Set Coherence: Basis-Independent Quantification of Quantum Coherence

Every Quantum Helps: Operational Advantage of Quantum Resources beyond Convexity

Identifying what quantum-mechanical properties are useful to untap a superior performance in quantum technologies is a pivotal question. Quantum resource theories provide a unified framework to analyze and understand such properties, as successfully demonstrated for entanglement and coherence. While these are examples of convex resources, for which quantum advantages can always be identified, many physical resources are described by a nonconvex set of free states and their interpretation has so far remained elusive. Here we address the fundamental question of the usefulness of quantum resources without convexity assumption, by providing two operational interpretations of the generalized robustness measure in general resource theories. First, we characterize the generalized robustness in terms of a nonlinear resource witness and reveal that any state is more advantageous than a free one in some multicopy channel discrimination task. Next, we consider a scenario where a theory is characterized by multiple constraints and show that the generalized robustness coincides with the worst-case advantage in a single-copy channel discrimination setting. Based on these characterizations, we conclude that every quantum resource state shows a qualitative and quantitative advantage in discrimination problems in a general resource theory even without any specification on the structure of the free states.

Experimental certification of contextuality, coherence, and dimension in a programmable universal photonic processor

Quantum superposition of high-dimensional states enables both computational speed-up and security in cryptographic protocols. However, the exponential complexity of tomographic processes makes certification of these properties a challenging task. In this work, we experimentally certify coherence witnesses tailored for quantum systems of increasing dimension using pairwise overlap measurements enabled by a six-mode universal photonic processor fabricated with a femtosecond laser writing technology. In particular, we show the effectiveness of the proposed coherence and dimension witnesses for qudits of dimensions up to 5. We also demonstrate advantage in a quantum interrogation task and show it is fueled by quantum contextuality. Our experimental results testify to the efficiency of this approach for the certification of quantum properties in programmable integrated photonic platforms.

Quantum Incoherence Based Simultaneously on k Bases

Quantum coherence is known as an important resource in many quantum information tasks, which is a basis-dependent property of quantum states. In this paper, we discuss quantum incoherence based simultaneously on k bases using Matrix Theory Method. First, by defining a correlation function m(e,f) of two orthonormal bases e and f, we investigate the relationships between sets I(e) and I(f) of incoherent states with respect to e and f. We prove that I(e)=I(f) if and only if the rank-one projective measurements generated by e and f are identical. We give a necessary and sufficient condition for the intersection I(e)⋂I(f) to include a state except the maximally mixed state. Especially, if two bases e and f are mutually unbiased, then the intersection has only the maximally mixed state. Secondly, we introduce the concepts of strong incoherence and weak coherence of a quantum state with respect to a set B of k bases and propose a measure for the weak coherence. In the two-qubit system, we prove that there exists a maximally coherent state with respect to B when k=2 and it is not the case for k=3.