Experimental multiparticle entanglement dynamics induced by decoherence

Multiparticle entanglement leads to richer correlations than two-particle entanglement and gives rise to striking contradictions with local realism [1], inequivalent classes of entanglement [2], and applications such as one-way or topological quantum computing [3, 4]. When exposed to decohering or dissipative environments, multiparticle entanglement yields subtle dynamical features and access to new classes of states and applications. Here, using a string of trapped ions, we experimentally characterize the dynamics of entanglement of a multiparticle state under the influence of decoher-ence. By embedding an entangled state of four qubits in a decohering environment (via spontaneous decay), we observe a rich dynamics crossing distinctive domains: Bell-inequality violation, entangle-ment superactivation, bound entanglement, and full separability. We also develop new theoretical tools for characterizing entanglement in quantum states. Our techniques to control the environment can be used to enable novel quantum-computation, state-engineering, and simulation paradigms based on dissipation and decoherence [5–7]. When exposed to an environment, bipartite entan-glement already shows subtle dynamical features, e.g., finite-time disentanglement [8, 9]. In a multipartite set