Postulating the Unicity of the Macroscopic Physical World.

We argue that a clear view of quantum mechanics is obtained by considering that the unicity of the macroscopic world is a fundamental postulate of physics, rather than an issue that must be mathematically justified or demonstrated. This postulate allows for a framework in which quantum mechanics can be constructed in a complete mathematically consistent way. This is made possible by using general operator algebras to extend the mathematical description of the physical world toward macroscopic systems. Such an approach goes beyond the usual type-I operator algebras used in standard textbook quantum mechanics. This avoids a major pitfall, which is the temptation to make the usual type-I formalism 'universal'. This may also provide a meta-framework for both classical and quantum physics, shedding new light on ancient conceptual antagonisms and clarifying the status of quantum objects. Beyond exploring remote corners of quantum physics, we expect these ideas to be helpful to better understand and develop quantum technologies.

Revisiting Born's Rule through Uhlhorn's and Gleason's Theorems.

In a previous article we presented an argument to obtain (or rather infer) Born's rule, based on a simple set of axioms named "Contexts, Systems and Modalities" (CSM). In this approach, there is no "emergence", but the structure of quantum mechanics can be attributed to an interplay between the quantized number of modalities that is accessible to a quantum system and the continuum of contexts that are required to define these modalities. The strong link of this derivation with Gleason's theorem was emphasized, with the argument that CSM provides a physical justification for Gleason's hypotheses. Here, we extend this result by showing that an essential one among these hypotheses-the need of unitary transforms to relate different contexts-can be removed and is better seen as a necessary consequence of Uhlhorn's theorem.

Contextual Inferences, Nonlocality, and the Incompleteness of Quantum Mechanics.

It is known that "quantum non locality", leading to the violation of Bell's inequality and more generally of classical local realism, can be attributed to the conjunction of two properties, which we call here elementary locality and predictive completeness. Taking this point of view, we show again that quantum mechanics violates predictive completeness, allowing the making of contextual inferences, which can, in turn, explain why quantum non locality does not contradict relativistic causality. An important question remains: if the usual quantum state ψ is predictively incomplete, how do we complete it? We give here a set of new arguments to show that ψ should be completed indeed, not by looking for any "hidden variables", but rather by specifying the measurement context, which is required to define actual probabilities over a set of mutually exclusive physical events.

Extracontextuality and extravalence in quantum mechanics.

We develop the point of view where quantum mechanics results from the interplay between the quantized number of 'modalities' accessible to a quantum system, and the continuum of 'contexts' that are required to define these modalities. We point out the specific roles of 'extracontextuality' and 'extravalence' of modalities, and relate them to the Kochen-Specker and Gleason theorems.This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Foundations of quantum mechanics and their impact on contemporary society'.

Homodyne tomography of a single photon retrieved on demand from a cavity-enhanced cold atom memory.

We experimentally demonstrate that a nonclassical state prepared in an atomic memory can be efficiently transferred to a single mode of free-propagating light. By retrieving on demand a single excitation from a cold atomic gas, we realize an efficient source of single photons prepared in a pure, fully controlled quantum state. We characterize this source using two detection methods, one based on photon-counting analysis and the second using homodyne tomography to reconstruct the density matrix and Wigner function of the state. The latter technique allows us to completely determine the mode of the retrieved photon in its fine phase and amplitude details and demonstrate its nonclassical field statistics by observing a negative Wigner function. We measure a photon retrieval efficiency up to 82% and an atomic memory coherence time of 900  ns. This setup is very well suited to study interactions between atomic excitations and use them in order to create and manipulate more sophisticated quantum states of light with a high degree of experimental control.

Generation of optical 'Schrödinger cats' from photon number states.

Schrödinger's cat is a Gedankenexperiment in quantum physics, in which an atomic decay triggers the death of the cat. Because quantum physics allow atoms to remain in superpositions of states, the classical cat would then be simultaneously dead and alive. By analogy, a 'cat' state of freely propagating light can be defined as a quantum superposition of well separated quasi-classical states-it is a classical light wave that simultaneously possesses two opposite phases. Such states play an important role in fundamental tests of quantum theory and in many quantum information processing tasks, including quantum computation, quantum teleportation and precision measurements. Recently, optical Schrödinger 'kittens' were prepared; however, they are too small for most of the aforementioned applications and increasing their size is experimentally challenging. Here we demonstrate, theoretically and experimentally, a protocol that allows the generation of arbitrarily large squeezed Schrödinger cat states, using homodyne detection and photon number states as resources. We implemented this protocol with light pulses containing two photons, producing a squeezed Schrödinger cat state with a negative Wigner function. This state clearly exhibits several quantum phase-space interference fringes between the 'dead' and 'alive' components, and is large enough to become useful for quantum information processing and experimental tests of quantum theory.

Field test of classical symmetric encryption with continuous variables quantum key distribution.

We report on the design and performance of a point-to-point classical symmetric encryption link with fast key renewal provided by a Continuous Variable Quantum Key Distribution (CVQKD) system. Our system was operational and able to encrypt point-to-point communications during more than six months, from the end of July 2010 until the beginning of February 2011. This field test was the first demonstration of the reliability of a CVQKD system over a long period of time in a server room environment. This strengthens the potential of CVQKD for information technology security infrastructure deployments.

Homodyne estimation of Gaussian quantum discord.

We address the experimental estimation of Gaussian quantum discord for a two-mode squeezed thermal state, and demonstrate a measurement scheme based on a pair of homodyne detectors assisted by Bayesian analysis, which provides nearly optimal estimation for small value of discord. In addition, though homodyne detection is not optimal for Gaussian discord, the noise ratio to the ultimate quantum limit, as dictated by the quantum Cramer-Rao bound, is limited to about 10 dB.

Observation and measurement of interaction-induced dispersive optical nonlinearities in an ensemble of cold Rydberg atoms.

We observe and measure dispersive optical nonlinearities in an ensemble of cold Rydberg atoms placed inside an optical cavity. The experimental results are in agreement with a simple model where the optical nonlinearities are due to the progressive appearance of a Rydberg blockaded volume within the medium. The measurements allow a direct estimation of the "blockaded fraction" of atoms within the atomic ensemble.

Generation of pulsed and continuous-wave squeezed light with 87Rb vapor.

We present experimental studies on the generation of pulsed and continuous-wave squeezed vacuum via nonlinear rotation of the polarization ellipse in a (87)Rb vapor. Squeezing is observed for a wide range of input powers and pump detunings on the D1 line, while only excess noise is present on the D2 line. The maximum continuous-wave squeezing observed is -1.4 +/- 0.1 dB (-2.0 dB corrected for losses). We measure -1.1 dB squeezing at the resonance frequency of the (85)Rb F = 3 --> F' transition, which may allow the storage of squeezed light generated by (87)Rb in a (85)Rb quantum memory. Using a pulsed pump, pulsed squeezed light with -1 dB of squeezing for 200 ns pulse widths is observed at 1 MHz repetition rate.

Implementation of a nondeterministic optical noiseless amplifier.

Quantum mechanics imposes that any amplifier that works independently on the phase of the input signal has to introduce some excess noise. The impossibility of such a noiseless amplifier is rooted in the unitarity and linearity of quantum evolution. A possible way to circumvent this limitation is to interrupt such evolution via a measurement, providing a random outcome able to herald a successful-and noiseless-amplification event. Here we show a successful realization of such an approach; we perform a full characterization of an amplified coherent state using quantum homodyne tomography, and observe a strong heralded amplification, with about a 6 dB gain and a noise level significantly smaller than the minimal allowed for any ordinary phase-independent device.

Femtosecond Ti:sapphire cryogenic amplifier with high gain and MHz repetition rate.

We demonstrate high gain amplification of 160-femtosecond pulses in a compact double-pass cryogenic Ti:sapphire amplifier. The setup involves a negative GVD mirrors recompression stage, and operates with a repetition rate between 0.2 and 4 MHz with a continuous pump laser. Amplification factors as high as 17 and 320 nJ Fourier-limited pulses are obtained at a 800 kHz repetition rate.

Recovering the quantum formalism from physically realist axioms.

We present a heuristic derivation of Born's rule and unitary transforms in Quantum Mechanics, from a simple set of axioms built upon a physical phenomenology of quantization. This approach naturally leads to the usual quantum formalism, within a new realistic conceptual framework that is discussed in details. Physically, the structure of Quantum Mechanics appears as a result of the interplay between the quantized number of "modalities" accessible to a quantum system, and the continuum of "contexts" that are required to define these modalities. Mathematically, the Hilbert space structure appears as a consequence of a specific "extra-contextuality" of modalities, closely related to the hypothesis of Gleason's theorem, and consistent with its conclusions.

Narrow-band single-photon emission in the near infrared for quantum key distribution.

We present a detailed study of photophysical properties of single color centers in natural diamond samples emitting in the near infrared under optical excitation. Photoluminescence of these single emitters has several striking features, including narrow-band (FWHM 2 nm) fully polarized emission around 780 nm, a short excited-state lifetime of about 2 ns, and perfect photostability at room temperature under our excitation conditions. Development of a triggered single-photon source relying on this single color center is discussed for application to quantum key distribution.

Loss-tolerant state engineering for quantum-enhanced metrology via the reverse Hong-Ou-Mandel effect.

Highly entangled quantum states, shared by remote parties, are vital for quantum communications and metrology. Particularly promising are the N00N states-entangled N-photon wavepackets delocalized between two different locations-which outperform coherent states in measurement sensitivity. However, these states are notoriously vulnerable to losses, making them difficult to both share them between remote locations and recombine in order to exploit interference effects. Here we address this challenge by utilizing the reverse Hong-Ou-Mandel effect to prepare a high-fidelity two-photon N00N state shared between two parties connected by a lossy optical medium. We measure the prepared state by two-mode homodyne tomography, thereby demonstrating that the enhanced phase sensitivity can be exploited without recombining the two parts of the N00N state. Finally, we demonstrate the application of our method to remotely prepare superpositions of coherent states, known as Schrödinger's cat states.

Unconditional security proof of long-distance continuous-variable quantum key distribution with discrete modulation.

We present a continuous-variable quantum key distribution protocol combining a discrete modulation and reverse reconciliation. This protocol is proven unconditionally secure and allows the distribution of secret keys over long distances, thanks to a reverse reconciliation scheme efficient at very low signal-to-noise ratio.

Delayed-choice test of quantum complementarity with interfering single photons.

We report an experimental test of quantum complementarity with single-photon pulses sent into a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with an output beam splitter of adjustable reflection coefficient R. In addition, the experiment is realized in Wheeler's delayed-choice regime. Each randomly set value of R allows us to observe interference with visibility V and to obtain incomplete which-path information characterized by the distinguishability parameter D. Measured values of V and D are found to fulfill the complementarity relation V2+D2 < or =1.

Increasing entanglement between Gaussian states by coherent photon subtraction.

We experimentally demonstrate that the entanglement between Gaussian entangled states can be increased by non-Gaussian operations. Coherent subtraction of single photons from Gaussian quadrature-entangled light pulses, created by a nondegenerate parametric amplifier, produces delocalized states with negative Wigner functions and complex structures more entangled than the initial states in terms of negativity. The experimental results are in very good agreement with the theoretical predictions.