Hidden entanglement in twin beams generated through optical parametric amplification in hot alkali atoms

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that traditional spectral measurements can miss entanglement in twin beams generated in hot rubidium vapor, and introduces a resonator-based method to reveal hidden quantum correlations, emphasizing the importance of complete state tomography.

Contribution

The study shows how frequency-dependent gain affects entanglement detection and presents a resonator-based measurement technique to uncover hidden entanglement in optical twin beams.

Findings

Resonator-based measurement reveals entanglement hidden from spectral methods.

Phase shifts influence entanglement detection depending on the witness used.

Complete state tomography is crucial for accurate quantum correlation characterization.

Abstract

Proper characterization of quantum correlations in a multimode optical state is critical for applications in quantum information science; however, the most common entanglement measurements can lead to an incomplete state reconstruction. This is the case for the ubiquitous spectral measurement of field quadratures for which a full characterization of the quantum correlations between optical beams is not possible. We demonstrate this effect in twin beams generated through parametric amplification by four-wave mixing in hot rubidium vapor, showing the role of a frequency dependent gain response. We implement a resonator-based measurement that reveals entanglement between beams that is otherwise hidden by usual spectral measurements. Additionally, this system shows how the phase shifts between the carrier and the sidebands on the involved fields affect the observation of entanglement for different entanglement witnesses, demonstrating the relevance of making a complete state tomography.