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K. J. Resch

Publications and source records attributed to K. J. Resch.

29 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Quantum nonlocality obtained from local states by entanglement purification

We have applied an entanglement purification protocol to produce a single entangled pair of photons capable of violating a CHSH Bell inequality from two pairs that individually could not. The initial poorly-entangled photons were created by a controllable decoherence that introduced complex errors. All of the states were reconstructed using quantum state tomography which allowed for a quantitative description of the improvement of the state after purification.

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Distributing entanglement and single photons through an intra-city, free-space quantum channel

We have distributed entangled photons directly through the atmosphere to a receiver station 7.8 km away over the city of Vienna, Austria at night. Detection of one photon from our entangled pairs constitutes a triggered single photon source from the sender. With no direct time-stable connection, the two stations found coincidence counts in the detection events by calculating the cross-correlation of locally-recorded time stamps shared over a public internet channel. For this experiment, our quantum channel was maintained for a total of 40 minutes during which time a coincidence lock found approximately 60000 coincident detection events. The polarization correlations in those events yielded a Bell parameter, S=2.27/pm0.019, which violates the CHSH-Bell inequality by 14 standard deviations. This result is promising for entanglement-based free-space quantum communication in high-density urban areas. It is also encouraging for optical quantum communication between ground stations and satellites since the length of our free-space link exceeds the atmospheric equivalent.

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Practical measurement of joint weak values and their connection to the annihilation operator

Weak measurements are a new tool for characterizing post-selected quantum systems during their evolution. Weak measurement was originally formulated in terms of von Neumann interactions which are practically available for only the simplest single-particle observables. In the present work, we extend and greatly simplify a recent, experimentally feasible, reformulation of weak measurement for multiparticle observables [Resch and Steinberg (2004, Phys. Rev. Lett., 92, 130402)]. We also show that the resulting ``joint weak values'' take on a particularly elegant form when expressed in terms of annihilation operators.

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Extracting joint weak values with local, single-particle measurements

Weak measurement is a new technique which allows one to describe the evolution of postselected quantum systems. It appears to be useful for resolving a variety of thorny quantum paradoxes, particularly when used to study properties of pairs of particles. Unfortunately, such nonlocal or joint observables often prove difficult to measure weakly in practice (for instance, in optics -- a common testing ground for this technique -- strong photon-photon interactions would be needed). Here we derive a general, experimentally feasible, method for extracting these values from correlations between single-particle observables.

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Experimental Realization of the Quantum Box Problem

The three-box problem is a gedankenexperiment designed to elucidate some interesting features of quantum measurement and locality. A particle is prepared in a particular superposition of three boxes, and later found in a different (but nonorthogonal) superposition. It was predicted that appropriate "weak" measurements of particle position in the interval between preparation and post-selection would find the particle in two different places, each with certainty. We verify these predictions in an optical experiment and address the issues of locality and of negative probability.

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Photon-exchange effects on photon-pair transmission

It has been proposed that photon-exchange effects in atom-photon interactions could lead to greatly enhanced optical nonlinearities. These might have widespread application (e.g. quantum information). Here we demonstrate experimentally that such exchange effects can indeed enhance the probability of real absorption of photon pairs. Using nonclassical pairs of photons with variable time separation, we observe a maximum suppression of pair transmission by at least 5% with respect to the result for uncorrelated photons.

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Practical creation and detection of polarization Bell states using parametric down-conversion

The generation and detection of maximally-entangled two-particle states, `Bell states,' are crucial tasks in many quantum information protocols such as cryptography and teleportation. Unfortunately, they require strong inter-particle interactions lacking in optics. For this reason, it has not previously been possible to perform complete Bell state determination in optical systems. In this work, we show how a recently developed quantum interference technique for enhancing optical nonlinearities can make efficient Bell-state measurement possible. We also discuss weaknesses of the scheme including why it cannot be used for unconditional quantum teleportation.

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A conditional-phase switch at the single-photon level

We present an experimental realization of a two-photon conditional-phase switch, related to the ``$c$-$ϕ$'' gate of quantum computation. This gate relies on quantum interference between photon pairs, generating entanglement between two optical modes through the process of spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC). The interference effect serves to enhance the effective nonlinearity by many orders of magnitude, so it is significant at the quantum (single-photon) level. By adjusting the relative optical phase between the classical pump for SPDC and the pair of input modes, one can impress a large phase shift on one beam which depends on the presence or absence of a single photon in a control mode.

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Nonlinear optics with less than one photon

We demonstrate suppression and enhancement of spontaneous parametric down- conversion via quantum interference with two weak fields from a local oscillator (LO). Pairs of LO photons are observed to upconvert with high efficiency for appropriate phase settings, exhibiting an effective nonlinearity enhanced by at least 10 orders of magnitude. This constitutes a two-photon switch, and promises to be useful for a variety of nonlinear optical effects at the quantum level.

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Experimental observation of nonclassical effects on single-photon detection rates

It is often asserted that quantum effects can be observed in coincidence detection rates or other correlations, but never in the rate of single-photon detection. We observe nonclassical interference in a singles rate, thanks to the intrinsic nonlinearity of photon counters. This is due to a dependence of the effective detection efficiency on the quantum statistics of the light beam. Such measurements of detector response to photon pairs promise to shed light on the microscopic aspects of silicon photodetectors, and on general issues of quantum measurement and decoherence.

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