We introduce a measure of quantum non-Gaussianity (QNG) for those quantum states not accessible by a mixture of Gaussian states in terms of quantum relative entropy. Specifically, we employ a convex-roof extension using all possible mixed-state decompositions beyond the usual pure-state decompositions. We prove that this approach brings a QNG measure fulfilling the properties desired as a proper monotone under Gaussian channels and conditional Gaussian operations. As an illustration, we explicitly calculate QNG for the noisy single-photon states and demonstrate that QNG coincides with non-Gaussianity of the state itself when the single-photon fraction is sufficiently large.

We consider how to quantify non-Gaussianity for the correlation of a bipartite quantum state by using various measures such as relative entropy and geometric distances. We first show that an intuitive approach, i.e., subtracting the correlation of a reference Gaussian state from that of a target non-Gaussian state, fails to yield a non-negative measure with monotonicity under local Gaussian channels. Our finding clearly manifests that quantum-state correlations generally have no Gaussian extremality. We therefore propose a different approach by introducing relevantly averaged states to address correlation. This enables us to define a non-Gaussianity measure based on, e.g., the trace-distance and the fidelity, fulfilling all requirements as a measure of non-Gaussian correlation. For the case of the fidelity-based measure, we also present readily computable lower bounds of non-Gaussian correlation.

Quantum teleportation (QT) is a fundamentally remarkable communication protocol that also finds many important applications for quantum informatics. Given a quantum entangled resource, it is crucial to know to what extent one can accomplish the QT. This is usually assessed in terms of output fidelity, which can also be regarded as an operational measure of entanglement. In the case of multipartite communication when each communicator possesses a part of an N-partite entangled state, not all pairs of communicators can achieve a high fidelity due to the monogamy property of quantum entanglement. We here investigate how such a monogamy relation arises in multipartite continuous-variable (CV) teleportation, particularly when using a Gaussian entangled state. We show a strict monogamy relation, i.e., a sender cannot achieve a fidelity higher than optimal cloning limit with more than one receiver. While this seems rather natural owing to the no-cloning theorem, a strict monogamy relation still holds even if the sender is allowed to individually manipulate the reduced state in collaboration with each receiver to improve fidelity. The local operations are further extended to non-Gaussian operations such as photon subtraction and addition, and we demonstrate that the Gaussian cloning bound cannot be beaten by more than one pair of communicators. Furthermore, we investigate a quantitative form of monogamy relation in terms of teleportation capability, for which we show that a faithful monogamy inequality does not exist.

Quantum steering-a strong correlation to be verified even when one party or its measuring device is fully untrusted-not only provides a profound insight into quantum physics but also offers a crucial basis for practical applications. For continuous-variable (CV) systems, Gaussian states among others have been extensively studied, however, mostly confined to Gaussian measurements. While the fulfilment of Gaussian criterion is sufficient to detect CV steering, whether it is also necessary for Gaussian states is a question of fundamental importance in many contexts. This critically questions the validity of characterizations established only under Gaussian measurements like the quantification of steering and the monogamy relations. Here, we introduce a formalism based on local uncertainty relations of non-Gaussian measurements, which is shown to manifest quantum steering of some Gaussian states that Gaussian criterion fails to detect. To this aim, we look into Gaussian states of practical relevance, i.e. two-mode squeezed states under a lossy and an amplifying Gaussian channel. Our finding significantly modifies the characteristics of Gaussian-state steering so far established such as monogamy relations and one-way steering under Gaussian measurements, thus opening a new direction for critical studies beyond Gaussian regime.

We establish the fundamental limit of communication capacity within Gaussian schemes under phase-insensitive Gaussian channels, which employ multimode Gaussian states for encoding and collective Gaussian operations and measurements for decoding. We prove that this Gaussian capacity is additive, i.e., its upper bound occurs with separable encoding and separable receivers so that a single-mode communication suffices to achieve the largest capacity under Gaussian schemes. This rigorously characterizes the gap between the ultimate Holevo capacity and the capacity within Gaussian communication, showing that Gaussian regime is not sufficient to achieve the Holevo bound particularly in the low-photon regime. Furthermore, the Gaussian benchmark established here can be used to critically assess the performance of non-Gaussian protocols for optical communication. We move on to identify non-Gaussian schemes to beat the Gaussian capacity and show that a non-Gaussian receiver recently implemented by Becerra et al. [F. E. Becerra et al., Nat. Photon. 7, 147 (2013)] can achieve this aim with an appropriately chosen encoding strategy.

We derive steerability criteria applicable for both finite and infinite dimensional quantum systems using covariance matrices of local observables. We show that these criteria are useful to detect a wide range of entangled states particularly in high dimensional systems and that the Gaussian steering criteria for general M x N-modes of continuous variables are obtained as a special case. Extending from the approach of entanglement detection via covariance matrices, our criteria are based on the local uncertainty principles incorporating the asymmetric nature of steering scenario. Specifically, we apply the formulation to the case of local orthogonal observables and obtain some useful criteria that can be straightforwardly computable, and testable in experiment, with no need for numerical optimization.

A long-standing problem on the classical capacity of bosonic Gaussian channels has recently been resolved by proving the minimum output entropy conjecture. It is also known that the ultimate capacity quantified by the Holevo bound can be achieved asymptotically by using an infinite number of channels. However, it is less understood to what extent the communication capacity can be reached if one uses a finite number of channels, which is a topic of practical importance. In this paper, we study the capacity of Gaussian communication, i.e., employing Gaussian states and Gaussian measurements to encode and decode information under a single-channel use. We prove that the optimal capacity of single-channel Gaussian communication is achieved by one of two well-known protocols, i.e., coherent-state communication or squeezed-state communication, depending on the energy (number of photons) as well as the characteristics of the channel. Our result suggests that the coherent-state scheme known to achieve the ultimate information-theoretic capacity is not a practically optimal scheme for the case of using a finite number of channels. We find that overall the squeezed-state communication is optimal in a small-photon-number regime whereas the coherent-state communication performs better in a large-photon-number regime.

Defining a computational basis of pseudo-number states, we interpret a coherent state of large amplitude, |α|⪢d/2π, as a qudit — a d-level quantum system — that is an even (meaning same size of amplitudes) superposition of d pseudo-number basis states. A pair of such coherent-state qudits can be maximally entangled by generalized Controlled-Z operation that is based on cross-Kerr nonlinearity, which can be weak for large d. Hence, a coherent-state optical qudit cluster state can be prepared by repetitive application of the generalized Controlled-Z operation to a set of coherent states. We thus propose an optical qudit teleportation as a simple demonstration of cluster state quantum computation.

It is a topic of fundamental and practical importance how a quantum correlated state can be reliably distributed through a noisy channel for quantum information processing. The concept of quantum steering recently defined in a rigorous manner is relevant to study it under certain circumstances and here we address quantum steerability of Gaussian states to this aim. In particular, we attempt to reformulate the criterion for Gaussian steering in terms of local and global purities and show that it is sufficient and necessary for the case of steering a 1-mode system by an N-mode system. It subsequently enables us to reinforce a strong monogamy relation under which only one party can steer a local system of 1-mode. Moreover, we show that only a negative partialtranspose state can manifest quantum steerability by Gaussian measurements in relation to the Peres conjecture. We also discuss our formulation for the case of distributing a two-mode squeezed state via one-way quantum channels making dissipation and amplification effects, respectively. Finally, we extend our approach to include non-Gaussian measurements, more precisely, all orders of higher-order squeezing measurements, and find that this broad set of non-Gaussian measurements is not useful to demonstrate steering for Gaussian states beyond Gaussian measurements.

We theoretically propose and experimentally demonstrate a nonclassicality test of a single-mode field in phase space, which has an analogy with the nonlocality test proposed by Banaszek and Wódkiewicz [Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 2009 (1999)]. Our approach to deriving the classical bound draws on the fact that the Wigner function of a coherent state is a product of two independent distributions as if the orthogonal quadratures (position and momentum) in phase space behave as local realistic variables. Our method detects every pure nonclassical Gaussian state, which can also be extended to mixed states. Furthermore, it sets a bound for all Gaussian states and their mixtures, thereby providing a criterion to detect a genuine quantum non-Gaussian state. Remarkably, our phase-space approach with invariance under Gaussian unitary operations leads to an optimized test for a given non-Gaussian state. We experimentally show how this enhanced method can manifest quantum non-Gaussianity of a state by simply choosing phase-space points appropriately, which is essentially equivalent to implementing a squeezing operation on a given state.

The quantum-to-classical transition of a quantum state is a topic of great interest in fundamental and practical aspects. A coarse-graining in quantum measurement has recently been suggested as its possible account in addition to the usual decoherence model. We here investigate the reconstruction of a Gaussian state (single mode and two modes) by coarse-grained homodyne measurements. To this aim, we employ two methods, the direct reconstruction of the covariance matrix and the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE), respectively, and examine the reconstructed state under each scheme compared to the state interacting with a Gaussian (squeezed thermal) reservoir. We clearly demonstrate that the coarse-graining model, though applied equally to all quadrature amplitudes, is not compatible with the decoherence model by a thermal (phase-insensitive) reservoir. Furthermore, we compare the performance of the direct reconstruction and the MLE methods by investigating the fidelity and the nonclassicality of the reconstructed states and show that the MLE method can generally yield a more reliable reconstruction, particularly without information on a reference frame (phase of input state).

We study a continuous-variable dense coding protocol, originally proposed to employ a two-mode squeezed state, using a general two-mode Gaussian state as a quantum channel. We particularly obtain conditions to manifest quantum advantage by beating two well-known single-mode schemes, namely, the squeezed-state scheme (best Gaussian scheme) and the number-state scheme (optimal scheme achieving the Holevo bound). We then extend our study to a multipartite Gaussian state and investigate the monogamy of operational entanglement measured by the communication capacity under the dense coding protocol. We show that this operational entanglement represents a strict monogamy relation, by means of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle among different parties; i.e., the quantum advantage for communication can be possible for only one pair of two-mode systems among many parties.

We investigate how the entanglement characteristics of a non-Gaussian entangled state are increased or decreased by a local photon subtraction operation. The non-Gaussian entangled state is generated by injecting a single-mode non-Gaussian state and a vacuum state into a 50:50 beam splitter. We consider a photon-added coherent state ${\stackrel{\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}{a}}^{\ifmmode\dagger\else\textdagger\fi{}}|\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{\rangle}$ and an odd coherent state $|\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{\rangle}\ensuremath{-}|\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{\rangle}$ as a single-mode non-Gaussian state. In the regime of small $|\ensuremath{\alpha}|$, we show that the performance of quantum teleportation and the second-order Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-type correlation can both be enhanced, whereas the degree of entanglement decreases, for the output state when a local photon subtraction operation is applied to the non-Gaussian entangled state. The counterintuitive effect is more prominent in the limit of $|\ensuremath{\alpha}|\ensuremath{\sim}0$.

Quantum steering is a stronger form of quantum entanglement and is considered to rigorously address the nonlocal correlation in the original Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox. We study the quantum steerability of two classes of continuous-variable (CV) entangled states that are most often employed for CV quantum informatics-entangled coherent states (ECSs) and two-mode-squeezed vacuum (TMSV). We test the two steering criteria by utilizing Heisenberg and entropic uncertainty relations, respectively, and find that the latter can reveal the steerability of ECSs of any size and parity, whereas the former scarcely can. The steering behaviors of the two states are investigated and compared when they experience a noisy environment, i.e., an amplitude damping channel. When the noise is added asymmetrically, e. g., when only one party of the bipartite system is subject to noise, quantum steering can be possible only in one direction, e. g., Alice on Bob's state but not Bob on Alice's state. We show the emergence of this one-directional steering for both ECSs and the TMSV in a certain parameter range under decoherence. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America

We present a formalism to derive entanglement criteria beyond the Gaussian regime that can be readily tested by only homodyne detection. The measured observable is the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) correlation. Its arbitrary functional form enables us to detect non-Gaussian entanglement even when an entanglement test based on second-order moments fails. We illustrate the power of our experimentally friendly criteria for a broad class of non-Gaussian states under realistic conditions. We also show rigorously that quantum teleportation for continuous variables employs a specific functional form of EPR correlation.

Optical coherent states can be interpreted as d-dimensional quantum systems, or qudits of even superposition of pseudo-number states. Cross-Kerr nonlinear interaction can generate the maximal entanglements of pseudo- phase and pseudo-number states from two opticl coherent states. Extended network of these entangled coherent states is a qudit cluster state and can be used as qudit communication network for d-dimensional teleportation or multi-user quantum cryptographic network.

A deterministic quantum amplifier inevitably adds noise to an amplified signal due to the uncertainty principle in quantum physics. We here investigate how a quantum-noise-limited amplifier can be improved by additionally employing the photon subtraction, the photon addition, and a coherent superposition of the two, thereby making a probabilistic, heralded, quantum amplifier. We show that these operations can enhance the performance in amplifying a coherent state in terms of intensity gain, fidelity, and phase uncertainty. In particular, the photon subtraction turns out to be optimal for the fidelity and the phase concentration among these elementary operations, while the photon addition also provides a significant reduction in the phase uncertainty with the largest gain effect.

We investigate how the entanglement properties of a two-mode state can be improved by performing a coherent superposition operation t (a) over cap + r (a) over cap (dagger) of photon subtraction and addition, proposed by Lee and Nha [Phys. Rev. A 82, 053812 (2010)], on each mode. We show that the degree of entanglement, the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-type correlation, and the performance of quantum teleportation can be all enhanced for the output state when the coherent operation is applied to a two-mode squeezed state. The effects of the coherent operation are more prominent than those of the mere photon subtraction (a) over cap and the addition (a) over cap (dagger) particularly in the small-squeezing regime, whereas the optimal operation becomes the photon subtraction (case of r = 0) in the large-squeezing regime.

A Reply to the Comment by D. Cavalcanti and V. Scarani.Received 1 March 2011DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.208902© 2011 American Physical Society