In the Gaussian-modulated coherent state quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol, the sender first generates Gaussian distributed random numbers and then encodes them on weak laser pulses actively by performing amplitude and phase modulations. Recently, an equivalent passive QKD scheme was proposed by exploring the intrinsic field fluctuations of a thermal source [B. Qi, P. G. Evans, and W. P. Grice, Phys. Rev. A 97, 012317 (2018)]. This passive QKD scheme is especially appealing for chip-scale implementation since no active modulations are required. In this paper, we conduct an experimental study of the passively encoded QKD scheme using an off-the-shelf amplified spontaneous emission source operated in continuous-wave mode. Our results show that the excess noise introduced by the passive state preparation scheme can be effectively suppressed by applying optical attenuation and secure key could be generated over metro-area distances.
In the Gaussian-modulated coherent states (GMCS) quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol, Alice prepares quantum states \emph{actively}: for each transmission, Alice generates a pair of Gaussian-distributed random numbers, encodes them on a weak coherent pulse using optical amplitude and phase modulators, and then transmits the Gaussian-modulated weak coherent pulse to Bob. Here we propose a \emph{passive} state preparation scheme using a thermal source. In our scheme, Alice splits the output of a thermal source into two spatial modes using a beam splitter. She measures one mode locally using …
Communication games are collaborative information processing tasks involving a number of players with limited communication. Such games are useful tools for studying physical theories. A physical theory exhibits preparation contextuality whenever observed behaviour cannot be explained by a preparation noncontextual model. Here we show that there is a fundamental connection between the performance in communication games and the degree of preparation (non)contextuality. For this purpose, we present a general framework that allows us to construct communication games such that the game performance…
A communication game consists of distributed parties attempting to jointly complete a task with restricted communication. Such games are useful tools for studying limitations of physical theories. A theory exhibits preparation contextuality whenever its predictions cannot be explained by a preparation noncontextual model. Here, we show that communication games performed in operational theories reveal the preparation contextuality of that theory. For statistics obtained in a particular family of communication games, we show a direct correspondance with correlations in space-like separated event…
We consider the problem of remote state preparation recently studied in several papers. We study the communication complexity of this problem, in the presence of entanglement and in the scenario of single use of the channel.
Most experimental realizations of quantum key distribution are based on the Bennett-Brassard 1984 (so-called BB84) protocol. In a typical optical implementation of this scheme, the sender uses an active source to produce the required BB84 signal states. While active state preparation of BB84 signals is a simple and elegant solution in principle, in practice passive state preparation might be desirable in some scenarios, for instance, in those experimental setups operating at high transmission rates. Passive schemes might also be more robust against side-channel attacks than active sources. Typ…
The study of ontology (hidden variables) provides for a vital ground on which significant non-classical features of quantum theory are revealed. One such non-classical ontic-feature is preparation contextuality (PC) and advantage in oblivious communication tasks is one of its operational signatures. This article primarily pursues the ontic-feature underlying quantum advantage in communication complexity (CC). We construct oblivious communication tasks tailored to given CC problems. We upper-bound the classical success probability of these oblivious communication tasks, obtaining preparation no…
How to uses shared entanglement and forward classical communication to remotely prepare an arbitrary (mixed or pure) state has been fascinating quantum information scientists. A constructive scheme has been given by Berry for remotely preparing a general pure state with a pure entangled state and finite classical communication. Based on this scheme, for high-dimensional systems it is possible to use a coding of the target state to optimize the classical communication cost. Unfortunately, for low-dimensional systems such as a pure qubit the coding method is inapplicable. Because qubit plays a c…
We propose a deterministic remote state preparation (RSP) scheme for preparing an arbitrary (including pure and mixed) qubit, where a partially entangled state and finite classical communication are used. To our knowledge, our scheme is the first RSP scheme that fits into this category. One other RSP scheme proposed by Berry shares close features, but can only be used to prepare an arbitrary pure qubit. Even so, our scheme saves classical communication by approximate 1 bit per prepared qubit under equal conditions. When using a maximally entangled state, the classical communication for our sch…
A simple experimental setup consisting of a spontaneous parametric down-conversion source and passive linear optics is proposed for conditional preparation of a maximally entangled polarization state of two photons. Successful preparation is unambiguously heralded by coincident detection of four auxiliary photons. The proposed scheme utilizes the down-conversion term corresponding to the generation of three pairs of photons. We analyze imperfect detection of the auxiliary photons and demonstrate that its deleterious effect on the fidelity of the prepared state can be suppressed at the cost of …
Quite recently, enhancing security against device-attack vulnerability has been theoretically challenging but also practically important in quantum cryptographic communication. For dealing with this issue in a general and strict scenario, we design a seemingly-new kind of quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) in a linear-optical regime, which we call "preparation-attack-immune QSDC." We address that in our "naive" analysis, it is quite formidable to extract even a piece of information of the secret message, and any malicious eavesdropping attempts will be unsuccessful. The most remarkable…
We propose a method to prepare different non-Poissonian signal pulses from sources of Poissonian photon number distribution using only linear optical elements and threshold photon detectors. This method allows a simple passive preparation of decoy states for quantum key distribution. We show that the resulting key rates are comparable to the performance of active choices of intensities of Poissonian signals.
We consider remote state preparation protocols for a set of pure states whose projectors form a basis for operators acting on the input Hilbert space. If a protocol (1) uses only forward communication and entanglement, (2) deterministically prepares an exact copy of the state, and (3) does so obliviously -- without leaking further information about the state to the receiver -- then the protocol can be modified to require from the sender only a single specimen of the state. Furthermore, the original protocol and the modified protocol use the same amount of classical communication. Thus, under t…
The amount of information transferred during standard quantum teleportation or remote state preparation is equal to the preparation information of the transmitted state, rather than the classical communication required by respective protocol. This is shown by noting that the information required to specify the operation that verifies the transmitted state is identical to the preparation information, at the given level of precision m (in bits). Depending on the resolution of the projective Hilbert space, the preparation information can be made arbitrarily precise and hence indefinitely larger t…
It has been shown [M.-Y. Ye, Y.-S. Zhang, and G.-C. Guo, Phys. Rev. A 69, 022310 (2004)] that it is possible to perform exactly faithful remote state preparation using finite classical communication and any entangled state with maximal Schmidt number. Here we give an explicit procedure for performing this remote state preparation. We show that the classical communication required for this scheme is close to optimal for remote state preparation schemes of this type. In addition we prove that it is necessary that the resource state have maximal Schmidt number.
We describe protocols for passive atomic clocks based on quantum interrogation of the atoms. Unlike previous techniques, our protocols are adaptive and take advantage of prior information about the clock's state. To reduce deviations from an ideal clock, each interrogation is optimized by means of a semidefinite program for atomic state preparation and measurement whose objective function depends on the prior information. Our knowledge of the clock's state is maintained according to a Bayesian model that accounts for noise and measurement results. We implement a full simulation of a running cl…
In this work, we present active and passive linear optical setups for error correction in quantum communication systems that employ polarization of single-photon and mesoscopic coherent states. Applications in quantum communication systems are described.
We study the amount of classical communication needed for distributed quantum information processing. In particular, we introduce the concept of "remote preparation" of a quantum state. Given an ensemble of states, Alice's task is to help Bob in a distant laboratory to prepare a state of her choice. We find several examples of an ensemble with an entropy S where the remote preparation can be done with a communication cost lower than the amount (2S) required by standard teleportation. We conjecture that, for an arbitrary N-dimensional pure state, its remote preparation requires 2log_2 N bits of…
We extend exact deterministic remote state preparation (RSP) with minimal classical communication to quantum systems of continuous variables. We show that, in principle, it is possible to remotely prepare states of an ensemble that is parameterized by infinitely many real numbers, i.e., by a real function, while the classical communication cost is one real number only. We demonstrate continuous variable RSP in three examples using (i) quadrature measurement and phase space displacement operations, (ii) measurement of the optical phase and unitaries shifting the same, and (iii) photon counting …
A theory is universal contextual if its prediction cannot be reproduced by an ontological model satisfying both preparation and measurement noncontextuality assumptions. In this report, we first generalize the logical proofs of quantum preparation and measurement contextuality for qubit system for any odd number of preparations and measurements. Based on the logical proof, we derive testable universally non-contextual inequalities violated by quantum theory. We then propose a class of two-party communication games and show that the average success probability of winning such games is solely li…
We consider the problem of communicating quantum states by simultaneously making use of a noiseless classical channel, a noiseless quantum channel and shared entanglement. We specifically study the version of the problem in which the sender is given knowledge of the state to be communicated. In this setting, a trade-off arises between the three resources, some portions of which have been investigated previously in the contexts of the quantum-classical trade-off in data compression, remote state preparation and superdense coding of quantum states, each of which amounts to allowing just two out …
The decoy-state method is widely used in practical quantum key distribution systems to replace ideal single photon sources with realistic light sources by varying intensities. Instead of active modulation, the passive decoy-state method employs built-in decoy states in a parametric down-conversion photon source, which can decrease the side channel information leakage in decoy state preparation and hence increase the security. By employing low dark count up-conversion single photon detectors, we have experimentally demonstrated the passive decoy-state method over a 50-km-long optical fiber and …
Quantum teleportation uses prior entanglement and forward classical communication to transmit one instance of an unknown quantum state. Remote state preparation (RSP) has the same goal, but the sender knows classically what state is to be transmitted. We show that the asymptotic classical communication cost of RSP is one bit per qubit - half that of teleportation - and becomes even less when transmitting part of a known entangled state. We explore the tradeoff between entanglement and classical communication required for RSP, and discuss RSP capacities of general quantum channels.
Quantum secure communication brings a new direction for information security. As an important component of quantum secure communication, deterministic joint remote state preparation (DJRSP) could securely transmit a quantum state with 100\% success probability. In this paper, we study how the efficiency of DJRSP is affected when qubits involved in the protocol are subjected to noise or decoherence. Taking a GHZ based DJRSP scheme as an example, we study all types of noise usually encountered in real-world implementations of quantum communication protocols, i.e., the bit-flip, phase-flip (phase…
Signal state preparation in quantum key distribution schemes can be realized using either an active or a passive source. Passive sources might be valuable in some scenarios; for instance, in those experimental setups operating at high transmission rates, since no externally driven element is required. Typical passive transmitters involve parametric down-conversion. More recently, it has been shown that phase-randomized coherent pulses also allow passive generation of decoy states and Bennett-Brassard 1984 (BB84) polarization signals, though the combination of both setups in a single passive so…
Decoy state method could effectively enhance the performance of quantum key distribution (QKD) with practical phase randomized weak coherent source. Although active modulation of the source intensity is effective and has been implemented in many experiments, passive preparation of decoy states is also an important addition to the family of decoy state QKD protocols. In this paper, following the theory of Curty \emph{et al.} [PRA, 81, 022310 (2010)], we experimentally demonstrate the phase-encoding passive-decoy-state QKD with only linear optical setups and threshold single photon detectors. In…
We introduce a generalization of communication of partial ignorance where both parties of a prepare-and-measure setup receive inputs from a third party before a success metric is maximized over the measurements and preparations. Various methods are used to obtain bounds on the success metrics, including SDPs, ultraweak monotones for communication matrices and frame theory for quantum states. Simplest scenarios in the new generalized prepare-and-measure setting, simply called partial ignorance communication tasks, are analysed exhaustively for bits and qudits. Finally, the new generalized setti…
Simplified quantum key distribution implementation secure in the presence of state preparation flaws
Vigo Quantum Communication Center, University of Vigo（维戈量子通信中心，维戈大学）；Escuela de Ingeniería de Telecomunicación, Department of Signal Theory and Communications, University of Vigo（电信工程学院，信号理论与通信系，维戈大学）；AtlanTTic Research Center, University of Vigo（AtlanTTic研究中心，维戈大学）；Department of Applied Physics, University of Geneva（应用物理系，日内瓦大学）
We introduce a new multipartite communication scheme, with the aim to enable the senders to remotely and obliviously provide the receivers with an arbitrary amount of multipartite entanglement. The scheme is similar to Remote State Preparation (RSP). However, we show that even though the receivers are restricted to local unitary operations, the required resources for remote entanglement preparation are less than for RSP. In order to do so we introduce a novel canonical form of arbitrary multipartite pure states describing an arbitrary number of qubits. Moreover, we show that if the receivers a…
The optimal success probability of a communication game sets fundamental limitations on an operational theory. Quantum advantage of parity oblivious random access code (PORAC), a communication game, over classical resources reveals the preparation contextuality of quantum theory [Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 010401 (2009)]. Optimal quantum advantage in the N-dit PORAC game for finite dimensions is an open problem. Here, we show that the degree of uncertainty allowed in an operational theory determines the amount of preparation contextuality. We connect the upper bound of fine-grained uncertainty rela…
Quantum information theory has revolutionized the way in which information is processed using quantum resources such as entangled states, local operations and classical communications. Two important protocols in quantum communications are quantum teleportation and remote state preparation. In quantum teleportation neither the sender nor the receiver know the identity of a state. In remote state preparation the sender knows the state which is to be remotely prepared without ever physically sending the object or the complete classical description of it. Using one unit of entanglement and one cla…
The aim of this paper is to define in theoretical terms and summarise the available experimental evidence that physical and mental "objects", if considered "information units", may present similar classical and quantum models of communication beyond their specific characteristics. Starting with the Remote State Preparation protocol, a variant of the Teleportation protocol, for which formal models and experimental evidence are already available in quantum mechanics, we outline a formal model applied to mental information we defined Remote State Preparation of Mental Information (RSPMI), and we …
In quantum information and communication, optical schemes provide simple and intuitive experimental implementations. Of particular importance is quantum state preparation. In this thesis, the creation of polarisation entanglement using a particular class of optical circuits is studied. I give a mathematical description of this class of circuits in terms of Hermite polynomials. In this context, single photon resolution and single photon sensitivity detectors are discussed and compared with detector cascading. In addition, I study applications of state preparation such as quantum teleportation a…
Quantum secure communication provides a new way for protecting the security of information. As an important component of quantum secure communication, remote state preparation (RSP) can securely transmit a quantum state from a sender to a remote receiver. The existence of quantum noise severely affects the security and reliability of quantum communication system. In this paper, we study the method for improving the efficiency of joint RSP (JRSP) subjected to noise with the help of weak measurement and its reversal measurement. Taking a GHZ based deterministic JRSP as an example, we utilize the…
Storage and distribution of quantum information are key elements of quantum information processing and quantum communication. Here, using atom-photon entanglement as the main physical resource, we experimentally demonstrate the preparation of a distant atomic quantum memory. Applying a quantum teleportation protocol on a locally prepared state of a photonic qubit, we realized this so-called remote state preparation on a single, optically trapped 87Rb atom. We evaluated the performance of this scheme by the full tomography of the prepared atomic state, reaching an average fidelity of 82%.
We quantify and analyze the controller's power in controlled remote state preparation schemes. Our analysis provides a lower bound on the control power required for controlled remote preparation of arbitrary D-dimensional states. We evaluate several existing controlled remote state preparation protocols and show that some proposed non-maximally entangled channels are not suitable for perfect controlled remote preparation of arbitrary quantum states from the con- troller's point of view. We find that for remotely preparing D-dimensional states, the entropy of each controller should be no less t…
As one of the most prominent subfields of quantum communication research, remote state preparation (RSP) plays a crucial role in quantum networks. Here we present a deterministic remote state preparation scheme to prepare an arbitrary two-qubit state via a seven-qubit entangled channel created from Borras \emph{et al.} state. Quantum noises are inherent to each and every protocol for quantum communication that is currently in use, putting the integrity of quantum communication systems and their dependability at risk. The initial state of the system was a pure quantum state, but as soon as ther…
Remote state preparation is the variant of quantum state teleportation in which the sender knows the quantum state to be communicated. The original paper introducing teleportation established minimal requirements for classical communication and entanglement but the corresponding limits for remote state preparation have remained unknown until now: previous work has shown, however, that it not only requires less classical communication but also gives rise to a trade-off between these two resources in the appropriate setting. We discuss this problem from first principles, including the various ch…
Quantum teleportation uses prior shared entanglement and classical communication to send an unknown quantum state from one party to another. Remote state preparation (RSP) is a similar distributed task in which the sender knows the entire classical description of the state to be sent. (This may also be viewed as the task of non-oblivious compression of a single sample from an ensemble of quantum states.) We study the communication complexity of approximate remote state preparation, in which the goal is to prepare an approximation of the desired quantum state. Jain [Quant. Inf. & Comp., 2006] s…
Shannon in celebrated works had shown that n bits of shared key is necessary and sufficient to transmit n-bit classical information in an information-theoretically secure way. Ambainis, Mosca, Tapp and de Wolf in quant-ph/0003101 considered a more general setting, referred to as Private quantum channels, in which instead of classical information, quantum states are required to be transmitted and only one-way communication is allowed. They show that in this case 2n bits of shared key is necessary and sufficient to transmit an n-qubit state. We consider the most general setting in which we allow…
We propose a deterministic remote state preparation scheme for photon polarization qubit states, where entanglement, local operations and classical communication are used. By consuming one maximally entangled state and two classical bits, an arbitrary (either pure or mixed) qubit state can be prepared deterministically at a remote location. We experimentally demonstrate the scheme by remotely preparing 12 pure states and 6 mixed states. The fidelities between the desired and achieved states are all higher than 0.99 and have an average of 0.9947.
