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Matteo G A Paris

Publications and source records attributed to Matteo G A Paris.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

Fast remote spectral discrimination through ghost spectrometry

Assessing the presence of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats is a crucial task which is usually dealt with by analyzing the presence of spectral features in a measured absorption profile. The use of quantum light allows to perform these measurements remotely without compromising the measurement accuracy through ghost spectrometry. However, in order to have sufficient signal-to-noise ratio, it is typically required to wait long acquisition times, hence subtracting to the benefits provided by remote sensing. In many instances, though, reconstructing the full spectral lineshape of an object is not needed and the interest lies in discriminating whether a spectrally absorbing object may be present or not. Here we show that this task can be performed fast and accurately through ghost spectrometry by comparing the low resources measurement with a reference. We discuss the experimental results obtained with different samples and complement them with simulations to explore the most common scenarios.

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Teleportation improvement by non-deterministic noiseless linear amplification

We address de-Gaussification of continuous variables Gaussian states by optimal non-deterministic noiseless linear amplifier (NLA) and analyze in details the properties of the amplified states. In particular, we investigate the entanglement content and the non-Gaussian character for the class of non-Gaussian entangled state obtained by using NL-amplification of two-mode squeezed vacua (twin-beam, TWB). We show that entanglement always increases, whereas improved EPR correlations are observed only when the input TWB has low energy. We then examine a Braunstein-Kimble-like protocol for the teleportation of coherent states, and compare the performances of TWB-based teleprotation with those obtained using NL-amplified resources. We show that teleportation fidelity and security may be improved for a large range of NLA parameters (gain and threshold).

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Continuous variable quantum key distribution in non-Markovian channels

We address continuous variable quantum key distribution (QKD) in non-Markovian lossy channels and show how the non-Markovian features may be exploited to enhance security and/or to detect the presence and the position of an eavesdropper along the transmission line. In particular, we suggest a coherent states QKD protocol which is secure against individual attacks for arbitrarily low values of the overall transmission line. Our scheme relies on specific non-Markovian properties, and cannot be implemented in ordinary Markovian channels characterized by uniform losses.

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Programmable purification of type-I polarization-entanglement

We suggest and demonstrate a scheme to compensate spatial and spectral decoherence effects in the generation of polarization entangled states by type-I parametric downconversion. In our device a programmable spatial light modulator imposes a polarization dependent phase-shift on different spatial sections of the overall downconversion output and this effect is exploited to realize an effective purification technique for polarization entanglement.

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The discrimination problem for two ground states or two thermal states of the quantum Ising model

We address the one-dimensional quantum Ising model as an example of system exhibiting criticality and study in some details the discrimination problem for pairs of states corresponding to different values of the coupling constant. We evaluate the error probability for single-copy discrimination, the Chernoff bound for $n$-copy discrimination in the asymptotic limit, and the Chernoff metric for the discrimination of infinitesimally close states. We point out scaling properties of the above quantities, and derive the external field optimizing state discrimination for short chains as well as in the thermodynamical limit, thus assessing criticality as a resource for quantum discrimination in many-body systems.

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Bayesian estimation of one-parameter qubit gates

We address estimation of one-parameter unitary gates for qubit systems and seek for optimal probes and measurements. Single- and two-qubit probes are analyzed in details focusing on precision and stability of the estimation procedure. Bayesian inference is employed and compared with the ultimate quantum limits to precision, taking into account the biased nature of Bayes estimator in the non asymptotic regime. Besides, through the evaluation of the asymptotic a posteriori distribution for the gate parameter and the comparison with the results of Monte Carlo simulated experiments, we show that asymptotic optimality of Bayes estimator is actually achieved after a limited number of runs. The robustness of the estimation procedure against fluctuations of the measurement settings is investigated and the use of entanglement to improve the overall stability of the estimation scheme is also analyzed in some details.

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The quantum-classical transition in thermally seeded parametric downconversion

We address the pair of conjugated field modes obtained from parametric-downconversion as a convenient system to analyze the quantum-classical transition in the continuous variable regime. We explicitly evaluate intensity correlations, negativity and entanglement for the system in a thermal state and show that a hierarchy of nonclassicality thresholds naturally emerges in terms of thermal and downconversion photon number. We show that the transition from quantum to classical regime may be tuned by controlling the intensities of the seeds and detected by intensity measurements. Besides, we show that the thresholds are not affected by losses, which only modify the amount of nonclassicality. The multimode case is also analyzed in some detail.

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Squeezed vacuum as a universal quantum probe

We address local quantum estimation of bilinear Hamiltonians probed by Gaussian states. We evaluate the relevant quantum Fisher information (QFI) and derive the ultimate bound on precision. Upon maximizing the QFI we found that single- and two-mode squeezed vacuum represent an optimal and universal class of probe states, achieving the so-called Heisenberg limit to precision in terms of the overall energy of the probe. We explicitly obtain the optimal observable based on the symmetric logarithmic derivative and also found that homodyne detection assisted by Bayesian analysis may achieve estimation of squeezing with near-optimal sensitivity in any working regime. Besides, by comparison of our results with those coming from global optimization of the measurement we found that Gaussian states are effective resources, which allow to achieve the ultimate bound on precision imposed by quantum mechanics using measurement schemes feasible with current technology.

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Quantum criticality as a resource for quantum estimation

We address quantum critical systems as a resource in quantum estimation and derive the ultimate quantum limits to the precision of any estimator of the coupling parameters. In particular, if L denotes the size of a system and λis the relevant coupling parameters driving a quantum phase transition, we show that a precision improvement of order 1/L may be achieved in the estimation of λat the critical point compared to the non-critical case. We show that analogue results hold for temperature estimation in classical phase transitions. Results are illustrated by means of a specific example involving a fermion tight-binding model with pair creation (BCS model).

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Generalized measurement of the non-normal two-boson operator $Z_γ= a_1 + γa_2^†$

We address the generalized measurement of the two-boson operator $Z_γ= a_1 + γa_2^†$ which, for $|γ|^2 \neq 1$, is not normal and cannot be detected by a joint measurement of quadratures on the two bosons. We explicitly construct the minimal Naimark extension, which involves a single additional bosonic system, and present its decomposition in terms of two-boson linear SU(2) interactions. The statistics of the measurement and the added noise are analyzed in details. Results are exploited to revisit the Caves-Shapiro concept of generalized phase observable based on heterodyne detection.

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Joint measurements on qubits and cloning of observables

Cloning of observables, unlike standard cloning of states, aims at copying the information encoded in the statistics of a class of observables rather then on quantum states themselves. In such a process the emphasis is on the quantum operation (evolution plus measurement) necessary to retrieve the original information. We analyze, for qubit systems, the cloning of a class generated by two noncommuting observables, elucidating the relationship between such a process and joint measurements. This helps in establishing an optimality criterion for cloning of observables. We see that, even if the cloning machine is designed to act on the whole class generated by two noncommuting observables, the same optimal performances of a joint measurement can be attained. Finally, the connection with state dependent cloning is enlightened.

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Unitary local invariance

We address unitary local (UL) invariance of bipartite pure states. Given a bipartite state $|Ψ>>=\sum_{ij} ψ_{ij}\: |i>_1\otimes |j>_2$ the complete characterization of the class of local unitaries $U_1\otimes U_2$ for which $U_1\otimes U_2 |Ψ>>=|Ψ>>$ is obtained.The two relevant parameters are the rank of the matrix $Ψ$, $[Ψ]_{ij}=ψ_{ij}$, and the number of its equal singular values, {\em i.e.} the degeneracy of the eigenvalues of the partial traces of $|Ψ>>$.

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Binary communication in entangled channels

We analyze optical binary communication assisted by entanglement and show that: i) ideal entangled channels have smaller error probability than ideal single-mode coherent channels if the photon number of the channel is larger than one; ii) realistic entangled channels with heterodyne receivers have smaller error probability than ideal single-mode coherent channels if the photon number of the channel is larger than a threshold of about five photons.

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Optical qubit by conditional interferometry

We suggest a method to prepare any chosen superposition a0 |0> + a1 |1> of the vacuum and one-photon states. The method is based on a conditional double-interferometer fed by an one-photon state and a coherent state. The scheme involves only linear optical elements and avalanche photodetectors, and therefore it should be realizable with current technology. A realistic description of the triggering photodetectors is employed, i.e. we assume that they can only check, with a certain efficiency, whether or not any photon is present. We discuss two working regimes, and show that output states with fidelity arbitrarily close to unit may be obtained, with non vanishing conditional probability, also for low quantum efficiency at the photodetectors.

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