Entanglement of formation is a fundamental measure that quantifies the entanglement of bipartite quantum states. This measure has recently been extended into multipartite states taking the name $\alpha$-entanglement of formation. In this work, we follow an analogous multipartite extension for the Gaussian version of entanglement of formation, and focusing on the the finest partition of a multipartite Gaussian state we show this measure is fully additive and computable for 3-mode Gaussian states.
We study the radiation produced by an accelerated time-delay acting on the left moving modes. Through analysis via the Schrodinger picture, we find that the final state is a two-mode squeezed state of the left moving Unruh modes, implying particle production. We analyse the system from an operational point of view via the use of self-homodyne detection with broad-band inertial detectors. We obtain semi-analytical solutions that show that the radiation appears decohered when such an inertial observer analyses the information of the radiation from the accelerated time-delay source. We make connection with the case of the accelerated mirror. We investigate the operational conditions under which the signal observed by the inertial observer can be purified.
In this paper, we study how a displacement of a quantum system appears under a change of relativistic reference frame. We introduce a generic method in which a displacement operator in one reference frame can be transformed into another reference frame. It is found that, when moving between non-inertial reference frames there can be distortions of phase information, modal structure and amplitude. We analyse how these effects affect traditional homodyne detection techniques. We then develop an in principle homodyne detection scheme which is robust to these effect, called the ideal homodyne detection scheme. We then numerically compare traditional homodyne detection with this in principle method and illustrate regimes when the traditional homodyne detection schemes fail to extract full quantum information.
Genuine multipartite entanglement is a valuable resource in quantum information science, as it exhibits stronger non-locality compared to bipartite entanglement. This non-locality can be exploited in various quantum information protocols, such as teleportation, dense coding, and quantum interferometry. Here, we propose a scheme to generate scalable genuine multipartite continuous-variable entangled states of light using a parametric amplifier network. We verify the presence of genuine quadripartite, hexapartite, and octapartite entanglement through a violation of the positive partial transpose (PPT) criteria. Additionally, we use $\alpha$-entanglement of formation to demonstrate the scalability of our approach to an arbitrary number of $2N$ genuinely entangled parties by taking advantage of the symmetries present in our scheme.
Entanglement of formation quantifies the entanglement of a state in terms of the entropy of entanglement of the least entangled pure state needed to prepare it. An analytical expression for this measure exists only for special cases, and finding a closed formula for an arbitrary state remains an open problem. In this work we focus on two-mode Gaussian states, and we derive narrow upper and lower bounds for the measure that get tight for several special cases. Further, we show that the problem of calculating the actual value of the entanglement of formation for arbitrary two-mode Gaussian states reduces to a trivial single parameter optimization process, and we provide an efficient algorithm for the numerical calculation of the measure.
Controllable multipartite entanglement is a crucial element in quantum information processing. Here we present a scheme that generates switchable bipartite and genuine tripartite entanglement between microwave and optical photons via an optoelectromechanical interface, where microwave and optical cavities are coupled to a mechanical mode with controllable coupling constants. We show that by tuning an effective gauge phase between the coupling constants to the sweet spots, bipartite entanglement can be generated and switched between designated output photons. The bipartite entanglement is robust against the mechanical noise and the signal loss to the mechanical mode when the couplings are chosen to satisfy the impedance-matching condition. When the gauge phase is tuned away from the sweet spots, genuine tripartite entanglement can be generated and verified with homodyne measurement on the quadratures of the output fields. Our result can lead to the implementation of controllable and robust multipartite entanglement in hybrid quantum systems operated in distinctively different frequencies.
Observers following special classes of finite-lifetime trajectories have been shown to experience an effective temperature, a generalisation of the Unruh temperature for uniformly accelerated observers. We consider a mirror following such a trajectory - and is hence localised to a strictly bounded causal diamond - that perfectly reflects incoming field modes. We find that inertial observers in the Minkowski vacuum detect particles along the half null-rays at the beginning and end of the mirror's lifetime. These particle distributions exhibit multi-partite entanglement, which reveals novel structure within the vacuum correlations. The interaction is modelled using a non-perturbative circuit model and does not suffer from energy divergences.
Particle detector models such as the Unruh-deWitt detector are widely used in relativistic quantum information and field theory to probe the global features of spacetime and quantum fields. These detectors are typically modelled as coupling locally to the field along a classical worldline. In this paper, we utilize a recent framework which enables us to prepare the detector in a quantum-controlled superposition of trajectories, and study its response to the field in finite-temperature Minkowski spacetime and an expanding de Sitter universe. Unlike a detector on a classical path which cannot distinguish these spacetimes, the superposed detector can do so by acquiring nonlocal information about the geometric and causal structure of its environment, demonstrating its capability as a probe of these global properties.
It is currently understood that a particle detector registers the same response when immersed in a thermal bath in flat spacetime as it would for Gibbons-Hawking radiation in the presence of a cosmological horizon. While a pair of sufficiently separated Unruh-deWitt detectors can differentiate these two spacetimes via the amount of entanglement they can extract, we show contrariwise that a single such detector can perform this task. Utilizing a recent framework allowing us to describe the detector in a quantum-controlled superposition of two different trajectories, we show that a detector in a superposition of inertial paths at fixed co-moving distance in a thermal bath registers a different response compared with an analogous scenario in an expanding de Sitter universe. The detector's response to the background quantum field elicits novel information about the curvature and causal structure of the background spacetime, demonstrating its capability as a probe of these global properties.
Quantum effects in non-inertial frames and curved space-time have been studied for decades. One of the most intriguing discoveries is the existence of virtual particles in the quantum vacuum. One example in which such particles can be observed is through the Unruh effect, which predicts that a uniformly accelerated observer would see a thermal bath of (virtual) particles in the quantum vacuum. Initial doubts on the existence of these virtual particles were allayed by the Unruh De-Witt (UDW) detector, which promoted these virtual particles to real excitations of the detector. Ever since, semiclassical approaches to relativistic quantum field theory (QFT) in flat and curved space-time have been predominantly analysed through a two-level Unruh De-Witt detector utilizing perturbation theory. It is noted, however, that the change of relativistic frame preserves Gaussian properties (e.g. Gaussian distribution of the Wigner function) of the system. In this thesis, we specifically explore the effects of relativistic (non-inertial) reference frames on QFT by considering relativistic QFT in flat-space time. These systems are analysed from the perspective of Gaussian quantum information, via homodyne detection and UDW detectors with a harmonic oscillator degree of freedom.Our project starts by reviewing and developing bipartite/multi-partite entanglement measures (specifically, entanglement of formation), in the hope that we can utilize these measures to understand the entanglement properties of the quantum vacuum. In general, these measure have infinite degrees of freedom and are incomputable. In this project the multi-partite entanglement measure is applied to the Gaussian regime, which reduces the number of degrees of freedom to a finite one, hence making it a computable measure.In our next project, we attempt to understand how relativistic reference frames affect the communication between different observers. To obtain an intuition of its effect, a passive (time-delay) signal sent from a uniformly accelerated observer to a stationary observer was analysed. When we naively implemented the self-homodyne detection scheme, the signal appeared noisy. This effect was referred to as apparent decoherence, and its effect could be traced back to our naive assumption that all of the signal’s information would be stored in the time-delayed mode; the vacuum entanglement that pre-existed before the (time-delay) signal was created must be accounted for. We follow by analysing the effects that emerge due to communication between different relativistic reference frames. We then develop a communication technique referred to as ideal-homodyne which is a homodyne detection scheme robust to these effects. We used this detection scheme to analyse the correlation/entanglement properties of an accelerated signal (created via accelerated mirror, squeezer and phase shifter) sent to an inertial observer.In our last project, we utilize the knowledge that was gained through the prior projects to analyse (subcycle) electro-optic sampling. In the literature, there were doubts as to whether electro-optic sampling were truly detecting virtual particles in the quantum vacuum, or particle excitations that were created as a by-product of the detection mechanism. We were able to pin-point some similarities between electro-optic sampling and subcycle probe via the UDW detector. The regime in which the electro-optic sampling directly maps virtual particles from the vacuum into real excitations of the probe field was identified by establishing an equivalence to the UDW detector in certain parameter regimes.