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Optical realization of the simplest possible technique for the simultaneous measurement of two incompatible observables of the same qubit. The measurement strategy illustrated here has been applied to probe a fundamental uncertainty relationship for simultaneous quantum measurements and applies to quantum metrology and other emerging photonic quantum technologies. Credit: Adetunmise Dada
The quantum world is notoriously complex. Its multiple layers and tiny components escape conventional analytical approaches.
One of the underlying principles of many hallucinating quantum phenomena states that there is an intrinsic limit to the precision with which we can simultaneously know certain pairs of properties of a quantum system, called "complementary" ".
For example, the more precisely you know the position of a particle, the less precise you can know its speed, and vice versa. In fact, the more precisely one of these properties is determined, the less we can be certain of the corresponding property – knowing the precise answer in a case only increases the challenge of obtaining a complete picture.
Getting an overview of the overall situation then requires tradeoffs – compromising on the accuracy in determining a property for more accuracy in that of the other. However, getting the best image possible within the limits imposed by the laws of quantum physics is a daunting task.
Today, experts at the University of Bristol believe that they have demonstrated a much easier way to get around this challenge. Their work, published in the journal Optica, could have implications for the future of information security, biomedical science, and other areas of study where sophisticated advances lie ahead. more and more about the ability to integrate and measure the properties of quantum systems.
The solution developed by researchers at Bristol's Quantum Engineering Technology Labs includes a specially designed optical fiber, capable of generating unique photons in an advertised manner, allowing them to measure one photon at a time with the help of a single photon. an elegant and simple measurement procedure based on the analog of coin tossing. . Their experiment allowed to simultaneously determine two complementary polarization properties of the same photon and to obtain the best possible "complete image", allowed by the limits of compromise imposed by the laws of quantum physics.
"Until we get there, it was not well known that such simultaneous measurements, limited in quantities, on a single bit of photon can be carried out with a basic configuration in such a simple way", said Dr. Adetunmise Dada, Senior Research Associate at Quantum Engineering Technology at Bristol Labs and lead author of the paper.
"Our results have shed light on the limits of know-how on different complementary properties of quantum systems using practical measurement configurations, as well as the fact that we can rely on the security of the information provided by quantum protocols in real-world implementations, since the same principles govern the limits of pirated information by an indiscreet in the distribution of quantum keys. "
The researchers then plan to push further the limits of quantum understanding, testing whether their methodology could be applied to the measurement of multiple incompatible properties and in large-scale quantum states, implemented on a platform of quantum understanding. This is a promising approach to realize multidimensional quantum states encoded in the degree of freedom of a photon path.
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More information:
Adetunmise C. Dada et al. Optimal simultaneous measurements of incompatible observables from a single photon, Optica (2019). DOI: 10.1364 / OPTICA.6.000257
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