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Interferometric detection of continuous-variable entanglement using two states

Elena Callus1,*, Martin Gärttner1,†, and Tobias Haas2,‡

  • *Contact author: elena.callus@uni-jena.de
  • †Contact author: martin.gaerttner@uni-jena.de
  • ‡Contact author: tobias.haas@ulb.be

Phys. Rev. A 112, 033704 – Published 5 September, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/4wzg-fc7b

Abstract

The efficient witnessing and certification of entanglement is necessitated by its ubiquitous use in various aspects of quantum technologies. In the case of continuous-variable bipartite systems, the Shchukin-Vogel hierarchy gives necessary conditions for separability in terms of moments of the mode operators. In this work we derive mode-operator-based witnesses for continuous-variable bipartite entanglement relying on the interference of two states. Specifically, we show how one can access higher moments of the mode operators, crucial for detecting entanglement of non-Gaussian states, using a single beamsplitter with variable phase and photon-number-resolving detectors. We demonstrate that the use of an entangled state paired with a suitable reference state is sufficient to detect entanglement in, e.g., two-mode squeezed vacuum, NOON states, and mixed entangled cat states. We also take into account experimental noise, including photon loss and detection inefficiency, as well as finite measurement statistics.

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