Quantum key distribution with multi letter alphabets

We present a new protocol for continuous variable quantum key distribution (CV QKD). The novelty of the protocol is a multi letter alphabet represented by coherent states of light with a fixed amplitude and variable phase. Information is encoded in the phase of a coherent state which can be chosen from a regular discrete set consisting, however, of an arbitrary number of letters. We evaluate the security of the protocol against the beam splitting attack. As a result we show the proposed protocol has advantages over the standard two letter coherent state QKD protocol, especially in the case when losses in the communication channel are low.     

Three-party Quantum Secure Direct Communication with Single Photons in both Polarization and Spatial-mode Degrees of Freedom

We present an efficient three-party quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) protocol with single photos in both polarization and spatial-mode degrees of freedom. The three legal parties’ messages can be encoded on the polarization and the spatial-mode states of single photons independently with desired unitary operations. A party can obtain the other two parties’ messages simultaneously through a quantum channel. Because no extra public information is transmitted in the classical channels, the drawback of information leakage or classical correlation does not exist in the proposed scheme. Moreover, the comprehensive security analysis shows that the presented QSDC network protocol can defend the outsider eavesdropper’s several sorts of attacks. Compared with the single photons with only one degree of freedom, our protocol based on the single photons in two degrees of freedom has higher capacity. Since the preparation and the measurement of single photon quantum states in both the polarization and the spatial-mode degrees of freedom are available with current quantum techniques, the proposed protocol is practical.     

Description of a quantum convolutional code

We describe a quantum error correction scheme aimed at protecting a flow of quantum information over long distance communication. It is largely inspired by the theory of classical convolutional codes which are used in similar circumstances in classical communication. The particular example shown here uses the stabilizer formalism. We provide an explicit encoding circuit and its associated error estimation algorithm. The latter gives the most likely error over any memoryless quantum channel, with a complexity growing only linearly with the number of encoded qubits.     

Single-photon continuous-variable quantum key distribution based on the energy-time uncertainty relation

We propose a new quantum key distribution protocol in which information is encoded on continuous variables of a single photon. In this protocol, Alice randomly encodes her information on either the central frequency of a narrowband single-photon pulse or the time delay of a broadband single-photon pulse, while Bob randomly chooses to do either frequency measurement or time measurement. The security of this protocol rests on the energy-time uncertainty relation, which prevents Eve from simultaneously determining both frequency and time information with arbitrarily high resolution. Since no interferometer is employed in this scheme, it is more robust against various channel noises, such as polarization and phase fluctuations.     

基于单光子双量子态的确定性安全量子通信

量子通信是量子科学技术的一个重要研究领域,是一种利用量子力学原理,能够在合法各方之间安全地传输私密信息的通信方式.基于单光子的确定性安全量子通信通常需要在发送方和接收方之间来回两次传输单光子态,并利用局域幺正变换加载信息.本文提出了一种单向传输单光子态的确定性安全量子通信方案.发送方利用单光子的极化和time-bin两自由度构成的两组共轭基矢量来编码经典逻辑比特.接收方通过设计合适的测量装置可以在发送方辅助下确定性地获取比特信息并感知窃听,从而实现信息的确定性安全传输.另外,我们的协议使用线性光学元件和单光子探测器,可以在当前的量子通信装置上实现.     

Continuous‐variable quantum information processing

Observables of quantum systems can possess either a discrete or a continuous spectrum. For example, upon measurements of the photon number of a light state, discrete outcomes will result whereas measurements of the light's quadrature amplitudes result in continuous outcomes. If one uses the continuous degree of freedom of a quantum system for encoding, processing or detecting information, one enters the field of continuous‐variable (CV) quantum information processing. In this paper we review the basic principles of CV quantum information processing with main focus on recent developments in the field. We will be addressing the three main stages of a quantum information system; the preparation stage where quantum information is encoded into CVs of coherent states and single‐photon states, the processing stage where CV information is manipulated to carry out a specified protocol and a detection stage where CV information is measured using homodyne detection or photon counting.     

Classical correlations and entanglement in quantum measurements

We analyze a quantum measurement where the apparatus is initially in a mixed state. We show that the amount of information gained in a measurement is not equal to the amount of entanglement between the system and the apparatus, but is instead equal to the degree of classical correlations between the two. As a consequence, we derive an uncertainty-like expression relating the information gain in the measurement and the initial mixedness of the apparatus. Final entanglement between the environment and the apparatus is also shown to be relevant for the efficiency of the measurement.     

Efficient classical simulation of continuous variable quantum information processes

We obtain sufficient conditions for the efficient simulation of a continuous variable quantum algorithm or process on a classical computer. The resulting theorem is an extension of the Gottesman-Knill theorem to continuous variable quantum information. For a collection of harmonic oscillators, any quantum process that begins with unentangled Gaussian states, performs only transformations generated by Hamiltonians that are quadratic in the canonical operators, and involves only measurements of canonical operators (including finite losses) and suitable operations conditioned on these measurements can be simulated efficiently on a classical computer.     

Communication capacity of quantum computation

By considering quantum computation as a communication process, we relate its efficiency to its classical communication capacity. This formalism allows us to derive lower bounds on the complexity of search algorithms in the most general context. It enables us to link the mixedness of a quantum computer to its efficiency and also allows us to derive the critical level of mixedness beyond which there is no quantum advantage in computation.     

Quantum benchmark for storage and transmission of coherent states

We consider the storage and transmission of a Gaussian distributed set of coherent states of continuous variable systems. We prove a limit on the average fidelity achievable when the states are transmitted or stored by a classical channel, i.e., a measure and repreparation scheme which sends or stores classical information only. The obtained bound is tight and serves as a benchmark which has to be surpassed by quantum channels in order to outperform any classical strategy. The success in experimental demonstrations of quantum memories as well as quantum teleportation has to be judged on this footing.     

Transmission of classical and quantum information through a quantum memory channel with damping

We consider the transfer of classical and quantum information through a memory amplitude damping channel. Such a quantum channel is modeled as a damped harmonic oscillator, the interaction between the information carriers — a train of qubits — and the oscillator being of the Jaynes-Cummings kind. We prove that this memory channel is forgetful, so that quantum coding theorems hold for its capacities. We analyze entropic quantities relative to two uses of this channel. We show that memory effects improve the channel aptitude to transmit both classical and quantum information, and we investigate the mechanism by which memory acts in changing the channel transmission properties.     

Statistical model for a quantum noiseless subsystem

One of the most promising physical properties for implementing quantum technology is light polarization. However, since light polarization is fragile, it is crucial to use quantum error correction in order to make quantum information over optical networks feasible. This paper performs a statistical analysis of a noiseless subsystem technique to correct errors on quantum information sent through light polarization. We discuss the performance of the noiseless subsystem scheme in a noisy channel using a two-dimensional random walk to represent the channel variation. Finally, we propose an expression to measure the efficiency of the analyzed setup using the degree of depolarization of the light.     

Quantum communication through an unmodulated spin chain

We propose a scheme for using an unmodulated and unmeasured spin chain as a channel for short distance quantum communications. The state to be transmitted is placed on one spin of the chain and received later on a distant spin with some fidelity. We first obtain simple expressions for the fidelity of quantum state transfer and the amount of entanglement sharable between any two sites of an arbitrary Heisenberg ferromagnet using our scheme. We then apply this to the realizable case of an open ended chain with nearest neighbor interactions. The fidelity of quantum state transfer is obtained as an inverse discrete cosine transform and as a Bessel function series. We find that in a reasonable time, a qubit can be directly transmitted with better than classical fidelity across the full length of chains of up to 80 spins. Moreover, our channel allows distillable entanglement to be shared over arbitrary distances.     

Feedback in the problem of distinguishing between two nonorthogonal coherent states

Feedback is proposed for distinguishing between two weak coherent states with phases differing by ∼π. The mutual nonorthogonality of such states gives rise to a discrimination error, which can be reduced by using feedback. An optical quantum channel is discussed where the input is classical information encoded in two weak coherent states. For a channel with feedback, the discrimination error probability is calculated, and the mutual entropy that quantifies the fidelity between input and output is evaluated. We find that the use of a feedback loop in a quantum communication channel can increase the mutual entropy when canonical position or photon number is measured.     

Dynamical Measurement's Uncertainty in the Curved Space‐Time

The dynamical characteristics of measurement's uncertainty are investigated under two modes of Dirac field in the Garfinkle–Horowitz–Strominger dilation space‐time. It shows that the Hawking effect induced by the thermal field would result in an expansion of the entropic uncertainty with increasing dilation‐parameter value, as the systemic quantum coherence reduces, reflecting that the Hawking effect could undermine the systemic coherence. Meanwhile, the intrinsic relationship between the uncertainty and quantum coherence is obtained, and it is revealed that the uncertainty's bound is anti‐correlated with the system's quantum coherence. Furthermore, it is illustrated that the systemic mixedness is correlated with the uncertainty to a large extent. Via the information flow theory, various correlations including quantum and classical aspects, which can be used to form a physical explanation on the relationship between the uncertainty and quantum coherence, are also analyzed. Additionally, this investigation is extended to the case of multi‐component measurement, and the applications of the entropic uncertainty relation are illustrated on entanglement criterion and quantum channel capacity. Lastly, it is declared that the measurement uncertainty can be quantitatively suppressed through optimal quantum weak measurement. These investigations might pave an avenue to understand the measurement's uncertainty in the curved space‐time.     

Classical breathers and quantum coherent states in discrete NLS systems

We present a comparison of quantum and “semiclassical” trajectories of coherent states that correspond to classical breather solutions of finite discrete nonlinear Schrödinger (DNLS) lattices. The main goal is to explain earlier numerical observations of recurrent return to the vicinity of initial coherent states corresponding to stable breathers that are also spatially localized. This effect can be considered as a quantum manifestation of classical spatial localization. We show that these phenomena are encoded in a simple expression for the distance between the quantum and semiclassical states that involves the basic frequencies of the classical and quantum systems, as well as the breather amplitude and quantum spectral decomposition of the system. A corollary is that recurrence phenomena are robust under perturbation of the initial conditions for stable breathers.     

Experimental quantum error rejection for quantum communication

We report an experimental demonstration of a bit-flip error-rejection protocol for error-reduced transfer of quantum information through a noisy quantum channel. In the experiment, an unknown state to be transmitted is encoded into a two-photon entangled state, which is then sent through an engineered noisy quantum channel. At the final stage, the unknown state is decoded by a parity measurement, successfully rejecting the erroneous transmission over the noisy quantum channel.     

Realization of a minimal disturbance quantum measurement

We report the first experimental realization of an "optimal" quantum device able to perform a minimal disturbance measurement on polarization encoded qubits saturating the theoretical boundary established between the classical knowledge acquired of any input state, i.e., a "classical guess," and the fidelity of the same state after disturbance due to measurement. The device has been physically realized by means of a linear optical qubit manipulation, postselection measurement, and a classical feed-forward process.     

Quantum filtering one bit at a time

In this Letter we consider the purification of a quantum state using the information obtained from a continuous measurement record, where the classical measurement record is digitized to a single bit per measurement after the measurements have been made. Analysis indicates that efficient and reliable state purification is achievable for one- and two-qubit systems. We also consider quantum feedback control based on the discrete one-bit measurement sequences.     

Mesoscopic one-way channels for quantum state transfer via the quantum Hall effect

We show that the one-way channel formalism of quantum optics has a physical realization in electronic systems. In particular, we show that magnetic edge states form unidirectional quantum channels capable of coherently transporting electronic quantum information. Using the equivalence between one-way photonic channels and magnetic edge states, we adapt a proposal for quantum state transfer to mesoscopic systems using edge states as a quantum channel, and show that it is feasible with reasonable experimental parameters. We discuss how this protocol may be used to transfer information encoded in number, charge, or spin states of quantum dots, so it may prove useful for transferring quantum information between parts of a solid-state quantum computer.