Quick Quantum Steering: Overcoming Loss and Noise with Qudits

Abstract

A primary requirement for a robust and unconditionally secure quantum network is the establishment of quantum nonlocal correlations over a realistic channel. While loophole-free tests of Bell nonlocality allow for entanglement certification in such a device-independent setting, they are extremely sensitive to loss and noise, which naturally arise in any practical communication scenario. Quantum steering relaxes the strict technological constraints of Bell nonlocality by reframing it in an asymmetric manner, with a trusted party only on one side. However, tests of quantum steering still require either extremely high-quality entanglement or very low loss. Here we introduce a test of quantum steering that harnesses the advantages of high-dimensional entanglement to be simultaneously noise robust and loss tolerant. Despite being constructed for qudits, our steering test is designed for single-detector measurements and is able to close the fair-sampling loophole in a time-efficient manner. We showcase the improvements over qubit-based systems by experimentally demonstrating quantum steering in up to 53 dimensions, free of the fair-sampling loophole, through simultaneous loss and noise conditions corresponding to 14.2-dB loss equivalent to 79 km of telecommunication fiber, and 36% of white noise. We go on to show how the use of high dimensions counterintuitively leads to a dramatic reduction in total measurement time, enabling a quantum steering violation almost 2 orders of magnitude faster obtained by simply doubling the Hilbert space dimension. Our work conclusively demonstrates the significant resource advantages that high-dimensional entanglement provides for quantum steering in terms of loss, noise, and measurement time, and opens the door toward practical quantum networks with the ultimate form of security.