Experimental Single-Copy Entanglement Distillation

Sebastian Ecker, Philipp Sohr, Lukas Bulla, Marcus Huber, Martin Bohmann, and Rupert Ursin
Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 040506 – Published 23 July 2021
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Abstract

The phenomenon of entanglement marks one of the furthest departures from classical physics and is indispensable for quantum information processing. Despite its fundamental importance, the distribution of entanglement over long distances through photons is unfortunately hindered by unavoidable decoherence effects. Entanglement distillation is a means of restoring the quality of such diluted entanglement by concentrating it into a pair of qubits. Conventionally, this would be done by distributing multiple photon pairs and distilling the entanglement into a single pair. Here, we turn around this paradigm by utilizing pairs of single photons entangled in multiple degrees of freedom. Specifically, we make use of the polarization and the energy-time domain of photons, both of which are extensively field tested. We experimentally chart the domain of distillable states and achieve relative fidelity gains up to 13.8%. Compared to the two-copy scheme, the distillation rate of our single-copy scheme is several orders of magnitude higher, paving the way towards high-capacity and noise-resilient quantum networks.

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  • Received 29 April 2021
  • Accepted 1 June 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.040506

© 2021 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Quantum Information, Science & TechnologyAtomic, Molecular & Optical

Authors & Affiliations

Sebastian Ecker1,2,*, Philipp Sohr1,2, Lukas Bulla1,2, Marcus Huber1,3, Martin Bohmann1,2, and Rupert Ursin1,2,†

  • 1Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI), Austrian Academy of Sciences, Boltzmanngasse 3, 1090 Vienna, Austria
  • 2Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology (VCQ), Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, Boltzmanngasse 5, 1090 Vienna, Austria
  • 3Institute for Atomic and Subatomic Physics, Vienna University of Technology, 1020 Vienna, Austria

  • *sebastian.ecker@oeaw.ac.at
  • rupert.ursin@oeaw.ac.at

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Issue

Vol. 127, Iss. 4 — 23 July 2021

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