Introduction to Physics in Modern Medicine, 2nd edn., by Suzanne Amador Kane

The inexorable miniaturisation of technologies, the relentless drive to improve efficiency and the enticing prospect of boosting performance through quantum effects are all compelling reasons to investigate microscopic machines. Thermal absorption machines are a particularly interesting class of device that operate autonomously and use only heat flows to perform a useful task. In the quantum regime, this provides a natural setting in which to quantify the thermodynamic cost of various operations such as cooling, timekeeping or entanglement generation. This article presents a pedagogical introduction to the physics of quantum absorption machines, covering refrigerators, engines and clocks in detail.     

Quantum computation with two-dimensional graphene quantum dots

We study an array of graphene nano sheets that form a two-dimensional S=1/2 Kagome spin lattice used for quantum computation. The edge states of the graphene nano sheets are used to form quantum dots to confine electrons and perform the computation. We propose two schemes of bang-bang control to combat decoherence and realize gate operations on this array of quantum dots. It is shown that both schemes contain a great amount of information for quantum computation. The corresponding gate operations are also proposed.     

Characterization of Sequential Quantum Machines

We further investigate some properties of sequential quantum machines (SQMs) and introduce so-called quantum sequential machines (QSMs). In particular, the equivalence between SQMs and QSMs is also presented. We give a counterexample to answer an open problem proposed by S. Gudder recently.     

Quantum cloning machines and their implementation in physical systems

We review the basic theory of approximate quantum cloning for discrete variables and some schemes for implementing quantum cloning machines. Several types of approximate quantum clones and their expansive quantum clones are intro- duced. As for the implementation of quantum cloning machines, we review some design methods and recent experimental results.     

基于金刚石氮-空位色心自旋系综与超导量子电路混合系统的量子节点纠缠

量子纠缠是实现量子计算和量子通信的核心基础,本文提出了在金刚石氮-空位色心(NV centers)自旋系综与超导量子电路耦合的混合系统中实现两个分离量子节点之间纠缠的理论方案.在该混合系统中,把金刚石NV centers自旋系综和与之耦合的超导共面谐振器视为一个量子节点,两个量子节点之间通过一个空的超导共面谐振器连接.具有较长相干时间的NV centers自旋系综作为一个量子存储器,用于制备、存储和发送量子信息;易于外部操控的超导量子电路可执行量子逻辑门操作,快速调控量子信息.为了实现两个分离量子节点之间的纠缠,首先对系统的哈密顿量进行正则变换,将其等价为两个NV centers自旋系综与同一个超导共面谐振器之间的JC耦合;然后采用NV centers自旋-光子混合比特编码的方式,通过调节超导共面谐振器的谐振频率,精确控制体系演化时间,高保真度地实现了两个分离量子节点之间的量子纠缠.本方案还可以进一步扩展和集成,用于构建多节点纠缠的分布式量子网络.     

Quantum metrology with coherent superposition of two different coded channels

We investigate the advantage of coherent superposition of two different coded channels in quantum metrology. In a continuous variable system, we show that the Heisenberg limit 1/N can be beaten by the coherent superposition without the help of indefinite causal order. And in parameter estimation, we demonstrate that the strategy with the coherent superposition can perform better than the strategy with quantum SWITCH which can generate indefinite causal order. We analytically obtain the general form of estimation precision in terms of the quantum Fisher information and further prove that the nonlinear Hamiltonian can improve the estimation precision and make the measurement uncertainty scale as 1/Nm for m ≥ 2. Our results can help to construct a high-precision measurement equipment, which can be applied to the detection of coupling strength and the test of time dilation and the modification of the canonical commutation relation.     

Reconstructing unknown quantum states using variational layerwise method

In order to gain comprehensive knowledge of an arbitrary unknown quantum state, one feasible way is to reconstruct it, which can be realized by finding a series of quantum operations that can refactor the unitary evolution producing the unknown state. We design an adaptive framework that can reconstruct unknown quantum states at high fidelities, which utilizes SWAP test, parameterized quantum circuits (PQCs) and layerwise learning strategy. We conduct benchmarking on the framework using numerical simulations and reproduce states of up to six qubits at more than 96% overlaps with original states on average using PQCs trained by our framework, revealing its high applicability to quantum systems of different scales theoretically. Moreover, we perform experiments on a five-qubit IBM Quantum hardware to reconstruct random unknown single qubit states, illustrating the practical performance of our framework. For a certain reconstructing fidelity, our method can effectively construct a PQC of suitable length, avoiding barren plateaus of shadow circuits and overuse of quantum resources by deep circuits, which is of much significance when the scale of the target state is large and there is no a priori information on it. This advantage indicates that it can learn credible information of unknown states with limited quantum resources, giving a boost to quantum algorithms based on parameterized circuits on near-term quantum processors.     

Equivalent programmable quantum processors

Programmable quantum circuits, or processors, have the advantage over single-purpose quantum circuits that they can be used to perform more than one function. The inputs of a quantum processor consist of two quantum states, the first, the data register, is a state on which an operation is to be performed, and the second, the program, determines the operation to be performed on the data. In this paper we study how to determine whether two different quantum processors perform the same set of operations on the data. We define an equivalence between quantum processors that is quite natural in a circuit model of quantum information processing. Two processors are equivalent if one can be converted into the other by inserting fixed unitary gates at the input and the output of the program register. We then use this definition to find a necessary condition for two processors to be equivalent. We also study the beam splitter as an example of a quantum processor and find that this example suggests that as well as there being an equivalence relation on processors, there may also be a partial ordering.     

Fault tolerant quantum secure direct communication with quantum encryption against collective noise

We present two novel quantum secure direct communication(QSDC) protocols over different collective-noise channels.Different from the previous QSDC schemes over collective-noise channels,which are all source-encrypting protocols,our two protocols are based on channel-encryption.In both schemes,two authorized users first share a sequence of EPR pairs as their reusable quantum key.Then they use their quantum key to encrypt and decrypt the secret message carried by the decoherence-free states over the collective-noise channel.In theory,the intrinsic efficiencies of both protocols are high since there is no need to consume any entangled states including both the quantum key and the information carriers except the ones used for eavesdropping checks.For checking eavesdropping,the two parties only need to perform two-particle measurements on the decoy states during each round.Finally,we make a security analysis of our two protocols and demonstrate that they are secure.     

基于微弱相干脉冲稳定差分相位量子密钥分发

基于差分相位量子密钥分发协议，对微弱相干光脉冲相位差进行编码，在接收端采用Faraday-Michelson系统进行解码.这种量子密钥分发系统具有密钥生成效率高、接收端干涉稳定性好、极限传输距离长等优点，同时还具有光路结构简单、易于在现有的技术条件下实现等特点，特别适用于远程光纤量子密钥分发.在实验系统中利用嵌入式微处理系统来控制量子密钥分发过程，进行了76 km的稳定光纤量子密钥分发实验，其原始密钥的误码率为5.3%. 关键词： 分相位 量子密钥分发 安全性 稳定性     

多量子比特核磁共振体系的实验操控技术

随着量子信息与量子计算科学的发展,量子信息处理器被广泛地用于量子计算、量子模拟、量子度量等方面的研究.为了能在实验上实现这些日益复杂的方案,将量子计算机的潜能转化成现实,需要不断提高可操控的量子体系比特位数,实现更复杂的量子操控.核磁共振自旋体系作为一个优秀的量子实验测试平台,提供了丰富而又精密的量子操控手段.近几年来在此平台上进行了不少的多量子比特实验,发展并积累了一系列的多量子比特实验技术.本文首先阐述了核磁共振体系多量子比特实验中的实验困难,然后结合7量子比特标记赝纯态制备以及其他有关实验,对多比特实验过程中应用到的实验技术进行介绍.最后对核磁共振体系多量子比特实验技术方向的进一步研究进行了总结和展望.     

Dynamic Topology Reconfiguration of Boltzmann Machines on Quantum Annealers

Boltzmann machines have useful roles in deep learning applications, such as generative data modeling, initializing weights for other types of networks, or extracting efficient representations from high-dimensional data. Most Boltzmann machines use restricted topologies that exclude looping connectivity, as such connectivity creates complex distributions that are difficult to sample. We have used an open-system quantum annealer to sample from complex distributions and implement Boltzmann machines with looping connectivity. Further, we have created policies mapping Boltzmann machine variables to the quantum bits of an annealer. These policies, based on correlation and entropy metrics, dynamically reconfigure the topology of Boltzmann machines during training and improve performance.     

Scattering as a Quantum Metrology Problem: A Quantum Walk Approach

We address the scattering of a quantum particle by a one-dimensional barrier potential over a set of discrete positions. We formalize the problem as a continuous-time quantum walk on a lattice with an impurity and use the quantum Fisher information as a means to quantify the maximal possible accuracy in the estimation of the height of the barrier. We introduce suitable initial states of the walker and derive the reflection and transmission probabilities of the scattered state. We show that while the quantum Fisher information is affected by the width and central momentum of the initial wave packet, this dependency is weaker for the quantum signal-to-noise ratio. We also show that a dichotomic position measurement provides a nearly optimal detection scheme.     

Thermalizing quantum machines: dissipation and entanglement

We study the relaxation of a quantum system towards the thermal equilibrium using tools developed within the context of quantum information theory. We consider a model in which the system is a qubit, and reaches equilibrium after several successive two-qubit interactions (thermalizing machines) with qubits of a reservoir. We characterize completely the family of thermalizing machines. The model shows a tight link between dissipation, fluctuations, and the maximal entanglement that can be generated by the machines. The interplay of quantum and classical information processes that give rise to practical irreversibility is discussed.     

Universal quantum circuit evaluation on encrypted data using probabilistic quantum homomorphic encryption scheme

Homomorphic encryption has giant advantages in the protection of privacy information. In this paper, we present a new kind of probabilistic quantum homomorphic encryption scheme for the universal quantum circuit evaluation. Firstly,the pre-shared non-maximally entangled states are utilized as auxiliary resources, which lower the requirements of the quantum channel, to correct the errors in non-Clifford gate evaluation. By using the set synthesized by Clifford gates and T gates, it is feasible to perform the arbitrary quantum computation on the encrypted data. Secondly, our scheme is different from the previous scheme described by the quantum homomorphic encryption algorithm. From the perspective of application, a two-party probabilistic quantum homomorphic encryption scheme is proposed. It is clear what the computation and operation that the client and the server need to perform respectively, as well as the permission to access the data. Finally, the security of probabilistic quantum homomorphic encryption scheme is analyzed in detail. It demonstrates that the scheme has favorable security in three aspects, including privacy data, evaluated data and encryption and decryption keys.     

Distributed quantum information processing via quantum dot spins

We propose a scheme to engineer a non-local two-qubit phase gate between two remote quantum-dot spins. Along with one-qubit local operations, one can in principal perform various types of distributed quantum information processing. The scheme employs a photon with linearly polarisation interacting one after the other with two remote quantum-dot spins in cavities. Due to the optical spin selection rule, the photon obtains a Faraday rotation after the interaction process. By measuring the polarisation of the final output photon, a non-local two-qubit phase gate between the two remote quantum-dot spins is constituted. Our scheme may has very important applications in the distributed quantum information processing.     

Nonlocal quantum cloning via quantum dots trapped in distant cavities

A scheme for implementing nonlocal quantum cloning via quantum dots trapped in cavities is proposed.By modulating the parameters of the system,the optimal 1 → 2 universal quantum cloning machine,1 → 2 phase-covariant cloning machine,and 1 → 3 economical phase-covariant cloning machine are constructed.The present scheme,which is attainable with current technology,saves two qubits compared with previous cloning machines.     

Universal quantum gates between distant quantum dot spins

We propose a scheme to engineer a nonlocal two-qubit phase gate between two remote quantum-dot spins in cavities. As the effect of cavity decay is considered and strong coupling condition is not used, the scheme has good adaptability. Along with single qubit operations, one can perform in principle various types of distributed quantum information processing.     

Investigations into quantum correlation of coupled qubits in a squeezed vacuum reservoir

In this paper,we investigate the quantum correlation of coupled qubits which are initially in maximally entangled mixed states in a squeezed vacuum reservoir.We compare and analyze the effects of squeezed parameters on quantum discord and quantum concurrence.The results show that in a squeezed vacuum reservoir,the quantum discord and quantum concurrence perform with completely opposite behaviors with the change of squeezed parameters.Quantum discord survives longer with the increase of squeezed amplitude parameter,but entanglement death is faster on the contrary.The results also indicate that the classical correlation of the system is smaller than quantum discord in a vacuum reservoir,while it is bigger than quantum discord in a squeezed vacuum reservoir.The quantum discord and classical correlation are more robust than quantum concurrence in the two reservoir environments,which indicates that the entanglement actually is easily affected by decoherence and quantum discord has a stronger ability to avoid decoherence in a squeezed vacuum reservoir.     

Quantum Privacy Amplification for a Sequence of Single Qubits

We present a scheme for quantum privacy amplification (QPA) for a sequence of single qubits. The QPA procedure uses a unitary operation with two controlled-not gates and a Hadamard gate. Every two qubits are performed with the unitary gate operation, and a measurement is made on one photon and the other one is retained.The retained qubit carries the state information of the discarded one. In this way, the information leakage is reduced.The procedure can be performed repeatedly so that the information leakage is reduced to any arbitrarily low level. With this QPA scheme, the quantum secure direct communication with single qubits can be implemented with arbitrarily high security. We also exploit this scheme to do privacy amplification on the single qubits in quantum information sharing for long-distance communication with quantum repeaters.