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Pavel Sekatski

Publications and source records attributed to Pavel Sekatski.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Towards the device-independent certification of a quantum memory

Quantum memories represent one of the main ingredients of future quantum communication networks. Their certification is therefore a key challenge. Here we develop efficient certification methods for quantum memories. Considering a device-independent approach, where no a priori characterisation of sources or measurement devices is required, we develop a robust self-testing method for quantum memories. We then illustrate the practical relevance of our technique in a relaxed scenario by certifying a fidelity of 0.87 in a recent solid-state ensemble quantum memory experiment. More generally, our methods apply for the characterisation of any device implementing a qubit identity quantum channel.

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Calibration-Independent Certification of a Quantum Frequency Converter

We report on a method to certify a unitary operation with the help of source and measurement apparatuses whose calibration throughout the certification process needs not be trusted. As in the device-independent paradigm our certification method relies on a Bell test, but it removes the need for high detection efficiencies by including the single additional assumption that non-detected events are independent of the measurement settings. The relevance of the proposed method is demonstrated experimentally with the certification of a quantum frequency converter. The experiment starts with the heralded creation of a maximally entangled two-qubit state between a single $^{40}$Ca$^+$ ion and a 854$\,$nm photon. Entanglement preserving frequency conversion to the telecom band is then realized with a non-linear waveguide embedded in a Sagnac interferometer. The resulting ion-telecom photon entangled state is characterized by means of a Bell-CHSH test from which the quality of the frequency conversion is quantified. We demonstrate the successful frequency conversion with an average certified fidelity of $\geq 84\,\%$ and an efficiency $\geq 3.1\times 10^{-6}$ at a confidence level of $99\,\%$. This ensures the suitability of the converter for integration in quantum networks from a trustful characterization procedure.

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Compatibility of projective measurements subject to white noise and loss

It is well known that when two or more quantum measurements suffer from imperfections they may lose their incompatibility. For a quantum system of finite dimension d we study the incompatibility of all projective measurements subjected to white noise and loss. We derive a necessary and sufficient conditions for this set of measurements to becomes compatible in terms of their visibility $p$ and efficiency $η$.

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Unlimited One-Way Steering

This work explores the asymmetry of quantum steering in a setup using high-dimensional entanglement. We construct entangled states with the following properties: $(i)$ one party (Alice) can never steer the state of the other party (Bob), considering the most general measurements, and $(ii)$ Bob can strongly steer the state of Alice, demonstrating genuine high-dimensional steering. In other words, Bob can convince Alice that they share an entangled state of arbitrarily high Schmidt number, while Alice can never convince Bob that the state is even simply entangled. In this sense, one-way steering can become unlimited. A key result for our construction is a condition for the joint measurability of all high-dimensional measurements subjected to the combined effect of noise and loss, which is of independent interest.

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A Quantum Simulator Based on Locally Controlled Logical Systems

In a digital quantum simulator, basic two-qubit interactions are manipulated by means of fast local control operations to establish a desired target Hamiltonian. Here we consider a quantum simulator based on logical systems, i.e. where several physical qubits are used to represent a single logical two-level system to obtain enhanced and simple control over effective interactions between logical systems. Fixed, distance-dependent pairwise interactions between the physical qubits lead to effective interactions between the logical systems, which can be fully controlled solely by the choice of their internal state. This allows one to directly manipulate the topology and strength of effective interactions between logical systems. We show how to choose and generate the required states of logical systems for any desired interaction pattern and topology, how to perform arbitrary logical measurements, and how to obtain full control over single logical systems using only the intrinsic two-body interactions and control of individual physical qubits. This leads to a universal quantum simulator based on logical systems. We discuss the advantages of such a logical quantum simulator over standard ones, including the possibility to reach target topologies that are only accessible with large overheads otherwise. We provide several examples of how to obtain different target interaction patterns and topologies from initial long-ranged or short-ranged qubit-qubit interactions with a specific distance dependence.

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Remotely Controlled Entanglement Generation

We consider a system of multiple qubits without any quantum control. We show that one can mediate entanglement between different subsystems in a controlled way by adding a (locally) controlled auxiliary system of the same size that couples via an always-on, distant dependent interaction to the system qubits. Solely by changing the internal state of the control system, one can selectively couple it to selected qubits, and ultimately generate different kinds of entanglement within the system. This provides an alternative way for quantum control and quantum gates that does not rely on the ability to switch interactions on and off at will, and can serve as a locally controlled quantum switch where all entanglement patterns can be created. We demonstrate that such an approach also offers an increased error tolerance w.r.t. position fluctuations.

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Simple Buehler-optimal confidence intervals on the average success probability of independent Bernoulli trials

One-sided confidence intervals are presented for the average of non-identical Bernoulli parameters. These confidence intervals are expressed as analytical functions of the total number of Bernoulli games won, the number of rounds and the confidence level. Tightness of these bounds in the sense of Buehler, i.e. as the strictest possible monotonic intervals, is demonstrated for all confidence levels. A simple interval valid for all confidence levels is also provided with a tightness guarantee. Finally, an application of the proposed confidence intervals to sequential sampling is discussed.

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Benchmarking single-photon sources from an auto-correlation measurement

Here we argue that the probability that a given source produces exactly a single photon is a natural quantity to benchmark single-photon sources as it certifies the absence of multi-photon components and quantifies the efficiency simultaneously. Moreover, this probability can be bounded simply from an auto-correlation measurement -- a balanced beam splitter and two photon detectors. Such a bound gives access to various non-classicality witnesses that can be used to certify and quantify Wigner-negativity, in addition to non-Gaussianity and P-negativity of the state produced by the source. We provide tools that can be used in practice to account for an imperfect beam splitter, non-identical and non-unit detection efficiencies, dark counts and other imperfections, to take finite statistical effects into account without assuming that identical states are produced in all rounds, and optionally allow one to remove the detector inefficiencies from the analysis. We demonstrate the use of the proposed benchmark, non-classicality witness and measure using a heralded single-photon source based on spontaneous parametric down-conversion. We report on an average probability that a single photon is produced $\geq 55\%$ and an average measure of the Wigner negativity $\geq 0.004$ with a confidence level of $1-10^{-10}$.

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Optimal nonequilibrium thermometry in Markovian environments

What is the minimum time required to take a temperature? In this paper, we solve this question for a large class of processes where temperature is inferred by measuring a probe (the thermometer) weakly coupled to the sample of interest, so that the probe's evolution is well described by a quantum Markovian master equation. Considering the most general control strategy on the probe (adaptive measurements, arbitrary control on the probe's state and Hamiltonian), we provide bounds on the achievable measurement precision in a finite amount of time, and show that in many scenarios these fundamental limits can be saturated with a relatively simple experiment. We find that for a general class of sample-probe interactions the scaling of the measurement uncertainty is inversely proportional to the time of the process, a shot-noise like behaviour that arises due to the dissipative nature of thermometry. As a side result, we show that the Lamb shift induced by the probe-sample interaction can play a relevant role in thermometry, allowing for finite measurement resolution in the low-temperature regime. More precisely, the measurement uncertainty decays polynomially with the temperature as $T\rightarrow 0$, in contrast to the usual exponential decay with $T^{-1}$. We illustrate these general results for (i) a qubit probe interacting with a bosonic sample, where the role of the Lamb shift is highlighted, and (ii) a collective superradiant coupling between a $N$-qubit probe and a sample, which enables a quadratic decay with $N$ of the measurement uncertainty.

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Partial self-testing and randomness certification in the triangle network

Quantum nonlocality can be demonstrated without inputs (i.e. each party using a fixed measurement setting) in a network with independent sources. Here we consider this effect on ring networks, and show that the underlying quantum strategy can be partially characterized, or self-tested, from observed correlations. Applying these results to the triangle network allows us to show that the nonlocal distribution of Renou et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 140401 (2019)] requires that (i) all sources produce a minimal amount of entanglement, (ii) all local measurements are entangled, and (iii) each local outcome features a minimal entropy. Hence we show that the triangle network allows for genuine network quantum nonlocality and certifiable randomness.

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Automated design of quantum optical experiments for device-independent quantum key distribution

Device-independent quantum key distribution (DIQKD) reduces the vulnerability to side-channel attacks of standard QKD protocols by removing the need for characterized quantum devices. The higher security guarantees come however, at the price of a challenging implementation. Here, we tackle the question of the conception of an experiment for implementing DIQKD with photonic devices. We introduce a technique combining reinforcement learning, optimisation algorithm and a custom efficient simulation of quantum optics experiments to automate the design of photonic setups maximizing a given function of the measurement statistics. Applying the algorithm to DIQKD, we get unexpected experimental configurations leading to high key rates and to a high resistance to loss and noise. These configurations might be helpful to facilitate a first implementation of DIQKD with photonic devices and for future developments targeting improved performances.

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Receiver-Device-Independent Quantum Key Distribution Protocols

We discuss quantum key distribution protocols and their security analysis, considering a receiver-device-independent (RDI) model. The sender's (Alice's) device is partially characterized, in the sense that we assume bounds on the overlaps of the prepared quantum states. The receiver's (Bob's) device requires no characterisation and can be represented as a black-box. Our protocols are therefore robust to any attack on Bob, such as blinding attacks. In particular, we show that a secret key can be established even when the quantum channel has arbitrarily low transmission by considering RDI protocols exploiting sufficiently many states. Finally, we discuss how the hypothesis of bounded overlaps can be naturally applied to practical devices.

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Equivalence between simulability of high-dimensional measurements and high-dimensional steering

The effect of quantum steering arises from the judicious combination of an entangled state with a set of incompatible measurements. Recently, it was shown that this form of quantum correlations can be quantified in terms of a dimension, leading to the notion of genuine high-dimensional steering. While this naturally connects to the dimensionality of entanglement (Schmidt number), we show that this effect also directly connects to a notion of dimension for measurement incompatibility. More generally, we present a general connection between the concepts of steering and measurement incompatibility, when quantified in terms of dimension. From this connection, we propose a novel twist on the problem of simulating quantum correlations. Specifically, we show how the correlations of certain high-dimensional entangled states can be exactly recovered using only shared randomness and lower-dimensional entanglement. Finally, we derive criteria for testing the dimension of measurement incompatibility, and discuss the extension of these ideas to quantum channels.

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Receiver-Device-Independent Quantum Key Distribution

We present protocols for quantum key distribution in a prepare-and-measure setup with an asymmetric level of trust. While the device of the sender (Alice) is partially characterized, the receiver's (Bob's) device is treated as a black-box. The security of the protocols is based on the assumption that Alice's prepared states have limited overlaps, but no explicit bound on the Hilbert space dimension is required. The protocols are immune to attacks on the receiver's device, such as blinding attacks. The users can establish a secret key while continuously monitoring the correct functioning of their devices through observed statistics. We report a proof-of-principle demonstration, involving mostly off-the-shelf equipment, as well as a high-efficiency superconducting nanowire detector. A positive key rate is demonstrated over a 4.8 km low-loss optical fiber with finite-key analysis. The prospects of implementing these protocols over longer distances is discussed.

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Local and scalable detection of genuine multipartite single-photon path entanglement

How can a multipartite single-photon path-entangled state be certified efficiently by means of local measurements? We address this question by constructing an entanglement witness based on local photon detections preceded by displacement operations to reveal genuine multipartite entanglement. Our witness is defined as a sum of three observables that can be measured locally and assessed with two measurement settings for any number of parties $N$. For any bipartition, the maximum mean value of the witness observable over biseparable states is bounded by the maximum eigenvalue of an $N\times N$ matrix, which can be computed efficiently. We demonstrate the applicability of our scheme by experimentally testing the witness for heralded 4- and 8-partite single-photon path-entangled states. Our implementation shows the scalability of our witness and opens the door for distributing photonic multipartite entanglement in quantum networks at high rates.

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Simulability of high-dimensional quantum measurements

We investigate the compression of quantum information with respect to a given set $\mathcal{M}$ of high-dimensional measurements. This leads to a notion of simulability, where we demand that the statistics obtained from $\mathcal{M}$ and an arbitrary quantum state $ρ$ are recovered exactly by first compressing $ρ$ into a lower dimensional space, followed by some quantum measurements. A full quantum compression is possible, i.e., leaving only classical information, if and only if the set $\mathcal{M}$ is jointly measurable. Our notion of simulability can thus be seen as a quantification of measurement incompatibility in terms of dimension. After defining these concepts, we provide an illustrative examples involving mutually unbiased basis, and develop a method based on semi-definite programming for constructing simulation models. In turn we analytically construct optimal simulation models for all projective measurements subjected to white noise or losses. Finally, we discuss how our approach connects with other concepts introduced in the context of quantum channels and quantum correlations.

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General measure for macroscopic quantum states beyond "dead and alive"

We consider the characterization of quantum superposition states beyond the pattern "dead and alive". We propose a measure that is applicable to superpositions of multiple macroscopically distinct states, superpositions with different weights as well as mixed states. The measure is based on the mutual information to characterize the distinguishability between multiple superposition states. This allows us to overcome limitations of previous proposals, and to bridge the gap between general measures for macroscopic quantumness and measures for Schrödinger-cat type superpositions. We discuss a number of relevant examples, provide an alternative definition using basis-dependent quantum discord and reveal connections to other proposals in the literature. Finally, we also show the connection between the size of quantum states as quantified by our measure and their vulnerability to noise.

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Certification of Genuine Multipartite Entanglement with General and Robust Device-independent Witnesses

Genuine multipartite entanglement represents the strongest type of entanglement, which is an essential resource for quantum information processing. Standard methods to detect genuine multipartite entanglement, e.g., entanglement witnesses, state tomography, or quantum state verification, require full knowledge of the Hilbert space dimension and precise calibration of measurement devices, which are usually difficult to acquire in an experiment. The most radical way to overcome these problems is to detect entanglement solely based on the Bell-like correlations of measurement outcomes collected in the experiment, namely, device-independently (DI). However, it is difficult to certify genuine entanglement of practical multipartite states in this way, and even more difficult to quantify it, due to the difficulty to identify optimal multipartite Bell inequalities and protocols tolerant to state impurity. In this work, we explore a general and robust DI method which can be applied to various realistic multipartite quantum state in arbitrary finite dimension, while merely relying on bipartite Bell inequalities. Our method allows us both to certify the presence of genuine multipartite entanglement and to quantify it. Several important classes of entangled states are tested with this method, leading to the detection of genuinely entangled states. We also certify genuine multipartite entanglement in weakly-entangled GHZ states, thus showing that the method applies equally well to less standard states.

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