Optimum measurements for discrimination among symmetric quantum states and parameter estimation

An optimum quantum measurement that minimizes the average probability of error is considered for symmetric quantum states. The positive operator-valued measure (POM) which satisfies the necessary and sufficient condition for the minimization of the average probability of error is derived by using the quantum Bayes strategy. It is also shown that the mutual information obtained in the optimum quantum measurement becomes extremum. Furthermore, an optimum quantum measurement for parameter estimation is found for symmetric quantum states by applying the maximum-likelihood estimation. The optimum POM for the parameter estimation has the same structure as that for the quantum state discrimination.     

Cluster states prepared by using hot trapped ions

We propose a scheme for the preparation of one-dimensional and two-dimensional cluster states by using hot trapped ions. The scheme is based on the interaction between two ions and bichromatic radiation. The vibrational mode in our protocol is only virtually excited so that the system is insensitive to the thermal field. In addition, we only use two levels of ions as qubits and the successful probability may achieve 100%.     

Local and nonlocal measurements of the Riemann tensor

Quantum mechanically described test particles enable a local measurement of the Riemann tensor via the interaction with the elementary particle spin. The corresponding procedure is discussed in detail. It is compared with three nonlocal methods, which are based on the behavior of classical macroscopic test particles. A central question thereby is if the complete set of components of the Riemann tensor can be determined.     

Unambiguous discrimination of mixed quantum states

The problem of unambiguous discrimination between mixed quantum states is addressed by isolating the part of each mixed state which has no contribution to discrimination and by employing the strategy of set discrimination of pure states. A necessary and sufficient condition of unambiguous mixed state discrimination is presented. An upper bound of the efficiency is also derived.     

Bound states of spatial optical dark solitons in nonlocal media

It is shown that multiple dark solitons can form bound states in a series of balance distances in nonlocal bulk media. Dark solitons can either attract or repel each other depending on their separated distance. The stability of such bound states are studied numerically. There exist unstable degenerate bound states decaying in different ways and having different lifetimes.     

Concentrating partially entangled W-class states on nonlocal atoms using low-Q optical cavity and linear optical elements

Entanglement plays an important role in quantum information science, especially in quantum communications. Here we present an efficient entanglement concentration protocol (ECP) for nonlocal atom systems in the partially entangled W-class states, using the single-photon input-output process regarding low-Q cavity and linear optical elements. Compared with previously published ECPs for the concentration of non-maximally entangled atomic states, our protocol is much simpler and more efficient as it employs the Faraday rotation in cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) and the parameter-splitting method. The Faraday rotation requires the cavity with low-Q factor and weak coupling to the atom, which makes the requirement for entanglement concentration much less stringent than the previous methods, and achievable with current cavity QED techniques. The parameter-splitting method resorts to linear-optical elements only. This ECP has high efficiency and fidelity in realistic experiments, and some imperfections during the experiment can be avoided efficiently with currently available techniques.     

Twist-teleportation-based local discrimination of maximally entangled states

In this work, we study the local distinguishability of maximally entangled states(MESs). In particular, we are concerned with whether any fixed number of MESs can be locally distinguishable for sufficiently large dimensions. Fan and Tian et al. have already obtained two satisfactory results for the generalized Bell states(GBSs) and the qudit lattice states when applied to prime or prime power dimensions. We construct a general twist-teleportation scheme for any orthonormal basis with MESs that is inspired by the method used in [Phys. Rev. A 70, 022304(2004)]. Using this teleportation scheme, we obtain a sufficient and necessary condition for one-way distinguishable sets of MESs, which include the GBSs and the qudit lattice states as special cases.Moreover, we present a generalized version of the results in [Phys. Rev. A 92, 042320(2015)] for the arbitrary dimensional case.     

Highly efficient inelastic four-wave mixing using dual induced transparency and coherently prepared states

We investigate a life time broadened and coherently prepared five-state system for multi-wave mixing processes. We show that very efficient wave mixing occurs, producing an unconventional mixing wave that has the characteristics of both conventional four-wave mixing (FWM) and stimulated hyper-Raman (SHR) emission. In addition, we show interesting multiple simultaneous multi-photon interference effects at large propagation distances and demonstrate more than 10 orders of magnitude suppression of populations of the probe wave terminal state and the near three-photon resonance mixing wave generating state. These new type of multi-photon interference based induced transparency effects, which are critically dependent on two distinctive relaxation processes involving both an external supplied and an internally generated fields, are fundamentally different from the conventional three-state electromagnetically induced transparency effect which does not depend on propagation. As a consequence, both the probe and the wave-mixing field to propagate nearly free of absorption and distortions in a highly dispersive medium.     

巧用声光控开关演示光敏电阻特性

利用声光控延时开关设计了演示光敏电阻特性并测量光敏电阻阻值的实验,增强了学生对光敏电阻的认识.     

Restoration of quantum states after measurements

 We discuss possibilities of protecting quantum states against disturbances introduced by quantum measurements. We specify conditions under which it is possible to restore an unknown state of a combined quantum system after measurements which were performed on some (but not on all) of its components. Received: 3 April 1996/Revised version: 5 July 1996     

Observing Majorana bound states in p-wave superconductors using noise measurements in tunneling experiments

The zero-energy bound states at the edges or vortex cores of chiral p-wave superconductors should behave like Majorana fermions. We introduce a model Hamiltonian that describes the tunneling process when electrons are injected into such states. Using a nonequilibrium Green function formalism, we find exact analytic expressions for the tunneling current and noise and identify experimental signatures of the Majorana nature of the bound states to be found in the shot noise. We discuss the results in the context of different candidate materials that support triplet superconductivity. Experimental verification of the Majorana character of midgap states would have important implications for the prospects of topological quantum computation.     

Near-deterministic discrimination of all Bell states with linear optics

For a reliable implementation of quantum teleportation, a near-deterministic (close to 100%) discrimination of all four Bell states of entangled qubits is required. One can carry it out with linear optical elements only if conditional dynamics are allowed. Here we present a setup in which we repeatedly disentangle and reentangle photons in three of four states, so as to separate photons in one of them, conditioned on keeping the other two at bay. The efficiency of a realistic implementation of our setup with current technology is over 90% for an ideal source of photons on demand.     

Nondestructive discrimination of Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger-basis states via two-qubit parity detection

We propose new methods to construct universal Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ)-state analyzers without destroying the qubits by using two-qubit parity gates. The idea can be applied to any physical systems where the two-qubit parity gate can be realized. We also investigate the feasibility of nondestructively distinguishing the GHZ-basis states for photonic qubits with such an idea. The nondestructive GHZ-state analyzers can act as generators of GHZ entangled states and are expected to find useful applications for resource-saving quantum information processing.     

Equiprobable unambiguous discrimination of quantum states by symmetric orthogonalisation

We show that the maximal probability of equiprobable unambiguous discrimination of a set of pure quantum states is given by the minimal eigenvalue of the Gram matrix of this set. We illustrate this result with several examples important for the protocols of quantum key distribution realized with weak coherent states of light.     

Lifetime measurements of some excited DyI states

The method of single-photon-counting, using the multichannel analyser and the time-amplitude-converter, was applied to lifetime measurements of some atomic levels of neutral Dysprosium. The different energy levels were populated by nitrogen-lasers pumped dye-lasers employing excitation by either one or two photons. Because of the lack of experimental data concerning lifetime measurements, the present results were compared with theA-values theoretically calculated by Cowan, particularly for the levels arising from the excited state configuration 4f ¹⁰6s 6p. The spectroscopic properties of this configuration allow such a comparison of data to be made.     

Lifetime measurements of metastable states in CRYRING

Collinear ion beam laser spectroscopy has been utilized in the ion storage ring CRYRING in order to measure lifetimes of metastable states in singly charged ions. The laser light has been used for selective probing of the population decay of individual fine structure or hyperfine structure states. With the use of a mechanical shutter, time resolved studies could be performed with millisecond resolution. In another experiment, the cw laser light was used to optically pump stored ions from the ground state into a specific metastable state. With most of the stored ions in the metastable state, direct observation of the decay of the forbidden transition from the metastable state to the ground state could be observed passively. Measurements of metastable lifetimes in Ca⁺, Sr⁺, Xe⁺ and Eu⁺ will be discussed. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Some surprises of quantum measurements and states

The problem of physical reality and measurability of observables is discussed on the example of phenomena revealed by the author. The essence of the phenomena is as follows. After measurement of the coordinate, the variance of the momentum can be smaller than the initial one and depends on the result of the coordinate measurement even if the coordinate and the momentum are uncorrelated. This refers to any pair of conjugate observables, in particular, to the number of quanta and the phase. In a state with a minimum product of uncertainties of the coordinate and the momentum, the mean value of the observable ${{\left\{ {\hat x^2 ,\hat p^2 } \right\}} \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{\left\{ {\hat x^2 ,\hat p^2 } \right\}} 2}} \right. \kern-0em} 2}The problem of physical reality and measurability of observables is discussed on the example of phenomena revealed by the author. The essence of the phenomena is as follows. After measurement of the coordinate, the variance of the momentum can be smaller than the initial one and depends on the result of the coordinate measurement even if the coordinate and the momentum are uncorrelated. This refers to any pair of conjugate observables, in particular, to the number of quanta and the phase. In a state with a minimum product of uncertainties of the coordinate and the momentum, the mean value of the observable , which corresponds to the classical product of the squares of the coordinate and the momentum, is negative. __________ Translated from Optika i Spektroskopiya, Vol. 96, No. 5, 2004, pp. 747–750. Original Russian Text Copyright ? 2004 by Vorontsov.     

Linear optical implementation of optimal unambiguous discrimination among quantum states

In this paper, we present a linear optical scheme for optimal unambiguous discrimination among nonorthogonal quantum states in terms of the multiple-rail and polarization representation of a single photon. In our scheme, discriminated quantum states are expressed by using the spatial degree of freedom of a single photon while the polarization degree of freedom of the single photon is used to act as an auxiliary qubit. The optical components used in our scheme are only passive linear optical elements such as polarizing beam splitters, wave plates, polarizers, single photon detectors, and single photon source.