English

Quantum correlations in separable multi-mode states and in classically entangled light

Quantum Physics 2019-05-22 v1

Abstract

In this review we discuss intriguing properties of apparently classical optical fields, that go beyond purely classical context and allow us to speak about quantum characteristics of such fields and about their applications in quantum technologies. We briefly define the genuinely quantum concepts of entanglement and steering. We then move to the boarder line between classical and quantum world introducing quantum discord, a more general concept of quantum coherence, and finally a controversial notion of classical entanglement. To unveil the quantum aspects of often classically perceived systems, we focus more in detail on quantum discordant correlations between the light modes and on nonseparability properties of optical vector fields leading to entanglement between different degrees of freedom of a single beam. To illustrate the aptitude of different types of correlated systems to act as quantum or quantum-like resource, entanglement activation from discord, high-precision measurements with classical entanglement and quantum information tasks using intra-system correlations are discussed. The common themes behind the versatile quantum properties of seemingly classical light are coherence, polarization and inter and intra--mode quantum correlations.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1903.00469,
  title  = {Quantum correlations in separable multi-mode states and in classically entangled light},
  author = {Natalia Korolkova and Gerd Leuchs},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1903.00469},
  year   = {2019}
}

Comments

39 pages, 8 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-23T07:55:46.251Z