arXiv subjects

Stefano Pirandola

Publications and source records attributed to Stefano Pirandola.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

Noiseless Linear Amplifiers in Entanglement-Based Continuous-Variable Quantum Key Distribution

We propose a method to improve the performance of two entanglement-based continuous-variable quantum key distribution protocols using noiseless linear amplifiers. The two entanglement-based schemes consist of an entanglement distribution protocol with an untrusted source and an entanglement swapping protocol with an untrusted relay. Simulation results show that the noiseless linear amplifiers can improve the performance of these two protocols, in terms of maximal transmission distances, when we consider small amounts of entanglement, as typical in realistic setups.

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arXiv2015

Discriminating quantum field theories in non-inertial frames

Quantum channel discrimination is used to test quantum field theory in non-inertial frames. We search for optimal strategies which can best see the thermality of the Unruh effect. We find that the usual strategy of counting particles in the vacuum can be improved, thereby enhancing the discrimination. Coherent state probes, which are practical and feasible, give exponential improvement in the discrimination of the Unruh channel and come very close to optimal. In particular, we show that using a short pulse laser, the accelerations required to test the Unruh effect can be reduced by at least three orders of magnitude with the same statistical confidence as could be achieved in vacuum. These results are expected to be relevant to upcoming experimental tests of quantum field theory in curved spacetimes in analogue systems.

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arXiv2015

Continuous-variable quantum cryptography with an untrusted relay: Detailed security analysis of the symmetric configuration

We consider the continuous-variable protocol of Pirandola et al. [Nature Photonics 9, 397-402 (2015), see also arXiv.1312.4104] where the secret-key is established by the measurement of an untrusted relay. In this network protocol, two authorized parties are connected to an untrusted relay by insecure quantum links. Secret correlations are generated by a continuous-variable Bell detection performed on incoming coherent states. In the present work we provide a detailed study of the symmetric configuration, where the relay is midway between the parties. We analyze symmetric eavesdropping strategies against the quantum links explicitly showing that, at fixed transmissivity and thermal noise, two-mode coherent attacks are optimal, manifestly outperforming one-mode collective attacks based on independent entangling cloners. Such an advantage is shown both in terms of security threshold and secret-key rate.

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arXiv2015

Advances in Quantum Teleportation

Quantum teleportation is one of the most important protocols in quantum information. By exploiting the physical resource of entanglement, quantum teleportation serves as a key primitive in a variety of quantum information tasks and represents an important building block for quantum technologies, with a pivotal role in the continuing progress of quantum communication, quantum computing and quantum networks. Here we review the basic theoretical ideas behind quantum teleportation and its variant protocols. We focus on the main experiments, together with the technical advantages and disadvantages associated with the use of the various technologies, from photonic qubits and optical modes to atomic ensembles, trapped atoms, and solid-state systems. Analysing the current state-of-the-art, we finish by discussing open issues, challenges and potential future implementations.

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arXiv2015

Non-Markovian Reactivation of Quantum Relays

We consider a quantum relay which is used by two parties to perform several continuous-variable protocols: Entanglement swapping, distillation, quantum teleportation, and quantum key distribution. The theory of these protocols is extended to a non-Markovian model of decoherence characterized by correlated Gaussian noise. Even if bipartite entanglement is completely lost at the relay, we show that the various protocols can progressively be reactivated by the separable noise-correlations of the environment. In fact, above a critical amount, these correlations are able to restore the distribution of quadripartite entanglement, which can be localized into an exploitable bipartite form by the action of the relay. Our findings are confirmed by a proof-of-principle experiment and show the potential advantages of non-Markovian effects in a quantum network architecture.

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arXiv2015

Post-firewall paradoxes

The preeminent view that evaporating black holes should simply be smaller black holes has been challenged by the firewall paradox. In particular, this paradox suggests that something different occurs once a black hole has evaporated to one-half its original surface area. Here we derive variations of the firewall paradox by tracking the thermodynamic entropy within a black hole across its entire lifetime. Our approach sweeps away many unnecessary assumptions, allowing us to demonstrate a paradox exists even after its initial onset (when conventional assumptions render earlier analyses invalid). Our results suggest that not only is the formation of a firewall the most natural resolution, but provides a mechanism for it. Finally, although firewalls cannot have evolved for modest-sized black holes, within the age of the universe, we speculate on the implications if they were ever unambiguously observed.

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arXiv2015

Quantum Illumination at the Microwave Wavelengths

Quantum illumination is a quantum-optical sensing technique in which an entangled source is exploited to improve the detection of a low-reflectivity object that is immersed in a bright thermal background. Here we describe and analyze a system for applying this technique at microwave frequencies, a more appropriate spectral region for target detection than the optical, due to the naturally-occurring bright thermal background in the microwave regime. We use an electro-optomechanical converter to entangle microwave signal and optical idler fields, with the former being sent to probe the target region and the latter being retained at the source. The microwave radiation collected from the target region is then phase conjugated and upconverted into an optical field that is combined with the retained idler in a joint-detection quantum measurement. The error probability of this microwave quantum-illumination system, or quantum radar, is shown to be superior to that of any classical microwave radar of equal transmitted energy.

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arXiv2014

Optimality of Gaussian Discord

In this Letter we exploit the recently-solved conjecture on the bosonic minimum output entropy to show the optimality of Gaussian discord, so that the computation of quantum discord for bipartite Gaussian states can be restricted to local Gaussian measurements. We prove such optimality for a large family of Gaussian states, including all two-mode squeezed thermal states, which are the most typical Gaussian states realized in experiments. Our family also includes other types of Gaussian states and spans their entire set in a suitable limit where they become Choi-matrices of Gaussian channels. As a result, we completely characterize the quantum correlations possessed by some of the most important bosonic states in quantum optics and quantum information.

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arXiv2014

Microwave Photodetection with Electro-Opto-Mechanical Systems

While detection of optical photons is today achieved with very high efficiencies, the detection of microwave fields at the photon level still poses non-trivial experimental challenges. In this Letter we propose a model of microwave photodetector which is based on the use of an electro-opto-mechanical system. Using state of the art technology, we show how single microwave photons can efficiently be converted into optical photons which are then measured by standard optics. The overall quantum efficiency of our microwave detector tends to one for achievable values of the optical and microwave cooperativity parameters. Our scheme could be used for sensing and scanning very faint microwave fields, as they may occur in radio astronomy, satellite and deep space communications.

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arXiv2014

Quantum discord as a resource for quantum cryptography

Quantum discord is the minimal bipartite resource which is needed for a secure quantum key distribution, being a cryptographic primitive equivalent to non-orthogonality. Its role becomes crucial in device-dependent quantum cryptography, where the presence of preparation and detection noise (inaccessible to all parties) may be so strong to prevent the distribution and distillation of entanglement. The necessity of entanglement is re-affirmed in the stronger scenario of device-independent quantum cryptography, where all sources of noise are ascribed to the eavesdropper.

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arXiv2014

High-rate quantum cryptography in untrusted networks

We extend the field of continuous-variable quantum cryptography to a network formulation where two honest parties connect to an untrusted relay by insecure quantum links. To generate secret correlations, they transmit coherent states to the relay where a continuous-variable Bell detection is performed and the outcome broadcast. Even though the detection could be fully corrupted and the links subject to optimal coherent attacks, the honest parties can still extract a secret key, achieving high rates when the relay is proximal to one party, as typical in public networks with access points or proxy servers. Our theory is confirmed by an experiment generating key-rates which are orders of magnitude higher than those achievable with discrete-variable protocols. Thus, using the cheapest possible quantum resources, we experimentally show the possibility of high-rate quantum key distribution in network topologies where direct links are missing between end-users and intermediate relays cannot be trusted.

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arXiv2014

Side-channel-free quantum key distribution

Quantum key distribution (QKD) offers the promise of absolutely secure communications. However, proofs of absolute security often assume perfect implementation from theory to experiment. Thus, existing systems may be prone to insidious side-channel attacks that rely on flaws in experimental implementation. Here we replace all real channels with virtual channels in a QKD protocol, making the relevant detectors and settings inside private spaces inaccessible while simultaneously acting as a Hilbert space filter to eliminate side-channel attacks. By using a quantum memory we find that we are able to bound the secret-key rate below by the entanglement-distillation rate computed over the distributed states.

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arXiv2014

A limit formula for the quantum fidelity

Quantum fidelity is a central tool in quantum information, quantifying how much two quantum states are similar. Here we propose a limit formula for the quantum fidelity between a mixed state and a pure state. As an example of an application, we apply this formula to the case of multimode Gaussian states, achieving a simple expression in terms of their first and second-order statistical moments.

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arXiv2014

Entanglement Reactivation in Separable Environments

Combining two entanglement-breaking channels into a correlated-noise environment restores the distribution of entanglement. Surprisingly, this reactivation can be induced by the injection of separable correlations from the composite environment. In any dimension (finite or infinite), we can construct classically-correlated "twirling" environments which are entanglement-breaking in the transmission of single systems but entanglement-preserving when two systems are transmitted. Here entanglement is simply preserved by the existence of decoherence-free subspaces. Remarkably, even when such subspaces do not exist, a fraction of the input entanglement can still be distributed. This is found in separable Gaussian environments, where distillable entanglement is able to survive the two-mode transmission, despite being broken in any single-mode transmission by the strong thermal noise. In the Gaussian setting, entanglement restoration is a threshold process, occurring only after a critical amount of correlations has been injected. Such findings suggest new perspectives for distributing entanglement in realistic environments with extreme decoherence, identifying separable correlations and classical memory effects as physical resources for "breaking entanglement-breaking".

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arXiv2013

Continuous variable entanglement swapping and its local certification: entangling distant mechanical modes

We introduce a modification of the standard entanglement swapping protocol where the generation of entanglement between two distant modes is realized and verified using only local optical measurements. We show, indeed, that a simple condition on the purity of the initial state involving also an ancillary mode is sufficient to guarantee the success of the protocol by local measurements {M. Abdi \textit{et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{109}, 143601 (2012)}]. We apply the proposed protocol to a tripartite optomechanical system where the never interacting mechanical modes become entangled and certified using only local optical measurements.

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arXiv2013

Evaporating black holes have leaky horizons or exotic atmospheres

Classically, black holes are compact objects with perfect semi-permeable horizons: Anything may enter, nothing may leave. We consider an axiomatic approach that applies to any black hole type, including arbitrarily near-extremal black holes, that can unitarily evaporate away completely by any mechanism. We show that a quantum black hole must either have a leaky horizon (allowing quantum information out), or it must look very different from its classical counterpart having an external neighborhood consisting of exotic matter with super-ordinary entropic content (such as an `atmosphere' of microscopic black holes).

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arXiv2013

Two-way quantum cryptography at different wavelengths

We study the security of two-way quantum cryptography at different wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum, from the optical range down to the microwave range. In particular, we consider a two-way quantum communication protocol where Gaussian-modulated thermal states are subject to random Gaussian displacements and finally homodyned. We show how its security threshold (in reverse reconciliation) is extremely robust with respect to the preparation noise and able to outperform the security thresholds of one-way protocols at any wavelength. As a result, improved security distances are now accessible for implementing quantum key distribution at the very challenging regime of infrared frequencies.

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arXiv2013

Continuous-variable dense coding by optomechanical cavities

In this paper, we show how continuous-variable dense coding can be implemented using entangled light generated from a membrane-in-the-middle geometry. The mechanical resonator is assumed to be a high reflectivity membrane hung inside a high quality factor cavity. We show that the mechanical resonator is able to generate an amount of entanglement between the optical modes at the output of the cavity, which is strong enough to approach the capacity of quantum dense coding at small photon numbers. The suboptimal rate reachable by our optomechanical protocol is high enough to outperform the classical capacity of the noiseless quantum channel.

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