Useful multiparticle entanglement and sub-shot-noise sensitivity in experimental phase estimation.

We experimentally demonstrate a general criterion to identify entangled states useful for the estimation of an unknown phase shift with a sensitivity higher than the shot-noise limit. We show how to exploit this entanglement on the examples of a maximum likelihood as well as of a Bayesian phase estimation protocol. Using an entangled four-photon state we achieve a phase sensitivity clearly beyond the shot-noise limit. Our detailed comparison of methods and quantum states for entanglement enhanced metrology reveals the connection between multiparticle entanglement and sub-shot-noise uncertainty, both in a frequentist and in a Bayesian phase estimation setting.

Experimental entanglement of a six-photon symmetric Dicke state.

We report on the experimental observation and characterization of a six-photon entangled Dicke state. We obtain a fidelity as high as 0.654+/-0.024 and prove genuine six-photon entanglement by, amongst others, a two-setting witness yielding -0.422+/-0.148. This state has remarkable properties; e.g., it allows obtaining inequivalent entangled states of a lower qubit number via projective measurements, and it possesses a high entanglement persistency against qubit loss. We characterize the properties of the six-photon Dicke state experimentally by detecting and analyzing the entanglement of a variety of multipartite entangled states.

Self-aligned charge read-out for InAs nanowire quantum dots.

A highly sensitive charge detector is realized for a quantum dot in an InAs nanowire. We have developed a self-aligned etching process to fabricate in a single step a quantum point contact in a two-dimensional electron gas and a quantum dot in an InAs nanowire. The quantum dot is strongly coupled to the underlying point contact that is used as a charge detector. The addition of one electron to the quantum dot leads to a change of the conductance of the charge detector by typically 20%. The charge sensitivity of the detector is used to measure Coulomb diamonds as well as charging events outside the dot. Charge stability diagrams measured by transport through the quantum dot and charge detection merge perfectly.