This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 9500 including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Introduction (if any), Authors, and Conference Committee listing.

We present and compare the characteristic performance of single-photons, correlatedphotons, and entangled-photons for quantum key distribution over various fiber optic network topologies. The networks include the RING, BUS, and STAR. Quantum biterror rate is determined for each network as function of number of users, and transmission distance. The trade-off between number of users and transmission distance is presented. The robustness of the QKD against eavesdropping is evaluated for each architecture.

We propose a quantum key distribution system based on the generation and transmission of random continuous variables in time, energy (frequency), phase, and photon number. The bounds for quantum measurement in our scheme are determined by the uncertainty principle, rather than single quadrature measurements of entangled states, or the no-cloning of (unknown) single quantum states. Correlated measurements are performed in the energy-time, and momentum-displacement frames. As a result the QKD protocols for generation of raw-keys, sifted-keys and privacy amplifications offer a higher level of security against individual or multi-attacks. The network architecture is in a plug-and-play configuration; the QKD protocol; determination of quantum bit error rate, and estimation of system performance in the presence of eavesdropping are presented.

This paper looks at using quantum teleportation for secure message exchange. Although the proposed protocol has parallels with Ekert’s protocol for key distribution, we look at the issue of directly teleporting message bits instead of encryption keys. Further, it is the first protocol of it’s type where the role of the sender and receiver are flipped around. In other words, unlike traditional protocols, in the proposed protocol the receiver first performs certain measurements thus implicitly determining a stream of bits that she combines with the bit stream received from the sender to determine the secret message. There are no qubits wasted in random measurements.

This paper implements the concepts of perfect forward secrecy and the Diffie-Hellman key exchange using EPR pairs to establish and share a secret key between two non-authenticated parties and transfer messages between them without the risk of compromise. Current implementations of quantum cryptography are based on the BB84 protocol, which is susceptible to siphoning attacks on the multiple photons emitted by practical laser sources. This makes BB84-based quantum cryptography protocol unsuitable for network computing environments. Diffie-Hellman does not require the two parties to be mutually authenticated to each other, yet it can provide a basis for a number of authenticated protocols, most notably the concept of perfect forward secrecy. The work proposed in this paper provides a new direction in utilizing quantum EPR pairs in quantum key exchange. Although, classical cryptography boasts of efficient and robust protocols like the Diffie-Hellman key exchange, in the current times, with the advent of quantum computing they are very much vulnerable to eavesdropping and cryptanalytic attacks. Using quantum cryptographic principles, however, these classical encryption algorithms show more promise and a more robust and secure structure for applications. The unique properties of quantum EPR pairs also, on the other hand, go a long way in removing attacks like eavesdropping by their inherent nature of one particle of the pair losing its state if a measurement occurs on the other. The concept of perfect forward secrecy is revisited in this paper to attribute tighter security to the proposed protocol.

We demonstrate a quantum time distribution (QTD) method that combines the precision of optical timing techniques with the integrity of quantum key distribution (QKD). Critical infrastructure is dependent on microprocessor- and programmable logic-based monitoring and control systems. The distribution of timing information across the electric grid is accomplished by GPS signals which are known to be vulnerable to spoofing. We demonstrate a method for synchronizing remote clocks based on the arrival time of photons in a modified QKD system. This has the advantage that the signal can be verified by examining the quantum states of the photons similar to QKD.

We present and experimentally show a novel protocol for distributing secret information between two and only two parties in a N-party single-qubit Quantum Secret Sharing (QSS) system. We demonstrate this new algorithm with N = 3 active parties over ~6km of telecom. fiber. Our experimental device is based on the Clavis² Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) system built by ID Quantique but is generalizable to any implementation. We show that any two out of the N parties can build secret keys based on partial information from each other and with collaboration from the remaining N − 2 parties. This algorithm allows for the creation of two-party secret keys were standard QSS does not and significantly reduces the number of resources needed to implement QKD on a highly connected network such as the electrical grid.

Free-space optical communication channels offer secure links with low probability of interception and detection. Despite their point-to-point topology, additional security features may be required in privacy-critical applications. Encryption can be achieved at the physical layer by using quantized values of photons, which makes exploitation of such quantum communication links extremely difficult. One example of such technology is keyed communication in quantum noise, a novel quantum modulation protocol that offers ultra-secure communication with competitive performance characteristics. Its utilization relies on specific coherent measurements to decrypt the signal. The process of measurements is complicated by the inherent and irreducible quantum noise of coherent states. This problem is different from traditional laser communication with coherent detection; therefore continuous efforts are being made to improve the measurement techniques. Quantum-based encryption systems that use the phase of the signal as the information carrier impose aggressive requirements on the accuracy of the measurements when an unauthorized party attempts intercepting the data stream. Therefore, analysis of the secrecy of the data becomes extremely important. In this paper, we present the results of a study that had a goal of assessment of potential vulnerability of the running key. Basic results of the laboratory measurements are combined with simulation studies and statistical analysis that can be used for both conceptual improvement of the encryption approach and for quantitative comparison of secrecy of different quantum communication protocols.

Measurements on quantum systems are always constrained by uncertainty relations. For traditional, projective measurements, uncertainty relations correspond to resolution limitations; a detector's position resolution is increased at the cost of its momentum resolution and vice-versa. However, many experiments in quantum measurement are now exploring non- or partially-projective measurements. For these techniques, measurement disturbance need not manifest as a blurring in the complementary domain. Here, we describe a technique for complementary imaging | obtaining sharp position and momentum distributions of a transverse optical field with a single set of measurements. Our technique consists of random, partially-projective filtering in position followed by projective measurements in momentum. The partial-projections extract information about position at the cost of injecting a small amount of noise into the momentum distribution, which can still be directly imaged. The position distribution is recovered via compressive sensing.

An atmospheric imaging system based on quantum hyper-entanglement has been developed. Hyper-entanglement refers to entanglement in more than one degree of freedom, e.g. polarization, energy-time and orbital angular momentum (OAM). The system functions at optical or infrared frequencies. Only the signal photon propagates in the atmosphere, the ancilla photon is retained within the detector. This results in loss being essentially classical, giving rise to stronger forms of entanglement. Bell state generation and Bell state measurement, i.e. the ability to distinguish the various Bell states is discussed. A mathematical representation of Bell state generation and the Bell state analyzer, including a projection operator describing the measurement process is provided. Signatures for unique detection of the various Bell states are developed. A method and design for creating states hyper-entangled in polarization, energy-time, OAM and the radial quantum number is examined. Hermite-Gaussian (HG) modes, Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) modes, OAM dependence of the LG modes and a method of mode conversion are discussed. A projection operator that represents the combined measurements between the different degrees of freedom is provided. A model of generation and detection efficiencies for the different degrees of freedom and the implications for signal to noise ratio (SNR), signal to interference ratio (SIR), the quantum Cramer-Rao lower bound, and the measurement time are provided in closed form. A formula describing how hyper-entanglement greatly improves the maximum detection range of the system is derived. The formalism permits random noise and entangled or non-entangled sources of interference to be modeled.

We present an analytical solution for implementing mirror inverse (MI) gate operations directly in quantum systems with diagonal Ising interactions. To achieve this, we use a dynamic learning algorithm as a tool for finding parameters of the system Hamiltonian that realizes the desired MI gate operation directly in systems with fewer qubits. By carefully analyzing the parameter values obtained in these systems, we find analytical solutions that can be extended to calculate parameter values to achieve MI gate operations in systems with larger numbers of qubits without the need for training.

We are exploring several different approaches towards scalable quantum computing based on neutral atom qubits with long range Rydberg blockade. Rydberg interactions can be used to entangle single atom qubits, to entangle ensemble qubits, and to establish hybrid entanglement between atomic and other qubits. Using a 2D array of atomic qubits we demonstrate high fidelity single qubit control together with entanglement of nearby qubits. The ratio of qubit coherence time to entangling gate time exceeds 1000.

We describe our work on trapping, cooling and detecting mixed ion species for a scalable ion trap quantum information processing architecture. These mixed species chains in linear RF traps may help solve several problems with scaling ion trap quantum computation to large numbers of qubits. Initial temperature measurements of linear Coulomb crystals containing barium and ytterbium ions indicate that the mass difference does not significantly impede sympathetic cooling of normal modes that couple well to the coolant ions (Ba in our case). Average motional occupation numbers are estimated to be 10 to 20 quanta per mode for these well cooled modes for chains with small numbers of ions, consistent with the Doppler limit temperature. For normal modes that do not couple significantly to the coolant atoms, the occupation numbers are significantly higher, of order several thousand. Strategies for better cooling of these modes are discussed. Further, we are working to implement these techniques in microfabricated surface traps in order to exercise greater control over ion chain ordering and positioning.

Superconducting thin-film metamaterial resonators can provide a dense microwave mode spectrum with potential applications in quantum information science. We report on the fabrication and low-temperature measurement of metamaterial transmission-line resonators patterned from Al thin films. We also describe multiple approaches for numerical simulations of the microwave properties of these structures, along with comparisons with the measured transmission spectra. The ability to predict the mode spectrum based on the chip layout provides a path towards future designs integrating metamaterial resonators with superconducting qubits.

In this paper we discuss the prospects of quantum information processing involving forbidden transitions in the inner shell of the rare-earth elements. We shall derive the selection rule for such transitions and investigate the prospects for rare-earth based quantum information procession that employ dipole-dipole forbidden transitions. The long decoherence time, degree of entanglement, lossless interconnectivity of these transitions will be model and their impact on quantum information processing will be examined.

Quantum error correction requires encoding quantum information into a quantum error correction code and measuring error syndromes to detect and identify possible errors. Quantum fault tolerance typically assumes that syndrome measurements are applied after every logical gate at great expense both in time and number of qubits. Here we demonstrate that not only is this not necessary, but that we may achieve greater accuracy when applying syndrome measurements less often. Our simulations are performed within the [7,1,3] quantum error correction code but may be applicable to a broad range of codes.

Here, we discuss the development of a new inequality in information theory; a Fano inequality suitable for continuous variables. With this inequality, we show how one can demonstrate Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) steering in the position-momentum statistics of entangled photon pairs from spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC). More importantly, we show how with sufficiently strong position and momentum correlations, we can demonstrate continuous-variable EPR steering without having to assume the photo-detectors have access to the entire joint intensity distribution. Moreover, we demonstrate this experimentally with the position and momentum statistics of entangled photon pairs in SPDC.

We investigate the specific form that the collapsed quantum state of a signal photon can take when its entangled idler is measured in an entangled ghost imaging configuration using a type II collinear phase matched spontaneous parametric downconversion (SPDC) interaction. Calculations of the correlated counting rate distributions in the ghost image plane and diffraction plane show that agreement between collapse and non-collapse models is obtained if the signal is assumed to collapse into a specific mixed state. However, if the signal is assumed to collapse into a pure state, significant differences arise between the predictions of the two collapse models.

Quantum energy teleportation (QET) is a protocol facilitated by a coupled particle pair to enable a sender to transfer energy to a receiver. A variant of the standard QET protocol is proposed in which energy transfer occurs in stages. This allows multiple transfers of energy via the same particle pair, achieving both greater overall efficiency and greater total energy throughput compared to standard QET. Two-stage QET is shown for a particular spin- 1 2 particle pair to simultaneously increase throughput by 36.9% and efficiency by 26.0% over standard QET, while for the same pair three-stage QET increases throughput 38.1% and efficiency 26.7% over standard QET.

This paper explores how diagrams of quantum processes can be used for modeling and for quantum epistemology. The paper is a continuation of the discussion where we began this formulation. Here we give examples of quantum networks that represent unitary transformations by dint of coherence conditions that constitute a new form of non-locality. Local quantum devices interconnected in space can form a global quantum system when appropriate coherence conditions are maintained.

The purpose of this paper is to put the description of number scaling and its effects on physics and geometry on a firmer foundation, and to make it more understandable. A main point is that two different concepts, number and number value are combined in the usual representations of number structures. This is valid as long as just one structure of each number type is being considered. It is not valid when different structures of each number type are being considered. Elements of base sets of number structures, considered by themselves, have no meaning. They acquire meaning or value as elements of a number structure. Fiber bundles over a space or space time manifold, M, are described. The fiber consists of a collection of many real or complex number structures and vector space structures. The structures are parameterized by a real or complex scaling factor, s. A vector space at a fiber level, s, has, as scalars, real or complex number structures at the same level. Connections are described that relate scalar and vector space structures at both neighbor M locations and at neighbor scaling levels. Scalar and vector structure valued fields are described and covariant derivatives of these fields are obtained. Two complex vector fields, each with one real and one imaginary field, appear, with one complex field associated with positions in M and the other with position dependent scaling factors. A derivation of the covariant derivative for scalar and vector valued fields gives the same vector fields. The derivation shows that the complex vector field associated with scaling fiber levels is the gradient of a complex scalar field. Use of these results in gauge theory shows that the imaginary part of the vector field associated with M positions acts like the electromagnetic field. The physical relevance of the other three fields, if any, is not known.

In earlier papers we showed unpredictability beyond quantum uncertainty in atomic clocks, ensuing from a proven gap between given evidence and explanations of that evidence. Here we reconceive a clock, not as an isolated entity, but as enmeshed in a self-adjusting communications network adapted to one or another particular investigation, in contact with an unpredictable environment. From the practical uses of clocks, we abstract a clock enlivened with the computational capacity of a Turing machine, modified to transmit and to receive numerical communications. Such “live clocks” phase the steps of their computations to mesh with the arrival of transmitted numbers. We lift this phasing, known in digital communications, to a principle of logical synchronization, distinct from the synchronization defined by Einstein in special relativity. Logical synchronization elevates digital communication to a topic in physics, including applications to biology. One explores how feedback loops in clocking affect numerical signaling among entities functioning in the face of unpredictable influences, making the influences themselves into subjects of investigation. The formulation of communications networks in terms of live clocks extends information theory by expressing the need to actively maintain communications channels, and potentially, to create or drop them. We show how networks of live clocks are presupposed by the concept of coordinates in a spacetime. A network serves as an organizing principle, even when the concept of the rigid body that anchors a special-relativistic coordinate system is inapplicable, as is the case, for example, in a generic curved spacetime.

The recently proposed Cohesive Homotopy Type Theory is exploited as a formal foundation for central concepts in Topological and Geometrical Quantum Computation. Specifically the Cohesive Homotopy Type Theory provides a formal, logical approach to concepts like smoothness, cohomology and Khovanov homology; and such approach permits to clarify the quantum algorithms in the context of Topological and Geometrical Quantum Computation. In particular we consider the so-called “open-closed stringy topological quantum computer” which is a theoretical topological quantum computer that employs a system of open-closed strings whose worldsheets are open-closed cobordisms. The open-closed stringy topological computer is able to compute the Khovanov homology for tangles and for hence it is a universal quantum computer given than any quantum computation is reduced to an instance of computation of the Khovanov homology for tangles. The universal algebra in this case is the Frobenius Algebra and the possible open-closed stringy topological quantum computers are forming a symmetric monoidal category which is equivalent to the category of knowledgeable Frobenius algebras. Then the mathematical design of an open-closed stringy topological quantum computer is involved with computations and theorem proving for generalized Frobenius algebras. Such computations and theorem proving can be performed automatically using the Automated Theorem Provers with the TPTP language and the SMT-solver Z3 with the SMT-LIB language. Some examples of application of ATPs and SMT-solvers in the mathematical setup of an open-closed stringy topological quantum computer will be provided.

Category-theoretic characterizations of heterotic models of computation, introduced by Stepney et al., combine computational models such as classical/quantum, digital/analog, synchronous/asynchronous, etc. to obtain increased computational power. A highly informative classical/quantum heterotic model of computation is represented by Abramsky's simple sequential imperative quantum programming language which extends the classical simple imperative programming language to encompass quantum computation. The mathematical (denotational) semantics of this classical language serves as a basic foundation upon which formal verification methods can be developed. We present a more comprehensive heterotic classical/quantum model of computation based on heterotic dynamical systems on convergence spaces. Convergence spaces subsume topological spaces but admit finer structure from which, in prior work, we obtained differential calculi in the cartesian closed category of convergence spaces allowing us to define heterotic dynamical systems, given by coupled systems of first order differential equations whose variables are functions from the reals to convergence spaces.

We describe a quantum mechanics based logic programming language that supports Horn clauses, random variables, and covariance matrices to express and solve problems in probabilistic logic. The Horn clauses of the language wrap random variables, including infinite valued, to express probability distributions and statistical correlations, a powerful feature to capture relationship between distributions that are not independent. The expressive power of the language is based on a mechanism to implement statistical ensembles and to solve the underlying SAT instances using quantum mechanical machinery. We exploit the fact that classical random variables have quantum decompositions to build the Horn clauses. We establish the semantics of the language in a rigorous fashion by considering an existing probabilistic logic language called PRISM with classical probability measures defined on the Herbrand base and extending it to the quantum context. In the classical case H-interpretations form the sample space and probability measures defined on them lead to consistent definition of probabilities for well formed formulae. In the quantum counterpart, we define probability amplitudes on Hinterpretations facilitating the model generations and verifications via quantum mechanical superpositions and entanglements. We cast the well formed formulae of the language as quantum mechanical observables thus providing an elegant interpretation for their probabilities. We discuss several examples to combine statistical ensembles and predicates of first order logic to reason with situations involving uncertainty.

We present a quantum optical analysis of waveguides directionally coupled to ring resonators, an architecture realizable using silicon nanophotonics. The innate scalability of the silicon platform allows for the possibility of “on-chip” quantum computation and information processing. In this paper, we briefly review a comprehensive method for analyzing the quantum mechanical output of such a network for an arbitrary input state of the quantized, traveling electromagnetic field in the continuous wave (cw) limit. Specifically, we briefly review a recent theoretical result identifying a particular device topology that yields, via Passive Quantum Optical Feedback (PQOF), dramatic and unexpected enhancements of the Hong-Ou-Mandel Effect, an effect central to the operation of many quantum information processing systems. Next, we extend the analysis to our proposal for a scalable, on-chip realization of the Nonlinear Sign (NS) shifter essential for implementation of the Knill-Laflamme-Milburn (KLM) protocol for Linear Optical Quantum Computing (LOQC). Finally, we discuss generalizations to arbitrary networks of directionally coupled ring resonators along with possible applications is the areas of quantum metrology and sensitive photon detection.

The need for bright efficient sources of entangled photons has been a subject of tremendous research over the last decade. Researchers have been working to increase the brightness and purity to help overcome the spontaneous nature of the sources. Periodic poling has been implemented to allow for the use of crystals that would not normally satisfy the phase matching conditions. Utilizing periodic poling and single mode waveguide confinement of the pump field has yielded extremely large effective nonlinearities in sources easily producing millions of photon pairs. Here we will demonstrate these large nonlinearity effects in a periodically poled potassium titanyl phosphate (PPKTP) waveguide as well as characterizing the source purity.

Here we present the experimental demonstration of a Silicon ring resonator photon-pair source. The crystalline Silicon ring resonator (radius of 18.5μm) was designed to realize low dispersion across multiple resonances, which allows for operation with a high quality factor of Q~50k. In turn, the source exhibits very high brightness of >3x10⁵ photons/s/mW²/GHz since the produced photon pairs have a very narrow bandwidth. Furthermore, the waveguidefiber coupling loss was minimized to <1.5dB using an inverse tapered waveguide (tip width of ~150nm over a 300μm length) that is butt-coupled to a high-NA fiber (Nufern UHNA-7). This ensured minimal loss of photon pairs to the detectors, which enabled very high purity photon pairs with minimal noise, as exhibited by a very high Coincidental-Accidental Ratio of >1900. The low coupling loss (3dB fiber-fiber) also allowed for operation with very low off-chip pump power of <200μW. In addition, the zero dispersion of the ring resonator resulted in the production of a photon-pair comb across multiple resonances symmetric about the pump resonance (every ~5nm spanning >20nm), which could be used in future wavelength division multiplexed quantum networks.

We report on the development and use of a high heralding-efficiency, single-mode-fiber coupled telecom-band source of entangled photons for quantum technology applications. The source development efforts consisted of theoretical and experimental efforts and we demonstrated a correlated-mode coupling efficiency of 97% ± 2%, the highest efficiency yet achieved for this type of system. We then incorporated these beneficial source development techniques in a Sagnac configured telecom-band entangled photon source that generates photon pairs entangled in both time/energy and polarization degrees of freedom. We made use of these highly desirable entangled states to investigate several promising quantum technologies.

Integrated quantum photonics relies critically on photon sources that have great purity, single-mode property, scalability, integrability and flexibility for both integrated quantum computing and long-haul quantum communication. Here we report a photon-pair/single-photon source that utilizes cavity-enhanced four-wave mixing in a high-Q silicon microresonator. The photon-pair source has a spectral brightness of 6:25 × 10⁸ pairs/s/mW²/GHz and a quantum cross-correlation of g⁽²⁾_si (0) = (2:58 ± 0:16) × 10⁴. The generated photons are single-mode, with a quantum self-correlation of 1:87 ± 0:05. The heralded single photons has conditional photon autocorrelation g_c⁽²⁾ as low as 0:0075 ± 0:0017 at 5:9 × 10⁴ pair/s.

Superconducting systems have a long history of use in experiments that push the frontiers of mechanical sensing. This includes both applied and fundamental research, which at present day ranges from quantum computing research and e orts to explore Planck-scale physics to fundamental studies on the nature of motion and the quantum limits on our ability to measure it. In this paper, we first provide a short history of the role of superconducting circuitry and devices in mechanical sensing, focusing primarily on efforts in the last decade to push the study of quantum mechanics to include motion on the scale of human-made structures. This background sets the stage for the remainder of the paper, which focuses on the development of quantum electromechanical systems (QEMS) that incorporate superconducting quantum bits (qubits), superconducting transmission line resonators and flexural nanomechanical elements. In addition to providing the motivation and relevant background on the physical behavior of these systems, we discuss our recent efforts to develop a particular type of QEMS that is based upon the Cooper-pair box (CPB) and superconducting coplanar waveguide (CPW) cavities, a system which has the potential to serve as a testbed for studying the quantum properties of motion in engineered systems.

It has been proven that universal quantum computers based on qubits and classical analog networks both have superTuring capabilities. It is a grand challenge to computer science to prove that the combination of the two, in analog (continuous variable) quantum computing, offers supersuperTuring capability, the best we can achieve. Computing with continuous spins is now the most promising path AQC. Two papers at SPIE2014 described unbreakable quantum codes using continuous spins beyond what traditional qubits allow. To make this real, we must first develop a realistic ability to model and predict the behavior of networks of spin gates which act in part as polarizers. Last year I proposed a triphoton experiment, where three entangled photons go to linear polarizers set to angles θ_a, θ_b and θ_c. Assuming a “collapse of the wave function” yields predictions for the coincidence detection rate, R₃/R₀(θ_a, θ_b, θ_c) significantly different from the prediction of a new family of models based on classical Markov Random Fields (MRF) across space time, even though both yield the same correct prediction in the two-photon case. We cannot expect to predict systems of 100 entangled photons correctly if we cannot even predict three yet. Yanhua Shih is currently performing this experiment, as a first step to demonstrating a new technology to produce 100 entangled photons (collaborating with Scully) and understanding larger systems. I have also developed continuous-time versions of the MRF models and of “collapse of the wave function”, so as to eliminate the need to assume metaphysical observers in general.

In our earlier work we posited that simple quantum gates and quantum algorithms can be designed utilizing the diffraction phenomena of a photon within a multiplexed holographic element. The quantum eigenstates we use are the photons transverse linear momentum (LM) as measured by the number of waves of tilt across the aperture. Two properties of linear optical quantum computing (LOQC) within the circuit model make this approach attractive. First, any conditional measurement can be commuted in time with any unitary quantum gate; and second, photon entanglement can be encoded as a superposition state of a single photon in a higher-dimensional state space afforded by LM. We describe here our experimental results for construction a controlled NOT (CNOT) gate logic within a holographic medium, and present the quantum state tomography for this device. Our theoretical and numerical results indicate that OptiGrates photo-thermal refractive (PTR) glass is an enabling technology. This work has been grounded on coupled-mode theory and numerical simulations, all with parameters consistent with PTR glass. We discuss the strengths (high efficiencies, robustness to environment) and limitations (scalability, crosstalk) of this technology. While not scalable, the utility and robustness of such optical elements for broader quantum information processing applications can be substantial.

Quantum error correction will be a necessary component towards realizing scalable quantum computers with physical qubits. Theoretically, it is possible to perform arbitrarily long computations if the error rate is below a threshold value. The two-dimensional surface code permits relatively high fault-tolerant thresholds at the ~1% level, and only requires a latticed network of qubits with nearest-neighbor interactions. Superconducting qubits have continued to steadily improve in coherence, gate, and readout fidelities, to become a leading candidate for implementation into larger quantum networks. Here we describe characterization experiments and calibration of a system of four superconducting qubits arranged in a planar lattice, amenable to the surface code. Insights into the particular qubit design and comparison between simulated parameters and experimentally determined parameters are given. Single- and two-qubit gate tune-up procedures are described and results for simultaneously benchmarking pairs of two-qubit gates are given. All controls are eventually used for an arbitrary error detection protocol described in separate work [Corcoles et al., Nature Communications, 6, 2015].

We study an efficient algorithm to extract quantum random numbers (QRN) from the raw data obtained by charge-coupled device (CCD) or complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) based sensors, like a camera used in a commercial smartphone. Based on NIST statistical test for random number generators, the proposed algorithm has a high QRN generation rate and high statistical randomness. This algorithm provides a kind of simple, low-priced and reliable devices as a QRN generator for quantum key distribution (QKD) or other cryptographic applications.

It is well known that Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) can be used with the highest level of security for distribution of the secret key, which is further used for symmetrical encryption. B92 is one of the oldest QKD protocols. It uses only two non-orthogonal states, each one coding for one bit-value. It is much faster and simpler when compared to its predecessors, but with the idealized maximum efficiencies of 25% over the quantum channel. B92 consists of several phases in which initial key is significantly reduced: secret key exchange, extraction of the raw key (sifting), error rate estimation, key reconciliation and privacy amplification. QKD communication is performed over two channels: the quantum channel and the classical public channel. In order to prevent a man-in-the-middle attack and modification of messages on the public channel, authentication of exchanged values must be performed. We used Wegman-Carter authentication because it describes an upper bound for needed symmetric authentication key. We explained the reduction of the initial key in each of QKD phases.