Computable genuine multimode entanglement measure: Gaussian versus non-Gaussian

Abstract

Genuine multimode entanglement in continuous variable systems can be quantified by exploring the geometry of the state-space, namely via the generalized geometric measure (GGM) which is defined as the shortest distance of a given multimode state from a nongenunely multimode entangled state. For multimode Gaussian states, we derive a closed form expression of GGM in terms of the symplectic invariants of the reduced states. Following that prescription, the characteristics of GGM for typical three- and four-mode Gaussian states are investigated. In the non-Gaussian paradigm, we compute GGM for photon-added as well as -subtracted states having three- and four-modes and find that both addition and subtraction of photons lead to enhancement of the genuine multimode entanglement content of the state compared to its Gaussian counterpart. Our analysis reveals that when an initial three-mode vacuum state is evolved according to an interacting Hamiltonian, photon addition is more beneficial in increasing GGM compared to photon subtraction while the picture is opposite for four-mode case. Specifically, subtracting photons from four-mode squeezed vacuum states almost always results in higher multimode entanglement content than that of photon addition with both single as well as multimode and constrained as well as unconstrained operations. Furthermore, we observe a novel freezing feature of GGM during some specific cases of photon subtraction with respect to the number of photons subtracted.