Quantum Cloning Machines of a d-level System

Quantum Cloning of Mixed States in Symmetric Subspace

Quantum cloning machine for arbitrary mixed states in symmetric subspace is proposed. This quantum cloning machine can be used to copy part of the output state of another quantum cloning machine and is useful in quantum computation and quantum information. The shrinking factor of this quantum cloning achieves the well-known upper bound. When the input is identical pure states, two different fidelities of this cloning machine are optimal.

Teleportation using continuous variable quantum cloning machine

We show that an unknown quantum state in phase space can be teleported via three-mode entanglement generated by continuous variable quantum cloning machine (transformation). Further, proceeding with our teleportation protocol we are able to improve the fidelity of teleportation obtained by Loock et.al. [Phys.Rev.Lett. 84, 3482(2000)]. Also we study here the entanglement between the two output copies from cloning machine.

Distribution of quantum Fisher information in asymmetric cloning machines

An unknown quantum state cannot be copied on demand and broadcast freely due to the famous no-cloning theorem. Approximate cloning schemes have been proposed to achieve the optimal cloning characterized by the maximal fidelity between the original and its copies. Here, from the perspective of quantum Fisher information (QFI), we investigate the distribution of QFI in asymmetric cloning machines which produce two nonidentical copies. As one might expect, improving the QFI of one copy results in decreasing the QFI of the other copy, roughly the same as that of fidelity. It is perhaps also unsurp…

Optimal asymmetric cloning machine on a great circle using no-signalling condition

Assuming the condition of no superluminal signalling, we got an upper bound on the quality of all asymmetric $ 1\to 2$ cloning machines, acting on qubits whose Bloch vectors lie on a great circle. Then we constructed an $ 1\to 2$ cloning machine, which asymmetrically clone all qubits corresponding to this great circle, and this machine matches with that upper bound, and hence this is optimal one.

Elementary quantum cloning machines

The task of reception of a copy of an arbitrary quantum state with use of a minimum quantity of quantum operations is considered.

Teleportation scheme implementing the Universal Optimal Quantum Cloning Machine and the Universal NOT gate

The universal quantum cloning machine and the universal NOT gate acting on a single qubit can be implemented very generally by slightly modifying the protocol of quantum state teleportation. The experimental demonstration of the 1 to 2 cloning process according to the above scheme has been realized for a qubit encoded in photon polarization.

Optical Quantum Cloning - a Review

After a brief introduction to the quantum no-cloning theorem and its link with the linearity and causality of quantum mechanics, the concept of quantum cloning machines is sketched, following, whenever possible, the chronology of the main results. The important classes of quantum cloning machines are reviewed, in particular state-independent and state-dependent cloning machines. The 1-to-2 cloning problem is then studied from a formal point of view, using the isomorphism between completely positive maps and operators, which leads to the so-called double-Bell ansatz. This also yields an efficie…

Designing optimal quantum cloning machine for qubit system

Following the work of Niu and Griffiths, in \emph{Phys.Rev.A 58, 4377(1998)}, we shall investigate the problem, how to design the optimal quantum cloning machines (QCMs) for qubit system, with the help of Bloch-sphere representation. In stead of the quality factor there, the Fiuráusek's optimal condition, where the optimal cloning machine should maximize a convex mixture of the average fidelity, is used as the optimality criterion in present protocol. Almost all of the known optimal QCMs in previous works, the cloning for states with fixed polar angle, the phase-covariant cloning, the universa…

Multiple phase estimation in quantum cloning machines

Since the initial discovery of the Wootters-Zurek no-cloning theorem, a wide variety of quantum cloning machines have been proposed aiming at imperfect but optimal cloning of quantum states within its own context. Remarkably, most previous studies have employed the Bures fidelity or the Hilbert-Schmidt norm as the figure of merit to characterize the quality of the corresponding cloning scenarios. However, in many situations, what we truly care about is the relevant information about certain parameters encoded in quantum states. In this work, we investigate the multiple phase estimation problem…

Quantum superposition of multiple clones and the novel cloning machine

we envisage a novel quantum cloning machine, which takes an input state and produces an output state whose success branch can exist in a linear superposition of multiple copies of the input state and the failure branch exist in a superposition of composite state independent of the input state. We prove that unknown non-orthogonal states chosen from a set $\cal S$ can evolve into a linear superposition of multiple clones by a unitary process if and only if the states are linearly independent. We derive a bound on the success probability of the novel cloning machine. We argue that the determinis…

Novel cloning machine with supplementary information

Probabilistic cloning was first proposed by Duan and Guo. Then Pati established a novel cloning machine (NCM) for copying superposition of multiple clones simultaneously. In this paper, we deal with the novel cloning machine with supplementary information (NCMSI). For the case of cloning two states, we demonstrate that the optimal efficiency of the NCMSI in which the original party and the supplementary party can perform quantum communication equals that achieved by a two-step cloning protocol wherein classical communication is only allowed between the original and the supplementary parties. F…

Phase-Conjugated Inputs Quantum Cloning Machines

A quantum cloning machine is introduced that yields $M$ identical optimal clones from $N$ replicas of a coherent state and $N'$ replicas of its phase conjugate. It also optimally produces $M'=M+N'-N$ phase-conjugated clones at no cost. For well chosen input asymmetries $N'/(N+N')$, this machine is shown to provide better cloning fidelities than the standard $(N+N') \to M$ cloner. The special cases of the optimal balanced cloner ($N=N'$) and the optimal measurement ($M=\infty$) are investigated.

Performance of quantum cloning and deleting machines over coherence

Coherence, being at the heart of interference phenomena, is found to be an useful resource in quantum information theory. Here we want to understand quantum coherence under the combination of two fundamentally dual processes, viz., cloning and deleting. We found the role of quantum cloning and deletion machines with the consumption and generation of quantum coherence. We establish cloning as a cohering process and deletion as a decohering process. Fidelity of the process will be shown to have connection with coherence generation and consumption of the processes.

Characterising a universal cloning machine by maximum-likelihood estimation

We apply a general method for the estimation of completely positive maps to the 1-to-2 universal covariant cloning machine. The method is based on the maximum-likelihood principle, and makes use of random input states, along with random projective measurements on the output clones. The downhill simplex algorithm is applied for the maximisation of the likelihood functional.

Asymmetric quantum cloning machines in any dimension

A family of asymmetric cloning machines for $N$-dimensional quantum states is introduced. These machines produce two imperfect copies of a single state that emerge from two distinct Heisenberg channels. The tradeoff between the quality of these copies is shown to result from a complementarity akin to Heisenberg uncertainty principle. A no-cloning inequality is derived for isotropic cloners: if $π_a$ and $π_b$ are the depolarizing fractions associated with the two copies, the domain in $(\sqrt{π_a},\sqrt{π_b})$-space located inside a particular ellipse representing close-to-perfect cloning is f…

Realization of the 1->3 optimal phase-covariant quantum cloning machine

The 1->3 quantum phase covariant cloning, which optimally clones qubits belonging to the equatorial plane of the Bloch sphere, achieves the fidelity Fcov(1->3)=0.833, larger than for the 1->3 universal cloning Funiv(1->3)=0.778. We show how the 1->3 phase covariant cloning can be implemented by a smart modification of the standard universal quantum machine by a projection of the output states over the symmetric subspace. A complete experimental realization of the protocol for polarization encoded qubits based on non-linear and linear methods will be discussed.

Two-qubit universal and state-dependent quantum cloning machine and quantum correlation broadcasting

Due to the axioms of quantum mechanics, perfect cloning of an unknown quantum state is impossible. But since imperfect cloning is still possible, a question arises: "Is there an optimal quantum cloning machine?" Buzek and Hillery answer to this question and construct their famous B-H quantum cloning machine. The B-H machine clones state of an arbitrary single qubit in optimal manner and hence it is universal. Generalizing this machine for two-qubit system is straightforward, but this procedure does not preserve quantum correlation existing in bipartite state in optimal manner and also, during …

Optimal Quantum Cloning Machines

We present Quantum Cloning Machines (QCM) that transform N identical qubits into $M>N$ identical copies and we prove that the fidelity (quality) of these copies is optimal. The connection between cloning and measurement is discussed in detail. When the number of clones M tends towards infinity, the fidelity of each clone tends towards the optimal fidelity that can be obtained by a measurement on the input qubits. More generally, the QCM are universal devices to translate quantum information into classical information.

集成光子干涉仪上的变分量子克隆机

Variational quantum cloning machine on an integrated photonic interferometer

本研究在6模可编程集成光子器件上实验实现双轨编码光子量子比特的1→2变分量子克隆机，结合经典反馈达到近最优克隆性能，验证了集成光子平台用于量子算法变分自学习的潜力。

Entanglement preservation in quantum cloning

Recently Galvão and Hardy have shown that quantum cloning can improve the performance of some quantum computation tasks. However such performance enhancement is possible only if quantum correlations survive the cloning process. We investigate preservation of the quantum correlations in the process of non--local cloning of entangled pairs of two--level systems. We consider different kinds of quantum cloning machines and compare their effectiveness in the cloning of non--maximally entangled pure states. A mean entanglement is introduced in order to obtain a quantitative evaluation of an average …

Solid-State Optimal Phase-Covariant Quantum Cloning Machine

Here we report an experimental realization of optimal phase-covariant quantum cloning machine with a single electron spin in solid state system at room temperature. The involved three states of two logic qubits are encoded physically in three levels of a single electron spin with two Zeeman sub-levels at a nitrogen-vacancy defect center in diamond. The preparation of input state and the phase-covariant quantum cloning transformation are controlled by two independent microwave fields. The average experimental fidelity reaches 85.2% which is very close to theoretical optimal fidelity 85.4% and i…

Conditional implementation of asymmetrical universal quantum cloning machine

We propose two feasible experimental implementations of an optimal asymmetric 1->2 quantum cloning of a polarization state of photon. Both implementations are based on a partial and optimal reverse of recent conditional symmetrical quantum cloning experiments. The reversion procedure is performed only by a local measurement of one from the clones and ancilla followed by a local operation on the other clone. The local measurement consists only of a single unbalanced beam splitter followed in one output by a single photon detector and the asymmetry of fidelities in the cloning is controlled by a…

Realization of a General Multi-step Quantum Cloning Machine

A general multi-step N->M probabilistic optimal universal cloning protocol is presented together with the experimental realization of the (1 -> 3) and (2 -> 3) machines. Since the present method exploits the bosonic nature of the photons, it can be applied to any particle obeying to the Bose statistics. On a technological perspective, the present protocol is expected to find applications as a novel, multi-qubit symmetrizator device to be used in modern quantum information networks.

Implementation of optimal phase-covariant cloning machines

The optimal phase covariant cloning machine (PQCM) broadcasts the information associated to an input qubit into a multi-qubit systems, exploiting a partial a-priori knowledge of the input state. This additional a priori information leads to a higher fidelity than for the universal cloning. The present article first analyzes different experimental schemes to implement the 1->3 PQCM. The method is then generalized to any 1->M machine for odd value of M by a theoretical approach based on the general angular momentum formalism. Finally different experimental schemes based either on linear or non-l…

Scheme for the implementation of a universal quantum cloning machine via cavity-assisted atomic collisions in cavity QED

We propose a scheme to implement the $1\to2$ universal quantum cloning machine of Buzek et.al [Phys. Rev.A 54, 1844(1996)] in the context of cavity QED. The scheme requires cavity-assisted collision processes between atoms, which cross through nonresonant cavity fields in the vacuum states. The cavity fields are only virtually excited to face the decoherence problem. That's why the requirements on the cavity quality factor can be loosened.

Quantum Cloning, Bell's Inequality and Teleportation

We analyze a possibility of using the two qubit output state from Buzek-Hillery quantum copying machine (not necessarily universal quantum cloning machine) as a teleportation channel. We show that there is a range of values of the machine parameter $ξ$ for which the two qubit output state is entangled and violates Bell-CHSH inequality and for a different range it remains entangled but does not violate Bell-CHSH inequality. Further we observe that for certain values of the machine parameter the two-qubit mixed state can be used as a teleportation channel. The use of the output state from the Bu…

Probabilistic cloning with supplementary information contained in the quantum states of two auxiliary systems

In probabilistic cloning with two auxiliary systems, we consider and compare three different protocols for the success probabilities of cloning. We show that, in certain circumstances, it may increase the success probability to add an auxiliary system to the probabilistic cloning machine having one auxiliary system, but we always can find another cloning machine with one auxiliary system having the same success probability as that with two auxiliary systems.

Extremal quantum cloning machines

We investigate the problem of cloning a set of states that is invariant under the action of an irreducible group representation. We then characterize the cloners that are "extremal" in the convex set of group covariant cloning machines, among which one can restrict the search for optimal cloners. For a set of states that is invariant under the discrete Weyl-Heisenberg group, we show that all extremal cloners can be unitarily realized using the so-called "double-Bell states", whence providing a general proof of the popular ansatz used in the literature for finding optimal cloners in a variety o…

Optimal cloning of qubits given by arbitrary axisymmetric distribution on Bloch sphere

We find an optimal quantum cloning machine, which clones qubits of arbitrary symmetrical distribution around the Bloch vector with the highest fidelity. The process is referred to as phase-independent cloning in contrast to the standard phase-covariant cloning for which an input qubit state is a priori better known. We assume that the information about the input state is encoded in an arbitrary axisymmetric distribution (phase function) on the Bloch sphere of the cloned qubits. We find analytical expressions describing the optimal cloning transformation and fidelity of the clones. As an illust…

A robust one-step catalytic machine for high fidelity anti-cloning and W-state generation in a multi-qubit system

We propose a physically realizable machine which can either generate multiparticle W-like states, or implement high fidelity $1 \to M$ ($M=1,2,... \infty$) anti-cloning of an arbitrary qubit state, in a single step. Moreover this universal machine acts as a catalyst in that it is unchanged after either procedure, effectively resetting itself for its next operation. It also possesses an inherent {\em immunity} to decoherence. Most importantly in terms of practical multi-party quantum communication, the machine's robustness in the presence of decoherence actually {\em increases} as the number of…

Contextual, Optimal and Universal Realization of the Quantum Cloning Machine and of the NOT gate

A simultaneous realization of the Universal Optimal Quantum Cloning Machine (UOQCM) and of the Universal-NOT gate by a quantum injected optical parametric amplification (QIOPA), is reported. The two processes, forbidden in their exact form for fundamental quantum limitations, are found universal and optimal, and the measured fidelity F<1 is found close to the limit values evaluated by quantum theory. This work may enlighten the yet little explored interconnections of fundamental axiomatic properties within the deep structure of quantum mechanics.

Teleportation scheme implementing contextually the Universal Optimal Quantum Cloning Machine and the Universal Not Gate. Complete experimental realization

By a significant modification of the standard protocol of quantum state Teleportation two processes ''forbidden'' by quantum mechanics in their exact form, the Universal NOT gate and the Universal Optimal Quantum Cloning Machine, have been implemented contextually and optimally by a fully linear method. In particular, the first experimental demonstration of the Tele-UNOT Gate, a novel quantum information protocol has been reported (cfr. quant-ph/0304070). A complete experimental realization of the protocol is presented here.

Minimal sets determining universal and phase-covariant quantum cloning

We study the minimal input sets which can determine completely the universal and the phase-covariant quantum cloning machines. We find that the universal quantum cloning machine, which can copy arbitrary input qubit equally well, however can be determined completely by only four input states located at the four vertices of a tetrahedron. The phase-covariant quantum cloning machine, which can copy all qubits located on the equator of the Bloch sphere, can be determined by three equatorial qubits with equal angular distance. These results sharpen further the well-known results that BB84 states a…

Economical quantum cloning in any dimension

The possibility of cloning a d-dimensional quantum system without an ancilla is explored, extending on the economical phase-covariant cloning machine found in [Phys. Rev. A {\bf 60}, 2764 (1999)] for qubits. We prove the impossibility of constructing an economical version of the optimal universal cloning machine in any dimension. We also show, using an ansatz on the generic form of cloning machines, that the d-dimensional phase-covariant cloner, which optimally clones all uniform superpositions, can be realized economically only in dimension d=2. The used ansatz is supported by numerical evide…

Quantum cloning

The impossibility of perfectly copying (or cloning) an arbitrary quantum state is one of the basic rules governing the physics of quantum systems. The processes that perform the optimal approximate cloning have been found in many cases. These "quantum cloning machines" are important tools for studying a wide variety of tasks, e.g. state estimation and eavesdropping on quantum cryptography. This paper provides a comprehensive review of quantum cloning machines (both for discrete-dimensional and for continuous-variable quantum systems); in addition, it presents the role of cloning in quantum cry…

The roles of quantum correlations in quantum cloning

In this paper, we study the entanglement and quantum discord of the output modes in the unified $1\rightarrow 2$ state-dependent cloning and probabilistic quantum cloning. The tripartite entanglement among the output modes and the quantum cloning machine is also considered. We find that the roles of the quantum correlations including the bipartite and tripartite entanglement and quantum discord strongly depend on the quantum cloning machines as well as the cloned state. In particular, it is found that this quantum cloning scheme can be realizable even without any quantum correlation.

Eavesdropping of two-way coherent-state quantum cryptography via Gaussian quantum cloning machines

We consider one of the quantum key distribution protocols recently introduced in Ref. [Pirandola et al., Nature Physics 4, 726 (2008)]. This protocol consists in a two-way quantum communication between Alice and Bob, where Alice encodes secret information via a random phase-space displacement of a coherent state. In particular, we study its security against a specific class of individual attacks which are based on combinations of Gaussian quantum cloning machines.

Process-optimized phase covariant quantum cloning

After the appearance of the no-cloning theorem, approximate quantum cloning machines (QCMs) have become one of the most well-studied subject in quantum information theory. Among several measures to quantify the performance of a QCM, single-qudit fidelity and global fidelity have been most widely used. In this paper we compute the optimal global fidelity for phase-covariant cloning machines via semi-definite programming optimization, thereby completing a remaining gap in the previous results on QCMs. We also consider optimal simulations of the cloning and transpose cloning map, both by a direct…

High-fidelity copies from a symmetric 1 to 2 quantum cloning machine

A symmetric 1 to 2 quantum cloning machine (QCM) is presented that provides high-fidelity copies with $0.90 \le F \le 0.95$ for all pure (single-qubit) input states from a given meridian of the Bloch sphere. \cor{Emphasize is placed especially on the states of the (so-called) Eastern meridian, that includes the computational basis states $\ketm{0}, \ketm{1}$ together with the diagonal state $\ketm{+} = \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}} (\ketm{0} + \ketm{1})$, for which suggested cloning transformation is shown to be optimal.} In addition, we also show how this QCM can be utilized for eavesdropping in Bennett…

"Partial" quantum cloning and quantum cloning of the mixed states

We discuss the "partial" quantum cloning of the pure two-partite states, when the "part" of initial state related to the one qubit is copied only. The same approach gives the possibility to design the quantum copying machine for the mixed qubit states.

About Covariant Quartit Cloning Machines

The study of quantum cryptography and quantum entanglement has traditionally been based on two-level quantum systems (qubits) and more recently on three-level systems (qutrits). We investigate several classes of state-dependent quantum cloners for four-level systems (quartits). These results apply to symmetric as well as asymmetric cloners, so that the balance between the fidelity of the two clones can also be analyzed. We extend Cerf's formalism for cloning states in order to derive cloning machines that remain invariant under certain unitary transformations. Our results show that a different…

Optimal N-to-M Cloning of Quantum Coherent States

The cloning of continuous quantum variables is analyzed based on the concept of Gaussian cloning machines, i.e., transformations that yield copies that are Gaussian mixtures centered on the state to be copied. The optimality of Gaussian cloning machines that transform N identical input states into M output states is investigated, and bounds on the fidelity of the process are derived via a connection with quantum estimation theory. In particular, the optimal N-to-M cloning fidelity for coherent states is found to be equal to MN/(MN+M-N).

Deletion of imperfect cloned copies

In this work, we design a deleting machine and shown that for some given condition on machine parameters, it gives slightly better result than P-B deleting machine [5,6]. Also it is shown that for some particular values of the machine parameters it acts like Pati-Braunstein deleting machine. We also study the combined effect of cloning and deleting machine, where at first the cloning is done by some standard cloning machines such as Wootters-Zurek [1] and Buzek-Hillery [2] cloning machine and then the copy mode is deleted by Pati-Braunstein deleting machine or our prescribed deleting machine. …

Cloning the entanglement of a pair of quantum bits

It is shown that any quantum operation that perfectly clones the entanglement of all maximally-entangled qubit pairs cannot preserve separability. This ``entanglement no-cloning'' principle naturally suggests that some approximate cloning of entanglement is nevertheless allowed by quantum mechanics. We investigate a separability-preserving optimal cloning machine that duplicates all maximally-entangled states of two qubits, resulting in 0.285 bits of entanglement per clone, while a local cloning machine only yields 0.060 bits of entanglement per clone.

Multipartite Asymmetric Quantum Cloning

We investigate the optimal distribution of quantum information over multipartite systems in asymmetric settings. We introduce cloning transformations that take $N$ identical replicas of a pure state in any dimension as input, and yield a collection of clones with non-identical fidelities. As an example, if the clones are partitioned into a set of $M_A$ clones with fidelity $F^A$ and another set of $M_B$ clones with fidelity $F^B$, the trade-off between these fidelities is analyzed, and particular cases of optimal $N \to M_A+M_B$ cloning machines are exhibited. We also present an optimal $1 \to…

Maximum possible fidelity in $1\rightarrow 2$ qubits cloning

We re-analyse the Bužek-Hillery Universal Quantum Cloning machine protocol and show that it allows better values for fidelity and Hilbert-Schmidt norm than hitherto reported. This higher value for the fidelity is identical to the maximum fidelity of phase covariant quantum cloning of Bruß-Cinchetti-D'Ariano-Macchiavello. This value of fidelity has also been obtained by Niu and Griffiths in their work without machine states. This is the maximum possible fidelity obtainable in $1\rightarrow 2$ qubits cloning. We then describe a different and new state dependent cloning protocol with four machine…

Cloning in nonlinear Hamiltonian quantum and hybrid mechanics

Possibility of state cloning is analyzed in two types of generalizations of quantum mechanics with nonlinear evolution. It is first shown that nonlinear Hamiltonian quantum mechanics does not admit cloning without the cloning machine. It is then demonstrated that the addition of the cloning machine, treated as a quantum or as a classical system, makes the cloning possible by nonlinear Hamiltonian evolution. However, a special type of quantum-classical theory, known as the mean-field Hamiltonian hybrid mechanics, does not admit cloning by natural evolution. The latter represents an example of a…

Generalised Asymmetric Quantum Cloning

We study machines that take N identical replicas of a pure qudit state as input and output a set of M_A clones of a given fidelity and another set of $M_B$ clones of another fidelity. The trade-off between these two fidelities is investigated, and numerous examples of optimal N -> M_A+M_B cloning machines are exhibited using a generic method. A generalisation to more than two sets of clones is also discussed. Finally, an optical implementation of some such machines is proposed. This paper is an extended version of [xxx.arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0411179].

Optimal Cloning and No Signaling

It is shown that no signaling constraint generates the whole class of 1 $\rightarrow$ 2 optimal quantum cloning machines of single qubits.

Optical realization of universal quantum cloning

Beyond the no-cloning theorem, the universal symmetric quantum cloning machine was first addressed by Buzek and Hillery. Here, we realized the one-to-two qubits Buzek-Hillery cloning machine with linear optical devices. This method relies on the representation of several qubits by a single photon. We showed that, the fidelities between the two output qubits and the original qubit are both 5/6 (which proved to be the optimal fidelity of one-to-two qubits universal cloner) for arbitrary input pure states.

Continuous variable quantum cloning via the Cavity QED with trapped ions

We present a feasible scheme to use trapped ions Cavity QED system to implement optimal $1\to N$ cloning machine of coherent state. In present scheme, as the ouput of the clone machine, the copies of the cavity mode emerge at the vibrational modes and cavity modes is acted as the ancilla mode in the implementation of the cloning. We further show that such system can be used to generated multimodes quantum state, which can realize optimum symmetric $1\to N$ telecloning of coherent state of distant cavity.

Cloning a real d-dimensional quantum state on the edge of the no-signaling condition

We investigate a new class of quantum cloning machines that equally duplicate all real states in a Hilbert space of arbitrary dimension. By using the no-signaling condition, namely that cloning cannot make superluminal communication possible, we derive an upper bound on the fidelity of this class of quantum cloning machines. Then, for each dimension d, we construct an optimal symmetric cloner whose fidelity saturates this bound. Similar calculations can also be performed in order to recover the fidelity of the optimal universal cloner in d dimensions.

Impossibility of Cloning of Quantum Coherence

It is well known that it is impossible to clone an arbitrary quantum state. However, this inability does not lead directly to no-cloning of quantum coherence. Here, we show that it is impossible to clone the coherence of an arbitrary quantum state which is a stronger statement than the 'no-cloning of quantum state'. In particular, with ancillary system as machine state, we show that it is impossible to clone the coherence of states whose coherence is greater than the coherence of the known states on which the transformations are defined. Also, we characterize the class of states for which cohe…

Experimental demonstration of an efficient quantum phase-covariant cloning and its possible applications to simulating eavesdropping in quantum cryptography

We describe a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiment which implements an efficient one-to-two qubit phase-covariant cloning machine(QPCCM). In the experiment we have achieved remarkably high fidelities of cloning, 0.848 and 0.844 respectively for the original and the blank qubit. This experimental value is close to the optimal theoretical value of 0.854. We have also demonstrated how to use our phase-covariant cloning machine for quantum simulations of bit by bit eavesdropping in the four-state quantum key distribution protocol.