In this paper we study the state determination for composite systems of two spatial qubits. We show, theoretically, that one can use the technique of quantum tomography to reconstruct the density matrixes of these systems. This tomographic reconstruction is based on the free evolution of the spatial qubits and a postelection process.
Pure entangled states of two spatial qudits have been produced by using the momentum transverse correlation of the parametric down-converted photons [Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{94} 100501]. Here we show a generalization of this process to enable the creation of mixed states of spatial qudits and by using the technique proposed we generate mixed states of spatial qubits. We also report how the process of quantum tomography is experimentally implemented to characterize these states. This tomographic reconstruction is based on the free evolution of spatial qubits, coincidence detection and a filter…
In a recent letter [Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 100501 (2005)], we presented a scheme for generating pure entangled states of spatial qudits ($D$-dimensional quantum systems) by using the momentum transverse correlation of the parametric down-converted photons. In this work we discuss a generalization of this process to enable the creation of mixed states. With the technique proposed we experimentally generated a mixture of two spatial qubits.
We analyze the operation of quantum gates for neutral atoms with qubits that are delocalized in space, i.e., the computational basis states are defined by the presence of a neutral atom in the ground state of one out of two trapping potentials. The implementation of single qubit gates as well as a controlled phase gate between two qubits is discussed and explicit calculations are presented for rubidium atoms in optical microtraps. Furthermore, we show how multi-qubit highly entangled states can be created in this scheme.
State tomography on qubit pairs is routinely carried out by measuring the two qubits separately, while one expects a higher efficiency from tomography with highly symmetric joint measurements of both qubits. Our numerical study of simulated experiments does not support such expectations.
Generally, the measurement process consists in coupling a system to a detector that can give a continuous output. However, it may be interesting to use as a detector a system with a discrete spectrum, especially in view of applications to quantum information. Here, we study 1) a two-level system measuring another two-level system (qubit); 2) a generic system measuring a qubit; 3) a qubit measuring a generic system. The results include the case when a postselection on the measured system is made. We provide the exact solution, and also a controlled expansion in the coupling parameter, giving fo…
Acquiring information about an unknown qubit in a superposition of two states is essential in any computation process. Quantum measurement, or sharp measurement, is usually used to read the information contents of that unknown qubit system. Quantum measurement is an irreversible operation that makes the superposition collapses to one of the two possible states in a probabilistic way. In this paper, a quantum algorithm will be proposed to read the information in an unknown qubit without applying sharp measurement on that qubit. The proposed algorithm will use a quantum feedback control scheme b…
We consider the direct three-qubit parity measurement scheme with two measurement resonators, using circuit quantum electrodynamics to analyze its functioning for several different types of superconducting qubits. We find that for the most common, transmon-like qubit, the presence of additional qubit-state dependent coupling terms of the two resonators hinders the possibility of performing the direct parity measurement. We show how this problem can be solved by employing the Tunable Coupling Qubit (TCQ) in a particular designed configuration. In this case, we effectively engineer the original …
We study how single-qubit dispersive readout works alongside two qubit coupling. To make calculations analytically tractable, we use a simplified model which retains core characteristics of but is discretised compared to dispersive homodyne detection. We show how measurement speed and power determine what information about the qubit(s) is accessed. Specifically we find the basis the measurement is closest to projecting onto. Compared to the basis gates are applied in, this measurement basis is modified by the presence of photons in the readout resonator.
We prove that universal quantum computation is possible using only (i) the physically natural measurement on two qubits which distinguishes the singlet from the triplet subspace, and (ii) qubits prepared in almost any three different (potentially highly mixed) states. In some sense this measurement is a `more universal' dynamical element than a universal 2-qubit unitary gate, since the latter must be supplemented by measurement. Because of the rotational invariance of the measurement used, our scheme is robust to collective decoherence in a manner very different to previous proposals - in effe…
We present a finite set of projective measurements that, together with quantum memory and preparation of the |0> state, suffice for universal quantum computation. This extends work of Nielsen [quant-ph/0108020], who proposed a scheme in which an arbitrary unitary operation on n qubits can be simulated using only projective measurements on at most 2n qubits. All measurements in our set involve two qubits, except two measurements which involve three qubits. Thus we improve by one the upper bound, implied by Nielsen's results, on the maximum number of qubits needed to participate in any single me…
It is shown that a generalization of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem places an upper bound on the figure of merit for any quantum gate designed to entangle spatially-separated qubits. The bound depends solely on the spectral properties of the environment. The bound applies even to systems performing a quantum computation within a decoherence-free subspace, but might be optimized by the use of non-equilibrium squeezed states of the environment, or by using an environment system constructed to have response confined to certain frequencies.
We theoretically study the measurement-induced dephasing caused by back action noise in quantum nondemolition measurements of a superconducting flux qubit which is coupled to a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). Our analytical results indicate that information on qubit flows from qubit to detector, while quantum fluctuations which may cause dephasing of the qubit also inject to qubit. Furthermore, the measurement probability is frequency dependent in a short time scale and has a close relationship with the measurement-induced dephasing. When the detuning between driven and ba…
We introduce a two-qubit engine that is powered by entangling operations and projective local quantum measurements. Energy is extracted from the detuned qubits coherently exchanging a single excitation. This engine, which uses the information and back-action of the measurement, is generalized to an N-qubit chain. We show that by gradually increasing the energy splitting along the chain, the initial low energy of the first qubit can be up-converted deterministically to an arbitrarily high energy at the last qubit by successive neighbor swap operations and local measurements. Modeling the local …
In modern circuit QED architectures, superconducting transmon qubits are measured via the state-dependent phase and amplitude shift of a microwave field leaking from a coupled resonator. Determining this shift requires integrating the field quadratures for a nonzero duration, which can permit unwanted concurrent evolution. Here we investigate such dynamical degradation of the measurement fidelity caused by a detuned neighboring qubit. We find that in realistic parameter regimes, where the qubit ensemble-dephasing rate is slower than the qubit-qubit detuning, the joint qubit-qubit eigenstates a…
Understanding and suppressing sources of decoherence is a leading challenge in building practical quantum computers. In superconducting qubits, low frequency charge noise is a well-known decoherence mechanism that is effectively suppressed in the transmon qubit. Devices with multiple charge-sensitive modes can exhibit more complex behaviours, which can be exploited to study charge fluctuations in superconducting qubits. Here we characterise charge-sensitivity in a superconducting qubit with two transmon-like modes, each of which is sensitive to multiple charge-parity configurations and charge-…
We present the novel embodiment of a photonic qubit that makes use of one continuous spatial degree of freedom of a single photon and relies on the the parity of the photon's transverse spatial distribution. Using optical spontaneous parametric downconversion to produce photon pairs, we demonstrate the controlled generation of entangled-photon states in this new space. Specifically, two Bell states, and a continuum of their superpositions, are generated by simple manipulation of a classical parameter, the optical-pump spatial parity, and not by manipulation of the entangled photons themselves.…
We propose a measurement strategy which can, probabilistically, reproduce the statistics of any observable for spatially encoded photonic qubits. It comprises the implementation of a two-outcome positive operator-valued measure followed by a detection in a fixed transverse position, making the displacement of the detection system unnecessary, unlike previous methods. This strategy generalizes a scheme recently demonstrated by one of us and co-workers restricted to measurement of observables with equatorial eigenvectors only. The method presented here can be implemented with the current technol…
We study the protective measurement of a qubit by a second qubit acting as a probe. Consideration of this model is motivated by the possibility of its experimental implementation in multiqubit systems such as trapped ions. In our scheme, information about the expectation value of an arbitrary observable of the system qubit is encoded in the rotation of the state of the probe qubit. We describe the structure of the Hamiltonian that gives rise to this measurement and analyze the resulting dynamics under a variety of realistic conditions, such as noninfinitesimal measurement strengths, repeated m…
The accessible information of general signal states is obtained by performing a generalized measurement. In the case that the signal alphabet consists of two states of a qubit system, it is proved that a von Neumann (orthogonal) measurement is sufficient to reach the accessible information.
Quantum measurement is universal for quantum computation. The model of quantum computation introduced by Nielsen and further developed by Leung relies on a generalized form of teleportation. In order to simulate any n-qubit unitary transformation with this model, 4 auxiliary qubits are required. Moreover Leung exhibited a universal family of observables composed of 4 two-qubit measurements. We introduce a model of quantum computation via measurements only, relying on state transfer: state transfer only retains the part of teleportation which is necessary for computating. In order to simulate a…
A qubit chosen from equatorial or polar great circles on a Bloch sphere can be remotely prepared with an Einstain-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) state shared and a cbit communication. We generalize this protocal into an arbitrary longitudinal qubit on the Bloch sphere in which the azimuthal angle phi can be an arbitrary value instead of only being zero. The generalized scheme was experimentally realized using liquid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques. Also, we have experimentally demonstrated remote state measurement (RSM) on an arbitary qubit proposed by Pati.
If we distribute n qubits between two parties, which quantum pure states and distributions of qubits would allow all-versus-nothing (or Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger-like) proofs of Bell's theorem using only single-qubit measurements? We show a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of these proofs for any number of qubits, and provide all distinct proofs up to n=7 qubits. Remarkably, there is only one distribution of a state of n=4 qubits, and six distributions, each for a different state of n=6 qubits, which allow these proofs.
Progress in superconducting qubit experiments with greater numbers of qubits or advanced techniques such as feedback requires faster and more accurate state measurement. We have designed a multiplexed measurement system with a bandpass filter that allows fast measurement without increasing environmental damping of the qubits. We use this to demonstrate simultaneous measurement of four qubits on a single superconducting integrated circuit, the fastest of which can be measured to 99.8% accuracy in 140ns. This accuracy and speed is suitable for advanced multi-qubit experiments including surface c…
Nielsen [quant-ph/0108020] showed that universal quantum computation is possible given quantum memory and the ability to perform projective measurements on up to 4-qubits. We describe an improved method that requires only 2-qubit measurements, which are both sufficient and necessary. We present a method to partially collapse the $C_k$-hierarchy in the indirect construction of unitary gates [Gottesman and Chuang, Nature, {\bf 402} 309 (1999)], and apply the method to find discrete universal sets of 2-qubit measurements.
Quantum mechanics postulates that measuring the qubit's wave function results in its collapse, with the recorded discrete outcome designating the particular eigenstate that the qubit collapsed into. We show that this picture breaks down when the qubit is strongly driven during measurement. More specifically, for a fast evolving qubit the measurement returns the time-averaged expectation value of the measurement operator, erasing information about the initial state of the qubit, while completely suppressing the measurement back-action. We call this regime `quantum rifling', as the fast spinning…
In this work we first derive a generalized conditional master equation for quantum measurement by a mesoscopic detector, then study the readout characteristics of qubit measurement where a number of new features are found. The work would in particular highlight the qubit spontaneous relaxation effect induced by the measurement itself rather than an external thermal bath.
We analyze quantum state estimation for finite samples based on symmetry information. The used measurement concept compares an unknown qubit to a reference state. We describe explicitly an adaptive strategy, that enhances the estimation fidelity of these measurements.
Separability and entanglement for n-qubits systems are quantified by using Hilbert-Schmidt (HS) decompositions in which the density matrices are decomposed into various terms representing certain one qubit, two-qubits,and larger qubits measurements. The present method is more general than previous methods for bipartite systems as it can be used for quantification of entanglement for large n-qubits systems.We demonstrate the use of such method by analyzing three qubits GHZ states, and three qubits general Bell states produced by a certain multiplications of Braid operators, operating on the com…
We discuss the characterization and properties of quantum non-demolition (QND) measurements on qubit systems. We introduce figures of merit which can be applied to systems of any Hilbert space dimension thus providing universal criteria for characterizing QND measurements. We discuss the controlled-NOT gate and an optical implementation as examples of QND devices for qubits. We also discuss the QND measurement of weak values.
Each platonic solid defines a single-qubit positive operator valued measure (POVM) by interpreting its vertices as points on the Bloch sphere. We construct simple circuits for implementing this kind of measurements and other simple types of symmetric POVMs on one qubit. Each implementation consists of a discrete Fourier transform and some elementary quantum operations followed by an orthogonal measurement in the computational basis.
An adiabatic method for a single-shot non-demolition measurement of the phase qubit is suggested. The qubit is inductively coupled to a low-frequency resonator, which in turn is connected with a classical measurement device (phase meter). The resonator drives adiabatic oscillations of the supercurrent in the qubit loop. The back reaction of the qubit loop on the resonator depends on the qubit state. Measuring the phase shift of the resonator's oscillations one can determine the state of the qubit. Numerical computations with available experimental parameters show that the phase difference betw…
We present an experimental study of the non-classical correlations of a pair of spatial qubits formed by passing two down-converted photons through a pair of double slits. After confirming the entanglement generated in our setup by quantum tomography using separate measurements of the slit images and the interference patterns, we show that the complete Hilbert space of the spatial qubits can be accessed by measurements performed in a single plane between the image plane and the focal plane of a lens. Specifically, it is possible to obtain both the which-path and the interference information ne…
We show that an electrostatic qubit located near a Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in a symmetric double-well potential can be used to measure the duration the qubit has spent in one of its quantum states. The stronq, medium and weak measurement regimes are analysed and a new type of Zeno effect is discussed. The analogy between the residence and the traversal (tunnelling) times is highlighted.
Fast and accurate measurement is a highly desirable, if not vital, feature of quantum computing architectures. In this work we investigate the usefulness of adaptive measurements in improving the speed and accuracy of qubit measurement. We examine a particular class of quantum computing architectures, ones based on qubits coupled to well controlled harmonic oscillator modes (reminiscent of cavity-QED), where adaptive schemes for measurement are particularly appropriate. In such architectures, qubit measurement is equivalent to phase discrimination for a mode of the electromagnetic field, and w…
We present an approach based on a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian to describe the process of measurement by tunneling of a phase qubit state. We derive simple analytical expressions which describe the dynamics of measurement, and compare our results with those experimentally available.
We consider the problem of discriminating qubit states that are sent over a quantum channel and derive a necessary and sufficient condition for an optimal measurement to be preserved by the channel. We apply the result to the characterization of optimal measurement preserving (OMP) channels for a given qubit ensemble, e.g., a set of two states or a set of multiple qubit states with equal a priori probabilities. Conversely, we also characterize qubit ensembles for which a given channel is OMP, such as unitary and depolarization channels. Finally, we show how the sets of OMP channels for a given…
Parity measurement is a key step in many entanglement generation and quantum error correction schemes. We propose a protocol for non-destructive parity measurement of two remote qubits, i.e., macroscopically separated qubits with no direct interaction. The qubits are instead dispersively coupled to separate resonators that radiate to shared photodetectors. The scheme is deterministic in the sense that there is no fundamental bound on the success probability. Compared to previous proposals, our protocol addresses the scenario where number resolving photodetectors are available but the qubit-res…
An entanglement-generating protocol is described for two qubits coupled to a cavity field in the bad-cavity limit. By measuring the amplitude of a field transmitted through the cavity, an entangled spin-singlet state can be established probabilistically. Both fundamental limitations and practical measurement schemes are discussed, and the influence of dissipative processes and inhomogeneities in the qubits are analyzed. The measurement-based protocol provides criteria for selecting states with an infidelity scaling linearly with the qubit-decoherence rate.
We introduce a protocol capable of generating a general measurement operator for a mechanical resonator. The technique requires a qubit-resonator interaction and uses a coherent pulse to drive qubit transitions. This is followed by projective measurement of the qubit's energy, constraining the resonator in a state that depends on the pulse shape. The freedom to choose a pulse shape for the coherent drive enables an arbitrary position-basis measurement operator. Using this measurement operator, we outline a two pulse protocol that probabilistically generates a pure mechanical state with a desir…
Using two trapped ion species ($\rm{^{27}Al^+}$ and $\rm{^9Be^+}$) as primary and ancillary systems, we implement qubit measurements based on the repetitive transfer of information and quantum nondemolition detection. The repetition provides a natural mechanism for an adaptive measurement strategy, which leads to exponentially lower error rates compared to using a fixed number of detection cycles. For a single qubit we demonstrate 99.94 % measurement fidelity. We also demonstrate a technique for adaptively measuring multiple qubit states using a single ancilla, and apply the technique to spect…
When estimating an unknown single pure qubit state, the optimum fidelity is 2/3. As it is well known, the value 2/3 can be achieved in one step, by a single ideal measurement of the polarization along a random direction. I analyze the opposite strategy which is the long sequence of unsharp polarization measurements. The evolution of the qubit under the influence of repeated measurements is quite complicated in the general case. Fortunately, in a certain limit of very unsharp measurements the qubit will obey simple stochastic evolution equations known for long under the name of time-continuous …
A bipartite Bell inequality is derived which is maximally violated on the two-qubit state space if measurements describable by positive operator valued measure (POVM) elements are allowed rather than restricting the possible measurements to projective ones. In particular, the presented Bell inequality requires POVMs in order to be maximally violated by a maximally entangled two-qubit state. This answers a question raised by N. Gisin.
We demonstrate a quantum error correction scheme that protects against accidental measurement, using an encoding where the logical state of a single qubit is encoded into two physical qubits using a non-deterministic photonic CNOT gate. For the single qubit input states |0>, |1>, |0>+|1>, |0>-|1>, |0>+i|1>, and |0>-i|1> our encoder produces the appropriate 2-qubit encoded state with an average fidelity of 0.88(3) and the single qubit decoded states have an average fidelity of 0.93(5) with the original state. We are able to decode the 2-qubit state (up to a bit flip) by performing a measurement…
We propose an improved bound for the difference between phase and bit error rate in measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution with uncharacterized qubits. We show by simulations that the bound considerably increases the final key rates.
We derive a family of stochastic master equations describing homodyne measurement of multi-qubit diagonal observables in circuit quantum electrodynamics. In the regime where qubit decay can be neglected, our approach replaces the polaron-like transformation of previous work, which required a lengthy calculation for the physically interesting case of three qubits and two resonator modes. The technique introduced here makes this calculation straightforward and manifestly correct. Using this technique, we are able to show that registers larger than one qubit evolve under a non-Markovian master eq…
Non-locality sharing for a three-qubit system via multilateral sequential measurements was deeply discussed. Different from 2-qubit case, it is shown that non-locality sharing between $\mathrm{Alice_{1}-Bob_{1}-Charlie_{1}}$ and $\mathrm{Alice_{2}-Bob_{2}-Charlie_{2}}$ in 3-qubit system can be observed, where two Mermin-Ardehali-Belinskii-Klyshko (MABK) inequalities can be violated simultaneously. What's more, a complete non-locality sharing with 8 MABK inequalities violations simultaneously can be also observed. Compared with 2-qubit case, the nonlocal sharing in a three qubit system shows mo…
The effects of the measurement apparatus on quantum coherence are studied by considering a purely dephasing model of a qubit. The initial state is prepared from a thermal state of the whole system by performing a nonselective measurement on the qubit. The magnitude of the initial postmeasurement coherence is bounded by the value $1/2$, which is realized with special measurement schemes and in the low-temperature limit. The magnitude of coherence identically vanishes, increases or decreases with approximately constant velocity over a determined short time scale, according to the choice of the p…
We consider the optimal discrimination of nonorthogonal qubit states with post-measurement information and provide an analytic structure of the optimal measurements. We also show that there is always a null optimal measurement when post-measurement information is given. Further, in discriminating four states using post-measurement information, we analytically provide the optimal probability of correct guessing and show that the uniqueness of optimal measurement is equivalent to the non-existence of non-null optimal measurement with post-measurement information.