arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Anton Zeilinger.
Ryff's Comment raises the question of the meaning of the quantum state. We argue that the quantum state is just the representative of information available to a given observer. Then Ryff's interpretation of one of our experiments and our original one are both admissible.
We study the loss of spatial coherence in the extended wave function of fullerenes due to collisions with background gases. From the gradual suppression of quantum interference with increasing gas pressure we are able to support quantitatively both the predictions of decoherence theory and our picture of the interaction process. We thus explore the practical limits of matter wave interferometry at finite gas pressures and estimate the required experimental vacuum conditions for interferometry with even larger objects.
Enhancement of entanglement enhancement is necessary for most quantum communication protocols many of which are defined in Hilbert spaces larger than two. In this work we present the experimental realization of entanglement concentration of orbital angular momentum entangled photons produced in the spontaneous parametric down-conversion process which have been shown to provide a source for higher dimensional entanglement. We investigate the specific case of three dimensions and the possibility of generating different entangled states out of an initial state. The results presented here are of importance for pure states as well as for mixed states.
The principle of teleportation can be used to perform a quantum computation even before its quantum input is defined. The basic idea is to perform the quantum computation at some earlier time with qubits which are part of an entangled state. At a later time a generalized Bell state measurement is performed jointly on the then defined actual input qubits and the rest of the entangled state. This projects the output state onto the correct one with a certain exponentially small probability. The sufficient conditions are found under which the scheme is of benefit.
Niels Bohr wrote: "There is no quantum world. There is only an abstract quantum physical description. It is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how Nature is. Physics concerns what we can say about Nature." In an analogous way, von Weizsaecker suggested that the notion of the elementary alternative, the "Ur", should play a pivotal role when constructing physics. Both approaches suggest that the concept of information should play an essential role in the foundations of any scientific description of Nature. We show that if, in our description of Nature, we use one definite proposition per elementary constituent of Nature, some of the essential characteristics of quantum physics, such as the irreducible randomness of individual events, quantum complementary and quantum entanglement, arise in a natural way. Then quantum physics is an elementary theory of information.
We establish a mapping between a continuous variable (CV) quantum system and a discrete quantum system of arbitrary dimension. This opens up the general possibility to perform any quantum information task with a CV system as if it were a discrete system of arbitrary dimension. The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen state is mapped onto the maximally entangled state in any finite dimensional Hilbert space and thus can be considered as a universal resource of entanglement. As an explicit example of the formalism a two-mode CV entangled state is mapped onto a two-qutrit entangled state.
We prove that for every Bell's inequality and for a broad class of protocols, there always exists a multi-party communication complexity problem, for which the protocol assisted by states which violate the inequality is more efficient than any classical protocol. Moreover, for that advantage Bell's inequality violation is a necessary and sufficient criterion. Thus, violation of Bell's inequalities has a significance beyond that of a non-optimal-witness of non-separability.
We formulate a two-party communication complexity problem and present its quantum solution that exploits the entanglement between two qutrits. We prove that for a broad class of protocols the entangled state can enhance the efficiency of solving the problem in the quantum protocol over any classical one if and only if the state violates Bell's inequality for two qutrits.
When a single photon is split by a beam splitter, its two `halves' can entangle two distant atoms into an EPR pair. We discuss a time-reversed analogue of this experiment where two distant sources cooperate so as to emit a single photon. The two `half photons,' having interacted with two atoms, can entangle these atoms into an EPR pair once they are detected as a single photon. Entanglement occurs by creating indistinguishabilility between the two mutually exclusive histories of the photon. This indistinguishabilility can be created either at the end of the two histories (by `erasing' the single photon's path) or at their beginning (by `erasing' the two atoms' positions).
Young's experiment is the quintessential quantum experiment. It is argued here that quantum interference is a consequence of the finiteness of information. The observer has the choice whether that information manifests itself as path information or in the interference pattern or in both partially to the extent defined by the finiteness of information.
The Pauli operators (tensor products of Pauli matrices) provide a complete basis of operators on the Hilbert space of N qubits. We prove that the set of 4^N-1 Pauli operators may be partitioned into 2^N+1 distinct subsets, each consisting of 2^N-1 internally commuting observables. Furthermore, each such partitioning defines a unique choice of 2^N+1 mutually unbiased basis sets in the N-qubit Hilbert space. Examples for 2 and 3 qubit systems are discussed with emphasis on the nature and amount of entanglement that occurs within these basis sets.
In a classical measurement the Shannon information is a natural measure of our ignorance about properties of a system. There, observation removes that ignorance in revealing properties of the system which can be considered to preexist prior to and independent of observation. Because of the completely different root of a quantum measurement as compared to a classical measurement conceptual difficulties arise when we try to define the information gain in a quantum measurement using the notion of Shannon information. The reason is that, in contrast to classical measurement, quantum measurement, with very few exceptions, cannot be claimed to reveal a property of the individual quantum system existing before the measurement is performed.
So far experimental confirmation of entanglement has been restricted to qubits, i.e. two-state quantum systems including recent realization of three- and four-qubit entanglements. Yet, an ever increasing body of theoretical work calls for entanglement in quantum system of higher dimensions. Here we report the first realization of multi-dimensional entanglement exploiting the orbital angular momentum of photons, which are states of the electromagnetic field with phase singularities (doughnut modes). The properties of such states could be of importance for the efforts in the field of quantum computation and quantum communication. For example, quantum cryptography with higher alphabets could enable one to increase the information flux through the communication channels.
Two different experimental techniques for preparation and analyzing superpositions of the Gaussian and Laguerre-Gassian modes are presented. This is done exploiting an interferometric method on the one hand and using computer generated holograms on the other hand. It is shown that by shifting the hologram with respect to an incoming Gaussian beam different superpositions of the Gaussian and the Laguerre-Gaussian beam can be produced. An analytical expression between the relative phase and the amplitudes of the modes and the displacement of the hologram is given. The application of such orbital angular momenta superpositions in quantum experiments such as quantum cryptography is discussed.
Quantum teleportation strikingly underlines the peculiar features of the quantum world. We present an experimental proof of its quantum nature, teleporting an entangled photon with such high quality that the nonlocal quantum correlations with its original partner photon are preserved. This procedure is also known as entanglement swapping. The nonlocality is confirmed by observing a violation of Bell's inequality by 4.5 standard deviations. Thus, by demonstrating quantum nonlocality for photons that never interacted our results directly confirm the quantum nature of teleportation.
We demonstrate that structures made of light can be used to coherently control the motion of complex molecules. In particular, we show diffraction of the fullerenes C60 and C70 at a thin grating based on a standing light wave. We prove experimentally that the principles of this effect, well known from atom optics, can be successfully extended to massive and large molecules which are internally in a thermodynamic mixed state and which do not exhibit narrow optical resonances. Our results will be important for the observation of quantum interference with even larger and more complex objects.
Entanglement, according to Erwin Schroedinger the essence of quantum mechanics, is at the heart of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox and of the so called quantum-nonlocality - the fact that a local realistic explanation of quantum mechanics is not possible as quantitatively expressed by violation of Bell's inequalities. Even as entanglement gains increasing importance in most quantum information processing protocols, its conceptual foundation is still widely debated. Among the open questions are: What is the conceptual meaning of quantum entanglement? What are the most general constraints imposed by local realism? Which general quantum states violate these constraints? Developing Schroedinger's ideas in an information-theoretic context we suggest that a natural understanding of quantum entanglement results when one accepts (1) that the amount of information per elementary system is finite and (2) that the information in a composite system resides more in the correlations than in properties of individuals. The quantitative formulation of these ideas leads to a rather natural criterion of quantum entanglement. Independently, extending Bell's original ideas, we obtain a single general Bell inequality that summarizes all possible constraints imposed by local realism on the correlations for a multi-particle system. Violation of the general Bell inequality results in an independent general criterion for quantum entanglement. Most importantly, the two criteria agree in essence, though the two approaches are conceptually very different. This concurrence strongly supports the information-theoretic interpretation of quantum entanglement and of quantum physics in general.
In a recent paper Bennett et al.[Phys. Rev.A 59, 1070 (1999)] have shown the existence of a basis of product states of a bipartite system with manifest non-local properties. In particular these states cannot be completely discriminated by means of bilocal measurements. In this paper we propose an optical realization of these states and we will show that they cannot be completely discriminate by means of a global measurement using only optical linear elements, conditional transformation and auxiliary photons.