Andrea Chiuri

Multipath entanglement of two photons.

We present a novel optical device based on an integrated system of microlenses and single-mode optical fibers. It allows us to collect and direct into many modes two photons generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion. By this device multiqubit entangled states and/or multilevel qudit states of two photons, encoded in the longitudinal momentum degree of freedom, are created. The multipath photon entanglement realized by this device is expected to find important applications in modern quantum information technology.

Linear Optics Simulation of Quantum Non-Markovian Dynamics

The simulation of open quantum dynamics has recently allowed the direct investigation of the features of system-environment interaction and of their consequences on the evolution of a quantum system. Such interaction threatens the quantum properties of the system, spoiling them and causing the phenomenon of decoherence. Sometimes however a coherent exchange of information takes place between system and environment, memory effects arise and the dynamics of the system becomes non-Markovian. Here we report the experimental realisation of a non-Markovian process where system and environment are coupled through a simulated transverse Ising model. By engineering the evolution in a photonic quantum simulator, we demonstrate the role played by system-environment correlations in the emergence of memory effects.

Experimental Quantum Networking Protocols via Four-Qubit Hyperentangled Dicke States

We report the experimental demonstration of two quantum networking protocols, namely quantum 1→3 telecloning and open-destination teleportation, implemented using a four-qubit register whose state is encoded in a high-quality two-photon hyperentangled Dicke state. The state resource is characterized using criteria based on multipartite entanglement witnesses. We explore the characteristic entanglement-sharing structure of a Dicke state by implementing high-fidelity projections of the four-qubit resource onto lower-dimensional states. Our work demonstrates for the first time the usefulness of Dicke states for quantum information processing.

Experimental realization of optimal noise estimation for a general pauli channel

We present the experimental realization of the optimal estimation protocol for a Pauli noisy channel. The method is based on the generation of 2-qubit Bell states and the introduction of quantum noise in a controlled way on one of the state subsystems. The efficiency of the optimal estimation, achieved by a Bell measurement, is shown to outperform quantum process tomography.

Fully nonlocal quantum correlations

Quantum mechanics is a nonlocal theory, but not as nonlocal as the no-signalling principle allows. However, there exist quantum correlations that exhibit maximal nonlocality: they are as nonlocal as any nonsignalling correlation and thus have a local content, quantified by the fraction p(L) of events admitting a local description, equal to zero. We exploit the known link between the Kochen-Specker and Bell theorems to derive a maximal violation of a Bell inequality from every Kochen-Specker proof. We then show that these Bell inequalities lead to experimental bounds on the local content of quantum correlations that are significantly better than those based on other constructions. We perform the experimental demonstration of a Bell test originating from the Peres-Mermin Kochen-Specker proof, providing an upper bound on the local content pL less than or similar to 0.22.

Extremal quantum correlations: Experimental study with two-qubit states

We explore experimentally the space of two-qubit quantum-correlated mixed states, including frontier states as defined by the use of quantum discord and von Neumann entropy. Our experimental setup is flexible enough to allow for high-quality generation of a vast variety of states. We address quantitatively the relation between quantum discord and a recently suggested alternative measure of quantum correlations.

Hyperentangled mixed phased Dicke states: optical design and detection

A recently introduced family of multipartite entangled states, the 4-qubit phased Dicke states, has been created by 2-photon hyperentanglement. Our experimental method allows high state fidelity and generation rate. By introducing quantum noise in the multipartite system in a controlled way, we have tested the robustness of these states. To this purpose the entanglement of the resulting multipartite entangled mixed states has been verified by using a new kind of structural witness.

Experimental Bell-inequality violation without the postselection loophole

We report on an experimental violation of the Bell-Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (Bell-CHSH) inequality using energy-time-entangled photons. The experiment is not free of the locality and detection loopholes but is the first violation of the Bell-CHSH inequality using energy-time entangled photons which is free of the postselection loophole described by Aerts et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 2872 (1999)].

Experimental realization of the Deutsch-Jozsa algorithm with a six-qubit cluster state

We describe an experimental realization of the Deutsch-Jozsa quantum algorithm to evaluate the properties of a two-bit Boolean function in the framework of one-way quantum computation. For this purpose, a two-photon six-qubit cluster state was engineered. Its peculiar topological structure is the basis of the original measurement pattern allowing the algorithm realization. The good agreement of the experimental results with the theoretical predictions, obtained at ∼1 kHz success rate, demonstrates the correct implementation of the algorithm.

Tomographic characterization of correlations in a photonic tripartite state

Starting from a four-partite photonic hyper-entangled Dicke resource, we report the full tomographic characterization of three-, two- and one-qubit states obtained by projecting out part of the computational register. The reduced states thus obtained correspond to fidelities with the expected states larger than 87%, therefore certifying the faithfulness of the entanglement-sharing structure within the original four-qubit resource. The high quality of the reduced three-qubit state allows for the experimental verification of the Koashi–Winter relation for the monogamy of correlations within a tripartite state. We show that, by exploiting the symmetries of the three-qubit state obtained upon projection over the four-qubit Dicke resource, such a relation can be experimentally fully characterized using only five measurement settings. We highlight the limitations of such an approach and sketch an experimentally oriented way of overcoming them.