Quantum devices for generating entangled states have been extensively studied and widely used. As so, it becomes necessary to verify that these devices truly work reliably and efficiently as they are specified. Here we experimentally realize the recently proposed two-qubit entangled state verification strategies using both local measurements (nonadaptive) and active feed-forward operations (adaptive) with a photonic platform. About 3283/536 number of copies (N) are required to achieve a 99% confidence to verify the target quantum state for nonadaptive/adaptive strategies. These optimal strategies provide the Heisenberg scaling of the infidelity $${\it{\epsilon }}$$ ϵ as a function of N ($${\it{\epsilon }}\sim N^{r}$$ ϵ ~ N r ) with the parameter r = −1, exceeding the standard quantum limit with r = −0.5. We experimentally obtain the scaling parameters of r = −0.88 ± 0.03 and −0.78 ± 0.07 for nonadaptive and adaptive strategies, respectively. Our experimental work could serve as a standardized procedure for the verification of quantum states.

The interference of quanta lies at the heart of quantum physics. The multipartite generalization of single-quanta interference creates entanglement, the coherent superposition of states shared by several quanta. Entanglement allows non-local correlations between many quanta and hence is a key resource for quantum information technology. Entanglement is typically considered to be essential for creating non-local quantum interference. Here, we show that this is not the case and demonstrate multiphoton non-local quantum interference that does not require entanglement of any intrinsic properties of the photons. We harness the superposition of the physical origin of a four-photon product state, which leads to constructive and destructive interference with the photons’ mere existence. With the intrinsic indistinguishability in the generation process of photons, we realize four-photon frustrated quantum interference. This allows us to observe the following noteworthy difference to quantum entanglement: We control the non-local multipartite quantum interference with a photon that we never detect, which does not require quantum entanglement. These non-local properties pave the way for the studies of foundations of quantum physics and potential applications in quantum technologies.

Surface plasmon polaritons (Spps) are collective excitations of free electrons propagating along a metal-dielectric interface. Although some basic quantum properties of SPPs, such as the preservation of entanglement, the wave-particle duality of a single plasmon, the quantum interference of two plasmons, and the verification of entanglement generation, have been shown, more advanced quantum information protocols have yet to be demonstrated with SPPs. Here, we experimentally realize quantum state teleportation between single photons and SPPs. To achieve this, we use polarization-entangled photon pairs, coherent photon-plasmon-photon conversion on a metallic subwavelength hole array, complete Bell-state measurements and an active feed-forward technique. The results of both quantum state and quantum process tomography confirm the quantum nature of the SPP mediated teleportation. An average state fidelity of 0.889 ± 0.004 and a process fidelity of 0.820 ± 0.005 , which are well above the classical limit, are achieved. Our work shows that SPPs may be useful for realizing complex quantum protocols in a photonic-plasmonic hybrid quantum network.