This control method can be applied to a system at an arbitrary temperature and arbitrary system-bath coupling strength which makes it extremely useful for general open quantum systems., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures

The Kramers-Kronig (KK) receiver provides an efficient method to reconstruct the complex-valued optical field by means of intensity detection given a minimum-phase signal. In this paper, we analytically show that for detecting coherent states through measuring the minimum-phase signal, while keeping the radial quantum fluctuation the same as the balanced heterodyne detection does, the KK receiver can indirectly recover the tangential component with fluctuation equivalently reduced to 1/3 times the radial one at the decision time, by adopting the KK relations to utilize the information of the physically measured radial component of other time of the symbol period. In consequence, the KK receiver achieves 3/2 times the signal-to-noise ratio of balanced heterodyne detection, while presenting an asymmetric quantum fluctuation distribution depending on the time-varying phase. Therefore, the KK receiver provides a feasible scheme to reduce the quantum fluctuation for obtaining the selected component to 2/ 3 times that of physically measuring the same component of the coherent state. This work provides a physical insight of the KK receiver and should enrich the knowledge of electromagnetic noise in quantum optical measurement.

We use the uncertainty relation between the operators associated to the total number of particles and to the relative phase of two bosonic modes to construct entanglement and Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering criteria. These can be tested experimentally in a variety of systems, such as optical fields, Bose-Einstein condensates or mechanical oscillators. While known entanglement criteria involving the phase observable typically require to perform interference measurements by recombining the two systems, our criteria can be tested through local measurements at two spatially distinct positions, to investigate the nonlocal nature of quantum correlations. We present simple examples where our criteria are violated, and show their robustness to noise. Apart from being useful for state characterization, they might find application in quantum information protocols, for example based on number-phase teleportation., Comment: Comments are welcome!

Multipartite Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering is an essential resource for quantum communication networks where the reliability of equipment at all of the nodes cannot be fully trusted. Here, we present experimental generation of a highly versatile and flexible repository of multipartite steering using an optical frequency comb and ultrafast pulse shaping. Simply modulating the optical spectral resolution of the detection system using the pulse shaper, this scheme is able to produce on-demand 4, 8 and 16-mode Gaussian steering without changing the photonics architecture. We find that the steerability increases with higher spectral resolution. For 16-mode state, we identify as many as 65534 possible bipartition steering existing in this intrinsic multimode quantum resource, and demonstrate that the prepared state steerability is robust to mode losses. Moreover, we verify four types of monogamy relations of Gaussian steering and demonstrate strong violation for one of them. Our method offers a powerful foundation for constructing quantum networks in real-world scenario., Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures

We discuss general properties of the equilibrium state of parametric down-conversion in superconducting quantum circuits with detunings and Kerr anharmonicities, in the strongly nonlinear regime. By comparing moments of the steady state and those of a Schr\"odinger cat, we show that true Schr\"odinger cats cannot survive in the steady state if there is any single-photon loss. A delta-function 'cat-like' steady-state distribution can be formed, but this only exists in the limit of an extremely large nonlinearity. The steady state is a mixed state, which is more complex than a mixture or linear combination of delta-functions, and whose purity is reduced by driving. We expect this general behaviour to occur in other driven, dissipative quantum subharmonic non-equilibrium open systems., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures