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The generation of random numbers via quantum processes is an efficient and reliable method to obtain true indeterministic random numbers that are of vital importance to cryptographic communication and large-scale computer modeling. However, in realistic scenarios, the raw output of a quantum random-number generator is inevitably tainted by classical technical noise. The integrity of the device can be compromised if this noise is tampered with, or even controlled by some malicious party. To safeguard against this, we propose and experimentally demonstrate an approach that produces side-information independent randomness that is quantified by min-entropy conditioned on this classical noise. We present a method for maximizing the conditional min-entropy of the number sequence generated from a given quantum-to-classical-noise ratio. The detected photocurrent in our experiment is shown to have a real-time random-number generation rate of 14 (Mbit/s)/MHz. The spectral response of the detection system shows the potential to deliver more than 70 Gbit/s of random numbers in our experimental setup.

Nonlocal correlations, a longstanding foundational topic in quantum information, have recently found application as a resource for cryptographic tasks where not all devices are trusted, for example, in settings with a highly secure central hub, such as a bank or government department, and less secure satellite stations, which are inherently more vulnerable to hardware "hacking" attacks. The asymmetric phenomena of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) steering plays a key role in one-sided device-independent (1sDI) quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols. In the context of continuous-variable (CV) QKD schemes utilizing Gaussian states and measurements, we identify all protocols that can be 1sDI and their maximum loss tolerance. Surprisingly, this includes a protocol that uses only coherent states. We also establish a direct link between the relevant EPR steering inequality and the secret key rate, further strengthening the relationship between these asymmetric notions of nonlocality and device independence. We experimentally implement both entanglement-based and coherent-state protocols, and measure the correlations necessary for 1sDI key distribution up to an applied loss equivalent to 7.5 and 3.5 km of optical fiber transmission, respectively. We also engage in detailed modeling to understand the limits of our current experiment and the potential for further improvements. The new protocols we uncover apply the cheap and efficient hardware of CV-QKD systems in a significantly more secure setting.

Entanglement distillation is an indispensable ingredient in extended quantum communication networks. Distillation protocols are necessarily non-deterministic and require advanced experimental techniques such as noiseless amplification. Recently it was shown that the benefits of noiseless amplification could be extracted by performing a post-selective filtering of the measurement record to improve the performance of quantum key distribution. We apply this protocol to entanglement degraded by transmission loss of up to the equivalent of 100km of optical fibre. We measure an effective entangled resource stronger than that achievable by even a maximally entangled resource passively transmitted through the same channel. We also provide a proof-of-principle demonstration of secret key extraction from an otherwise insecure regime. The measurement-based noiseless linear amplifier offers two advantages over its physical counterpart: ease of implementation and near optimal probability of success. It should provide an effective and versatile tool for a broad class of entanglement-based quantum communication protocols.The impossibility of determining all properties of a system, as exemplified by Heisenberg's uncertainty principle [1] is a well known signature of quantum mechanics. It results in phase and amplitude fluctuations in the vacuum, enables applications such as quantum key distribution and is at the heart of fundamental results such as the no-cloning theorem [2], quantum limited metrology [3], and the unavoidable addition of noise during amplification [4,5]. This last constraint means even an ideal quantum amplifier cannot be used for entanglement distillation [6][7][8] which is a critical step in the creation of large scale quantum information networks [9,10].Distillation protocols, originally conceived for discrete variables [6,7], proved initially more elusive in the continuous variable (CV) regime. The most experimentally feasible, and theoretically well studied, class of CV states and operations are the Gaussian states and the operations that preserve their Gaussianity [11]. Protocols that distill Gaussian states were discovered [8,12] involving an initial non-Gaussian operation that increases the entanglement followed by a 'Gaussification' step that iteratively drives the output towards a Gaussian state. More recently noiseless linear amplification has been identified as a simpler method of distilling Gaussian entanglement [13][14][15].The noiseless linear amplifier (NLA) avoids the unavoidable noise penalty by moving to a non-deterministic protocol. This ingenious concept and a linear optics implementation have been proposed [13,16,17] and experimentally realised for the case of amplifying coherent states [18][19][20][21], qubits [22][23][24], and the concentration of phase information [25]. All of these were extremely challenging experiments, with only Ref.[18] demonstrating entanglement distillation and none directly showing an increase in Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) correlations [26]. Moreover the succe...

We present a novel approach called the intermediate rotating wave approximation (IRWA), which employs a time-averaging method to encapsulate the dynamics of light-matter interaction from strong to ultrastrong coupling regime. In contrast to the ordinary rotating wave approximation, this method addresses the co-rotating and counter-rotating terms separately to trace their physical consequences individually, and thus establishes the continuity between the Jaynes-Cummings model and the quantum Rabi model. We investigate IRWA in near resonance and large detuning cases. Our IRWA not only agrees well with both models in their respective coupling strengths, but also offers a good explanation for their differences.

The no-cloning theorem states that an unknown quantum state cannot be cloned exactly and deterministically due to the linearity of quantum mechanics. Associated with this theorem is the quantitative no-cloning limit that sets an upper bound to the quality of the generated clones. However, this limit can be circumvented by abandoning determinism and using probabilistic methods. Here, we report an experimental demonstration of probabilistic cloning of arbitrary coherent states that clearly surpasses the no-cloning limit. Our scheme is based on a hybrid linear amplifier that combines an ideal deterministic linear amplifier with a heralded measurement-based noiseless amplifier. We demonstrate the production of up to five clones with the fidelity of each clone clearly exceeding the corresponding no-cloning limit. Moreover, since successful cloning events are heralded, our scheme has the potential to be adopted in quantum repeater, teleportation and computing applications.

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Abstract. We introduce a simple and efficient technique to verify quantum discord in unknown Gaussian states and a certain class of non-Gaussian states. We show that any separation in the peaks of the marginal distributions of one subsystem conditioned on two different outcomes of homodyne measurements performed on the other subsystem indicates correlation between the corresponding quadratures, and hence nonzero discord. We also apply this method to non-Gaussian states that are prepared by overlapping a statistical mixture of coherent and vacuum states on a beam splitter. We experimentally demonstrate this technique by verifying nonzero quantum discord in a bipartite Gaussian and certain class of non-Gaussian states.