Leonardo Neves

Generation of entangled states of qudits using twin photons

We report an experiment to generate entangled states of D-dimensional quantum systems, qudits, by using transverse spatial correlations of two parametric down-converted photons. Apertures with D slits in the arms of the twin photons define the qudit space. By manipulating the pump beam correctly, the twin photons will pass only by symmetrically opposite slits, generating entangled states between these different paths. Experimental results for qudits with D = 4 and 8 are shown. We demonstrate that the generated states are entangled states.

A characterization of the single-photon sensitivity of an electron multiplying charge-coupled device

We experimentally characterize the performance of the electron multiplying charge-coupled device (EMCCD) camera for the detection of single photons. The tests are done with the photon pairs generated from parametric downconversion (PDC). The gain, time response and noise performance of the EMCCD are characterized. In addition, we attempt to use the camera to measure the spatial correlations of PDC. The results reveal the capabilities and limits of the EMCCD as a single-photon-detector array for the applications of quantum optics, astronomy and microscopy.

Propagation of spatially entangled qudits through free space

We show the propagation of entangled states of high-dimensional quantum systems. The qudits states were generated using the transverse correlation of the twin photons produced by spontaneous parametric down-conversion. Their free-space distribution was performed at the laboratory scale and the propagated states maintained a high fidelity with their original form. The use of entangled qudits allow an increase in the quantity of information that can be transmitted and may also guarantee more privacy for communicating parties. Therefore, studies about propagating entangled states of qudits are important for the effort of building quantum communication networks.

Measurement of spatial qubits

In this paper we study the state determination for composite systems of two spatial qubits. We show, theoretically, that one can use the technique of quantum tomography to reconstruct the density matrices of these systems. This tomographic reconstruction is based on the free evolution of the spatial qubits and a post-election process.

Experimental Minimum-Error Quantum-State Discrimination in High Dimensions

Quantum mechanics forbids perfect discrimination among nonorthogonal states through a single shot measurement. To optimize this task, many strategies were devised that later became fundamental tools for quantum information processing. Here, we address the pioneering minimum-error (ME) measurement and give the first experimental demonstration of its application for discriminating nonorthogonal states in high dimensions. Our scheme is designed to distinguish symmetric pure states encoded in the transverse spatial modes of an optical field; the optimal measurement is performed by a projection onto the Fourier transform basis of these modes. For dimensions ranging from D=2 to D=21 and nearly 14 000 states tested, the deviations of the experimental results from the theoretical values range from 0.3% to 3.6% (getting below 2% for the vast majority), thus showing the excellent performance of our scheme. This ME measurement is a building block for high-dimensional implementations of many quantum communication protocols, including probabilistic state discrimination, dense coding with nonmaximal entanglement, and cryptographic schemes.

TWO-PHOTON HIGH-DIMENSIONAL SPATIAL ENTANGLEMENT: THEORY AND EXPERIMENT

We review recent theoretical and experimental works where are proposed and demonstrated how to use photon pairs created by spontaneous parametric down-conversion to generate entangled states of D-dimensional quantum systems, or qudits. This is the first demonstration of high-dimensional entanglement based on the intrinsic transverse momentum entanglement of the type-II down-converted photons. The qudit space is defined by an aperture made up of an opaque screen with D slits (paths), placed in the arms of the twin photons. By manipulating the pump beam profile we can prepare different entangled states of these possible paths. We focus our attention on an important case for applications in quantum information: the maximally entangled states. Experimental results for qudits with D=4 and D=8 are shown and measuring a two-photon conditional interference, we also demonstrate the nonclassical character of the correlations.

Deterministic and probabilistic entanglement swapping of nonmaximally entangled states assisted by optimal quantum state discrimination

We analyze entanglement swapping (ES) of partially entangled pure states with arbitrary Schmidt rank from the perspective of quantum state discrimination. It is shown that the standard deterministic ES protocol is related with an optimal minimum-error strategy. In this case the amount of entanglement of the states resulting from swapping is, in general, lower than the maximum achievable for the quantum channels involved. In this regard, we show that the ES protocol can be probabilistically improved resorting to optimal maximum-confidence (MC) discrimination strategy. Additionally, we show that the success probability of achieving entanglement above a prescribed value from standard deterministic ES can be increased by applying sequential MC measurements.

Generating mixtures of spatial qubits

In a recent letter [L. Neves, G. Lima, J.G. Aguirre Gomez, C.H. Monken, C. Saavedra, S. Padua, Phys. Rev. Lett. 94 (2005) 100501], we presented a scheme for generating pure entangled states of spatial qudits (D-dimensional quantum systems) by using the momentum transverse correlation of the parametric down-converted photons. In this work, we discuss a generalization of this process to enable the creation of mixed states. With the technique proposed we experimentally generated a mixture of two spatial qubits.

Optimal probabilistic dense coding schemes

Dense coding with non-maximally entangled states has been investigated in many different scenarios. We revisit this problem for protocols adopting the standard encoding scheme. In this case, the set of possible classical messages cannot be perfectly distinguished due to the non-orthogonality of the quantum states carrying them. So far, the decoding process has been approached in two ways: (i) The message is always inferred, but with an associated (minimum) error; (ii) the message is inferred without error, but only sometimes; in case of failure, nothing else is done. Here, we generalize on these approaches and propose novel optimal probabilistic decoding schemes. The first uses quantum-state separation to increase the distinguishability of the messages with an optimal success probability. This scheme is shown to include (i) and (ii) as special cases and continuously interpolate between them, which enables the decoder to trade-off between the level of confidence desired to identify the received messages and the success probability for doing so. The second scheme, called multistage decoding, applies only for qudits (d-level quantum systems with