Optical state engineering, quantum communication, and robustness of entanglement promiscuity in three-mode Gaussian states

We present a novel, detailed study on the usefulness of three-mode Gaussian states for realistic processing of continuous variable (CV) quantum information, with a particular emphasis on the possibilities opened up by their genuine tripartite entanglement. We describe practical schemes to engineer several classes of pure and mixed three-mode states that stand out for their informational and/or entanglement properties. In particular, we introduce a simple procedure-based on passive optical elements-to produce pure three-mode Gaussian states with arbitrary entanglement structure (upon availability of an initial two-mode squeezed state). We analyse in depth the properties of distributed entanglement and the origin of its sharing structure, showing that the promiscuity of entanglement sharing is a feature peculiar to symmetric Gaussian states that survives even in the presence of significant degrees of mixedness and decoherence. Next, we discuss the suitability of the considered tripartite entangled states to the implementation of quantum information and communication protocols with CVs. This will lead to a feasible experimental proposal to test the promiscuous sharing of CV tripartite entanglement, in terms of the optimal fidelity of teleportation networks with Gaussian resources. We finally focus on the application of three-mode states to symmetric and asymmetric telecloning, and single out the structural properties of the optimal Gaussian resources for the latter protocol in different settings. Our analysis aims to lay the basis for a practical quantum communication with CVs beyond the bipartite scenario.