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Single strontium atom in an ion trap
Credit: David Nadlinger, University of Oxford

David Nadlinger

Graduate Student

Research theme

  • Quantum information and computation

Sub department

  • Atomic and Laser Physics

Research groups

  • Ion trap quantum computing
david.nadlinger@physics.ox.ac.uk
Telephone: 01865 (2)72265,01865 (2)72346
Programming blog
  • About
  • Publications

Experimental quantum key distribution certified by Bell's theorem.

Nature 607:7920 (2022) 682-686

Authors:

DP Nadlinger, P Drmota, BC Nichol, G Araneda, D Main, R Srinivas, DM Lucas, CJ Ballance, K Ivanov, EY-Z Tan, P Sekatski, RL Urbanke, R Renner, N Sangouard, J-D Bancal

Abstract:

Cryptographic key exchange protocols traditionally rely on computational conjectures such as the hardness of prime factorization1 to provide security against eavesdropping attacks. Remarkably, quantum key distribution protocols such as the Bennett-Brassard scheme2 provide information-theoretic security against such attacks, a much stronger form of security unreachable by classical means. However, quantum protocols realized so far are subject to a new class of attacks exploiting a mismatch between the quantum states or measurements implemented and their theoretical modelling, as demonstrated in numerous experiments3-6. Here we present the experimental realization of a complete quantum key distribution protocol immune to these vulnerabilities, following Ekert's pioneering proposal7 to use entanglement to bound an adversary's information from Bell's theorem8. By combining theoretical developments with an improved optical fibre link generating entanglement between two trapped-ion qubits, we obtain 95,628 key bits with device-independent security9-12 from 1.5 million Bell pairs created during eight hours of run time. We take steps to ensure that information on the measurement results is inaccessible to an eavesdropper. These measurements are performed without space-like separation. Our result shows that provably secure cryptography under general assumptions is possible with real-world devices, and paves the way for further quantum information applications based on the device-independence principle.
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Urukul - Open-source Frequency Synthesizer Module for Quantum Physics

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS 68:1 (2022) 123-128

Authors:

Grzegorz Kasprowicz, Thomas Harty, Sebastien Bourdeauducq, Robert Jordens, David Allcock, David Nadlinger, Joseph W Britton, Ana Sotirova, Dorota Nowicka
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A quantum network of entangled optical atomic clocks

arXiv preprint arXiv:2111.10336

Authors:

BC Nichol, R Srinivas, DP Nadlinger, P Drmota, D Main, G Araneda, CJ Ballance, DM Lucas

Abstract:

Optical atomic clocks are our most precise tools to measure time and frequency. They enable precision frequency comparisons between atoms in separate locations to probe the space-time variation of fundamental constants, the properties of dark matter, and for geodesy. Measurements on independent systems are limited by the standard quantum limit (SQL); measurements on entangled systems, in contrast, can surpass the SQL to reach the ultimate precision allowed by quantum theory - the so-called Heisenberg limit. While local entangling operations have been used to demonstrate this enhancement at microscopic distances, frequency comparisons between remote atomic clocks require rapid high-fidelity entanglement between separate systems that have no intrinsic interactions. We demonstrate the first quantum network of entangled optical clocks using two 88Sr+ ions separated by a macroscopic distance (2 m), that are entangled using a photonic link. We characterise the entanglement enhancement for frequency comparisons between the ions. We find that entanglement reduces the measurement uncertainty by a factor close to 2‾√, as predicted for the Heisenberg limit, thus halving the number of measurements required to reach a given precision. Practically, today's optical clocks are typically limited by laser dephasing; in this regime, we find that using entangled clocks confers an even greater benefit, yielding a factor 4 reduction in the number of measurements compared to conventional correlation spectroscopy techniques. As a proof of principle, we demonstrate this enhancement for measuring a frequency shift applied to one of the clocks. Our results show that quantum networks have now attained sufficient maturity for enhanced metrology. This two-node network could be extended to additional nodes, to other species of trapped particles, or to larger entangled systems via local operations.
Full PDF text
Details from ArXiV

Device-Independent Quantum Key Distribution

arXiv preprint arXiv:2109.14600

Authors:

DP Nadlinger, P Drmota, BC Nichol, G Araneda, D Main, R Srinivas, DM Lucas, CJ Ballance, K Ivanov, E Tan, P Sekatski, RL Urbanke, R Renner, N Sangouard, J-D Bancal

Abstract:

Cryptographic key exchange protocols traditionally rely on computational conjectures such as the hardness of prime factorisation to provide security against eavesdropping attacks. Remarkably, quantum key distribution protocols like the one proposed by Bennett and Brassard provide information-theoretic security against such attacks, a much stronger form of security unreachable by classical means. However, quantum protocols realised so far are subject to a new class of attacks exploiting implementation defects in the physical devices involved, as demonstrated in numerous ingenious experiments. Following the pioneering work of Ekert proposing the use of entanglement to bound an adversary's information from Bell's theorem, we present here the experimental realisation of a complete quantum key distribution protocol immune to these vulnerabilities. We achieve this by combining theoretical developments on finite-statistics analysis, error correction, and privacy amplification, with an event-ready scheme enabling the rapid generation of high-fidelity entanglement between two trapped-ion qubits connected by an optical fibre link. The secrecy of our key is guaranteed device-independently: it is based on the validity of quantum theory, and certified by measurement statistics observed during the experiment. Our result shows that provably secure cryptography with real-world devices is possible, and paves the way for further quantum information applications based on the device-independence principle.
Full PDF text
Details from ArXiV

Open-source multi-channel Smart Arbitrary Waveform Generators (SAWG) for quantum information processing

2021 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON QUANTUM COMPUTING AND ENGINEERING (QCE 2021) / QUANTUM WEEK 2021 (2021) 443-444

Authors:

David Allcock, Christopher Balance, Sebastien Bourdeauducq, Joseph Britton, Michal Gaska, Thomas Harty, Jakub Jarosinski, Robert Joerdens, Grzegorz Kasprowicz, Norman Krackow, Pawel Kulik, David Nadlinger, Dorota Nowicka, Krzysztof Pozniak, Tomasz Przywozki, Daniel Slichter, Mikolaj Sowinski, Marius Weber, Weida Zhang
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