arXiv subjects

Paolo Mataloni

Publications and source records attributed to Paolo Mataloni.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2022

Experimental Multi-state Quantum Discrimination in the Frequency Domain with Quantum Dot Light

The quest for the realization of effective quantum state discrimination strategies is of great interest for quantum information technology, as well as for fundamental studies. Therefore, it is crucial to develop new and more efficient methods to implement discrimination protocols for quantum states. Among the others, single photon implementations are more advisable, because of their inherent security advantage in quantum communication scenarios. In this work, we present the experimental realization of a protocol employing a time-multiplexing strategy to optimally discriminate among eight non-orthogonal states, encoded in the four-dimensional Hilbert space spanning both the polarization degree of freedom and photon energy. The experiment, built on a custom-designed bulk optics analyser setup and single photons generated by a nearly deterministic solid-state source, represents a benchmarking example of minimum error discrimination with actual quantum states, requiring only linear optics and two photodetectors to be realized. Our work paves the way for more complex applications and delivers a novel approach towards high-dimensional quantum encoding and decoding operations.

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arXiv2021

Visualising multiqubit correlatons using the Wigner function

Quantum engineering now allows to design and construct multi-qubit states in a range of physical systems. These states are typically quite complex in nature, with disparate, but relevant properties that include both single and multi-qubit coherences and even entanglement. All these properties can be assessed by reconstructing the density matrix of those states - but the large parameter space can mean physical insight of the nature of those states and their coherence can be hard to achieve. Here we explore how the Wigner function of a multipartite system and its visualization provides rich information on the nature of the state, not only at illustrative level but also at the quantitative level. We test our tools in a photonic architecture making use of the multiple degrees of freedom of two photons.

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arXiv2021

Experimental multi-state quantum discrimination through a Quantum network

The need of discriminating between different quantum states is a fundamental issue in Quantum Information and Communication. The actual realization of generally optimal strategies in this task is often limited by the need of supplemental resources and very complex receivers. We have experimentally implemented two discrimination schemes in a minimum-error scenario based on a receiver featured by a network structure and a dynamical processing of information. The first protocol implemented in our experiment, directly inspired to a recent theoretical proposal, achieves binary optimal discrimination, while the second one provides a novel approach to multi-state quantum discrimination, relying on the dynamical features of the network-like receiver. This strategy exploits the arrival time degree of freedom as an encoding variable, achieving optimal results, without the need for supplemental systems or devices. Our results further reveal the potential of dynamical approaches to Quantum State Discrimination tasks, providing a possible starting point for efficient alternatives to current experimental strategies.

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arXiv2021

Experimental Lower Bounds to the Classical Capacity of Quantum Channels

We show an experimental procedure to certify the classical capacity for noisy qubit channels. The method makes use of a fixed bipartite entangled state, where the system qubit is sent to the channel input and the set of local measurements $σ_{x}\otimesσ_{x}$, $σ_{y}\otimesσ_{y}$ and $σ_{z}\otimesσ_{z}$ is performed at the channel output and the ancilla qubit, thus without resorting to full quantum process tomography. The witness to the classical capacity is then achieved by reconstructing sets of conditional probabilities, noise deconvolution, and classical optimization of the pertaining mutual information. The performance of the method to provide lower bounds to the classical capacity is tested by a two-photon polarization entangled state in Pauli channels and amplitude damping channels. The measured lower bounds to the channels are in high agreement with the simulated data, which take into account both the experimental entanglement fidelity $F=0.979\pm 0.011$ of the input state and the systematic experimental imperfections.

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arXiv2021

Enhancing nonclassical bosonic correlations in a Quantum Walk network through experimental control of disorder

The presence of disorder and inhomogeneities in quantum networks has often been unexpectedly beneficial for both quantum and classical resources. Here, we experimentally realize a controllable inhomogenous Quantum Walk dynamics, which can be exploited to investigate the effect of coherent disorder on the quantum correlations between two indistinguishable photons. Through the imposition of suitable disorder configurations, we observe two photon states which exhibit an enhancement in the quantum correlations between two modes of the network, compared to the case of an ordered Quantum Walk. Different configurations of disorder can steer the system towards different realizations of such an enhancement, thus allowing spatial and temporal manipulation of quantum correlations.

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arXiv2020

Quantum information spreading in a disordered quantum walk

We design a quantum probing protocol using Quantum Walks to investigate the Quantum Information spreading pattern. We employ Quantum Fisher Information, as a figure of merit, to quantify extractable information about an unknown parameter encoded within the Quantum Walk evolution. Although the approach is universal, we focus on the coherent static and dynamic disorder to investigate anomalous and classical transport as well as Anderson localization. Our results show that a Quantum Walk can be considered as a readout device of information about defects and perturbations occurring in complex networks, both classical and quantum.

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arXiv2020

Subdiffusion via Disordered Quantum Walks

Transport phenomena play a crucial role in modern physics and applied sciences. Examples include the dissipation of energy across a large system, the distribution of quantum information in optical networks, and the timely modeling of spreading diseases. In this work, we experimentally prove the feasibility of disordered quantum walks to realize a quantum simulator that is able to model general subdiffusive phenomena, exhibiting a sublinear spreading in space over time. Our experiment simulates such phenomena by means of a finely controlled insertion of various levels of disorder during the evolution of the walker, enabled by the unique flexibility of our setup. This allows us to explore the full range of subdiffusive behaviors, ranging from anomalous Anderson localization to normal diffusion.

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arXiv2019

Experimental investigation of superdiffusion via coherent disordered Quantum Walks

Many disordered systems show a superdiffusive dynamics, intermediate between the diffusive one, typical of a classical stochastic process, and the so called ballistic behaviour, which is generally expected for the spreading in a quantum process. We have experimentally investigated the superdiffusive behaviour of a quantum walk (QW), whose dynamics can be related to energy transport phenomena, with a resolution which is high enough to clearly distinguish between different disorder regimes. By our experimental setup, the region between ballistic and diffusive spreading can be effectively scanned by suitably setting few degrees of freedom and without applying any decoherence to the QW evolution.

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arXiv2019

Experimental investigation of quantum decay at short, intermediate and long times via integrated photonics

The decay of an unstable system is usually described by an exponential law. Quantum mechanics predicts strong deviations of the survival probability from the exponential: indeed, the decay is initially quadratic, while at very large times it follows a power law, with superimposed oscillations. The latter regime is particularly elusive and difficult to observe. Here we employ arrays of single-mode optical waveguides, fabricated by femtosecond laser direct inscription, to implement quantum systems where a discrete state is coupled and can decay into a continuum. The optical modes correspond to distinct quantum states of the photon and the temporal evolution of the quantum system is mapped into the spatial propagation coordinate. By injecting coherent light states in the fabricated photonic structures and by measuring light with an unprecedented dynamic range, we are able to experimentally observe not only the exponential decay regime, but also the quadratic Zeno region and the power-law decay at long evolution times.

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arXiv2019

All-optical implementation of collision-based evolutions of open quantum systems

We present a new optical scheme enabling the implementation of highly stable and configurable non-Markovian dynamics. Here one photon qubit can circulate in a multipass bulk geometry consisting of two concatenated Sagnac interferometers to simulate the so called collisional model, where the system interacts at discrete times with a vacuum environment. We show the optical features of our apparatus and three different implementations of it, replicating a pure Markovian scenario and two non-Markovian ones, where we quantify the information backflow by tracking the evolution of the initial entanglement between the system photon and an ancillary one.

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arXiv2019

A Novel Bulk-Optics Scheme for Quantum Walk with High Phase Stability

A novel bulk optics scheme for quantum walks is presented. It consists of a one-dimensional lattice built on two concatenated displaced Sagnac interferometers that make it possible to reproduce all the possible trajectories of an optical quantum walk. Because of the closed loop configuration, the interferometric structure is intrinsically stable in phase. Moreover, the lattice structure is highly configurable, as any phase component perceived by the walker is accessible, and finally, all output modes can be measured at any step of the quantum walk evolution. We report here on the experimental implementation of ordered and disordered quantum walks.

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arXiv2018

Stimulated Emission Tomography: Beyond Polarization

In this work we demonstrate the use of stimulated emission tomography to characterize a hyper-entangled state generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion in a CW-pumped source. In particular, we consider the generation of hyper-entangled states consisting of photon pairs entangled in polarisation and path. These results extend the capability of stimulated emission tomography beyond the polarisation degree of freedom, and demonstrate the use of this technique to study states in higher dimension Hilbert spaces.

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arXiv2018

Experimental signature of Quantum Darwinism in photonic cluster states

We report on an experimental assessment of the emergence of Quantum Darwinism (QD) from engineered open-system dynamics. We use a photonic hyperentangled source of graph states to address the effects that correlations among the elements of a multi-party environment have on the establishment of objective reality ensuing the quantum-to-classical transition. Besides embodying one of the first experimental efforts towards the characterization of QD, our work illustrates the non-trivial consequences that multipartite entanglement and, in turn, the possibility of having environment-to-system back-action have on the features of the QD framework.

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arXiv2017

Integrated sources of entangled photons at telecom wavelength in femtosecond-laser-written circuits

Photon entanglement is an important state of light that is at the basis of many protocols in photonic quantum technologies, from quantum computing, to simulation and sensing. The capability to generate entangled photons in integrated waveguide sources is particularly advantageous due to the enhanced stability and more efficient light-crystal interaction. Here we realize an integrated optical source of entangled degenerate photons at telecom wavelength, based on the hybrid interfacing of photonic circuits in different materials, all inscribed by femtosecond laser pulses. We show that our source, based on spontaneous parametric down-conversion, gives access to different classes of output states, allowing to switch from path-entangled to polarization-entangled states with net visibilities above 0.92 for all selected combinations of integrated devices.

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arXiv2017

Experimental detection of quantum channel capacities

We present an effcient experimental procedure that certifies non vanishing quantum capacities for qubit noisy channels. Our method is based on the use of a fixed bipartite entangled state, where the system qubit is sent to the channel input. A particular set of local measurements is performed at the channel output and the ancilla qubit mode, obtaining lower bounds to the quantum capacities for any unknown channel with no need of a quantum process tomography. The entangled qubits have a Bell state configuration and are encoded in photon polarization. The lower bounds are found by estimating the Shannon and von Neumann entropies at the output using an optimized basis, whose statistics is obtained by measuring only the three observables $σ_{x}\otimesσ_{x}$, $σ_{y}\otimesσ_{y}$ and $σ_{z}\otimesσ_{z}$.

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arXiv2017

Structure of multipartite entanglement in random cluster-like photonic systems

Quantum networks are natural scenarios for the communication of information among distributed parties, and the arena of promising schemes for distributed quantum computation. Measurement-based quantum computing is a prominent example of how quantum networking, embodied by the generation of a special class of multipartite states called cluster states, can be used to achieve a powerful paradigm for quantum information processing. Here we analyze randomly generated cluster states in order to address the emergence of multipartite correlations as a function of the density of edges in a given underlying graph. We find that the most widespread multipartite entanglement does not correspond to the highest amount of edges in the cluster. We extend the analysis to higher dimensions, finding similar results, which suggest the establishment of small world structures in the entanglement sharing of randomised cluster states, which can be exploited in engineering more efficient quantum information carriers.

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arXiv2017

Amending entanglement-breaking channels via intermediate unitary operations

We report a bulk optics experiment demonstrating the possibility of restoring the entanglement distribution through noisy quantum channels by inserting a suitable unitary operation (filter) in the middle of the transmission process. We focus on two relevant classes of single-qubit channels consisting in repeated applications of rotated phase damping or rotated amplitude damping maps, both modeling the combined Hamiltonian and dissipative dynamics of the polarization state of single photons. Our results show that interposing a unitary filter between two noisy channels can significantly improve entanglement transmission. This proof-of-principle demonstration could be generalized to many other physical scenarios where entanglement-breaking communication lines may be amended by unitary filters.

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arXiv2017

Entangling one polariton with a photon: effect of interactions on a single-polariton quantum state

Polaritons are quasi-particles originating from the coupling of light with matter that demonstrated quantum phenomena at the many-particle mesoscopic level, such as BEC and superfluidity. A highly sought and long-time missing feature of polaritons is a genuine quantum manifestation of their dynamics at the single-particle level. Although they are conceptually perceived as entangled states and theoretical proposals abound for an explicit manifestation of their single-particle properties, so far their behaviour has remained fully accountable for by classical and mean-field theories. In this Article, we report the first experimental demonstration of a genuinely-quantum manifestation of microcavity polaritons, by swapping, in a two-photon entangled state generated by parametric down-conversion, a photon for a polariton. Furthermore, we show how single polaritons are affected by polariton-polariton interactions in a propaedeutic demonstration of their qualities for quantum information applications.

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