19 pages, submitted to J. Royal Stat. Soc. B. Note added 31/05/04: a revised version with further statistical results but less mathematical details, and with co-author Luis Artiles, has been posted on arXiv as math.ST/0405595
We describe quantum tomography as an inverse statistical problem and show how entropy methods can be used to study the behaviour of sieved maximum likelihood estimators. There remain many open problems, and a main purpose of the paper is to bring these to the attention of the statistical community.
The quantum state of a light beam can be represented as an infinite dimensional density matrix or equivalently as a density on the plane called the Wigner function. We describe quantum tomography as an inverse statistical problem in which the state is the unknown parameter and the data is given by results of measurements performed on identical quantum systems. We present consistency results for Pattern Function Projection Estimators as well as for Sieve Maximum Likelihood Estimators for both the density matrix of the quantum state and its Wigner function. Finally we illustrate via simulated da…
Open quantum systems have become an active area of research, owing to its potential applications in many different fields ranging from computation to biology. Here, we review the formalism of dynamical maps used to represent the time evolution of open quantum systems and discuss the various representations and properties of the same, with many examples.
We give a non-technical introduction of the basic concepts of Quantum Information Theory along the distinction between possible and impossible machines. We then proceed to describe the mathematical framework of Quantum Information Theory. The capacities of a quantum channel for classical and for quantum information are defined in a unified scheme, and a mathematical characterization of all teleportation and dense coding schemes is given.
The theory of quantum dynamical semigroups within the mathematically rigorous framework of completely positive dynamical maps is reviewed. First, the axiomatic approach which deals with phenomenological constructions and general mathematical structures is discussed. Then basic derivation schemes of the constructive approach including singular coupling, weak coupling and low density limits are presented in their higly simplified versions. Two-level system coupled to a heat bath, damped harmonic oscillator, models of decoherence, quantum Brownian particle and Bloch-Boltzmann equations are used a…
In the context of a physical theory, two devices, A and B, described by the theory are called incompatible if the theory does not allow the existence of a third device C that would have both A and B as its components. Incompatibility is a fascinating aspect of physical theories, especially in the case of quantum theory. The concept of incompatibility gives a common ground for several famous impossibility statements within quantum theory, such as ``no-cloning'' and ``no information without disturbance''; these can be all seen as statements about incompatibility of certain devices. The purpose o…
An overview of the concept of phase-locking at the non linear, geometric and quantum level is attempted, in relation to finite resolution measurements in a communication receiver and its 1/f noise. Sine functions, automorphic functions and cyclotomic arithmetic are respectively used as the relevant trigonometric tools. The common point of the three topics is found to be the Mangoldt function of prime number theory as the generator of low frequency noise in the coupling coefficient, the scattering coefficient and in quantum critical statistical states. Huyghens coupled pendulums, the Adler equa…
Recent development in quantum computation and quantum information theory allows to extend the scope of game theory for the quantum world. The paper presents the history, basic ideas and recent development in quantum game theory. In this context, a new application of the Ising chain model is proposed.
Deep neural networks have established themselves as one of the most promising machine learning techniques. Training such models at large scales is often parallelized, giving rise to the concept of distributed deep learning. Distributed techniques are often employed in training large models or large datasets either out of necessity or simply for speed. Quantum machine learning, on the other hand, is the interplay between machine learning and quantum computing. It seeks to understand the advantages of employing quantum devices in developing new learning algorithms as well as improving the existi…
The engineering and control of devices at the quantum-mechanical level--such as those consisting of small numbers of atoms and photons--is a delicate business. The fundamental uncertainty that is inherently present at this scale manifests itself in the unavoidable presence of noise, making this a novel field of application for stochastic estimation and control theory. In this expository paper we demonstrate estimation and feedback control of quantum mechanical systems in what is essentially a noncommutative version of the binomial model that is popular in mathematical finance. The model is ext…
We present a method for quantum state tomography that enables the efficient estimation, with fixed precision, of any of the matrix elements of the density matrix of a state, provided that the states from the basis in which the matrix is written can be efficiently prepared in a controlled manner. Furthermore, we show how this algorithm is well suited for quantum process tomography, enabling to perform selective and efficient quantum process tomography.
Using the the convex semidefinite programming method and superoperator formalism we obtain the finite quantum tomography of some mixed quantum states such as: qudit tomography, N-qubit tomography, phase tomography and coherent spin state tomography, where that obtained results are in agreement with those of References \cite{schack,Pegg,Barnett,Buzek,Weigert}.
Quantum state tomography--the practice of estimating a quantum state by performing measurements on it--is useful in a variety of contexts. We introduce "gentle tomography" as a version of tomography that preserves the measured quantum data. As an application of gentle tomography, we describe a simple polynomial-time method for universal source coding.
Amongst the multitude of state reconstruction techniques, the so-called "quantum tomography" seems to be the most fruitful. In this letter, I will start by developing the mathematical apparatus of quantum tomography and, later, I will explain how it can be applied to various quantum systems.
The efficiency of quantum state tomography is discussed from the point of view of quantum parameter estimation theory, in which the trace of the weighted covariance is to be minimized. It is shown that tomography is optimal only when a special weight is adopted.
We develop a quantum process tomography method, which variationally reconstruct the map of a process, using noisy and incomplete information about the dynamics. The new method encompasses the most common quantum process tomography schemes. It is based on the variational quantum tomography method (VQT) proposed by Maciel et al. in arXiv:1001.1793[quant-ph].
The deployment of intermediate- and large-scale quantum devices necessitates the development of efficient full state tomographical techniques for quantum benchmarks. Here, we introduce a matrix filling-based method for tomography of pure quantum states, called the matrix-completion quantum state tomography. This method requires only 2n + 1 local Pauli operators and minimal post-processing for n-qubit states. Numerical results show that our method is highly efficient on superconducting real quantum devices and achieves better fidelity estimates of multiqubit quantum states as compared to contem…
The intimate connection between the Banach space wavelet reconstruction method on homogeneous spaces with both singular and nonsingular vacuum vectors, and some of well known quantum tomographies, such as: Moyal-representation for a spin, discrete phase space tomography, tomography of a free particle, Homodyne tomography, phase space tomography and SU(1,1) tomography is explained. Also both the atomic decomposition and banach frame nature of these quantum tomographic examples is explained in details. Finally the connection between the wavelet formalism on Banach space and Q-function is discuss…
Whenever we do not have an informationally complete set of measurements, the estimate of a quantum state can not be uniquely determined. In this case, among the density matrices compatible with the available data, it is commonly preferred that one which is the most uncommitted with the missing information. This is the purpose of the Maximum Entropy estimation (MaxEnt) and the Variational Quantum Tomography (VQT). Here, we propose a variant of Variational Quantum Tomography and show its relationship with Maximum Entropy methods in quantum tomographies with incomplete set of measurements. We pro…
The paper is devoted to the mathematical foundation of the quantum tomography using the theory of square-integrable representations of unimodular Lie groups.
In quantum-state tomography on sources with quantum degrees of freedom of large Hilbert spaces, inference of quantum states of light for instance, a complete characterization of the quantum states for these sources is often not feasible owing to limited resources. As such, the concepts of informationally incomplete state estimation becomes important. These concepts are ideal for applications to quantum channel/process tomography, which typically requires a much larger number of measurement settings for a full characterization of a quantum channel. Some key aspects of both quantum-state and qua…
Quantum process tomography is an experimental technique to fully characterize an unknown quantum process. Standard quantum process tomography suffers from exponentially scaling of the number of measurements with the increasing system size. In this work, we put forward a quantum machine learning algorithm which approximately encodes the unknown unitary quantum process into a relatively shallow depth parametric quantum circuit. We demonstrate our method by reconstructing the unitary quantum processes resulting from the quantum Hamiltonian evolution and random quantum circuits up to $8$ qubits. R…
We present the first complete optimization of quantum tomography, for states, POVMs, and various classes of transformations, for arbitrary prior ensemble and arbitrary representation, giving corresponding feasible experimental schemes.
Quantum process tomography is a procedure by which an unknown quantum operation can be fully experimentally characterized. We reinterpret Choi's proof of the fact that any completely positive linear map has a Kraus representation [Lin. Alg. and App., 10, 1975] as a method for quantum process tomography. Furthermore, the analysis for obtaining the Kraus operators are particularly simple in this method.
The performance of a quantum teleportation algorithm implemented on an ion trap quantum computer is investigated. First the algorithm is analyzed in terms of the teleportation fidelity of six input states evenly distributed over the Bloch sphere. Furthermore, a quantum process tomography of the teleportation algorithm is carried out which provides almost complete knowledge about the algorithm.
Quantum tomography is a process of quantum state reconstruction using data from multiple measurements. An essential goal for a quantum tomography algorithm is to find measurements that will maximize the useful information about an unknown quantum state obtained through measurements. One of the recently proposed methods of quantum tomography is the algorithm based on rank-preserving transformations. The main idea is to transform a basic measurement set in a way to provide a situation that is equivalent to measuring the maximally mixed state. As long as tomography of a fully mixed state has the …
Quantum detector tomography is a fundamental technique for calibrating quantum devices and performing quantum engineering tasks. In this paper, we design optimal probe states for detector estimation based on the minimum upper bound of the mean squared error (UMSE) and the maximum robustness. We establish the minimum UMSE and the minimum condition number for quantum detectors and provide concrete examples that can achieve optimal detector tomography. In order to enhance the estimation precision, we also propose a two-step adaptive detector tomography algorithm to optimize the probe states adapt…
We study the possibility of performing quantum state tomography via equidistant states. This class of states allows us to propose a non-symmetric informationally complete POVM based tomographic scheme. The scheme is defined for odd dimensions and involves an inversion which can be analytically carried out by Fourier transform.
We show that weighted unitary 2-designs define optimal measurements on the system-ancilla output state for ancilla-assisted process tomography of unital quantum channels. Examples include complete sets of mutually unbiased unitary-operator bases. Each of these specifies a minimal series of optimal orthogonal measurements. General quantum channels are also considered.
Quantum tomography is a widely applicable tool for complete characterization of quantum states and processes. In the present work, we develop a method for precision-guaranteed quantum process tomography. With the use of the Choi-Jamiolkowski isomorphism, we generalize the recently suggested extended norm minimization estimator for the case of quantum processes. Our estimator is based on the Hilbert-Schmidt distance for quantum processes. Specifically, we discuss the application of our method for characterizing quantum gates of a superconducting quantum processor in the framework of the IBM Q E…
Robust, accurate and efficient quantum tomography is key for future quantum technologies. Traditional methods are impractical for even medium sized systems and are not robust against noise and errors. Here we report on an experimental demonstration of self-guided quantum tomography; an autonomous, fast, robust and precise technique for measuring quantum states with significantly less computational resources than standard techniques. The quantum state is iteratively learned by treating tomography as a projection measurement optimization problem. We experimentally demonstrate robustness against …
We present an experimental demonstration of quantum optical coherence tomography (QOCT). The technique makes use of an entangled twin-photon light source to carry out axial optical sectioning. QOCT is compared to conventional optical co1herence tomography (OCT). The immunity of QOCT to dispersion, as well as a factor of two enhancement in resolution, are experimentally demonstrated.
Using a Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometer, we apply the techniques of quantum process tomography to characterize errors and decoherence in a prototypical two-photon operation, a singlet-state filter. The quantum process tomography results indicate a large asymmetry in the process and also the required operation to correct for this asymmetry. Finally, we quantify errors and decoherence of the filtering operation after this modification.
We characterized unital quantum channels of single photon polarization qubits. The channels are composed of two birefringent crystals and wave-plates, where their decoherence properties are controlled. An experimental comparison between two different depolarizing configurations was performed using a quantum process tomography procedure. The results are with a high fidelity to the theoretical predictions.
The polarizing multi-photon quantum states tomography with non-unit quantum efficiency of detectors is considered. A new quantum tomography protocol is proposed. This protocol considers events of losing photons of multi-photon quantum state in one or more channels among with n-fold coincidence events. The advantage of the proposed protocol compared with the standard n-fold coincidence protocol is demonstrated using the methods of statistical analysis.
We introduce and demonstrate experimentally: (1) a framework called "gate set tomography" (GST) for self-consistently characterizing an entire set of quantum logic gates on a black-box quantum device; (2) an explicit closed-form protocol for linear-inversion gate set tomography (LGST), whose reliability is independent of pathologies such as local maxima of the likelihood; and (3) a simple protocol for objectively scoring the accuracy of a tomographic estimate without reference to target gates, based on how well it predicts a set of testing experiments. We use gate set tomography to characteriz…
We introduce quantum tomography on locally compact Abelian groups $G$. A linear map from the set of quantum states on the $C^*$-algebra $A(G)$ generated by the projective unitary representation of $G$ to the space of characteristic functions is constructed. The dual map determining symbols of quantum observables from $A(G)$ is derived. Given a characteristic function of a state the quantum tomogram consisting a set of probability distributions is introduced. We provide three examples in which $G={\mathbb R}$ (the optical tomography), $G={\mathbb Z}_n$ (corresponding to measurements in mutually…
Annealing approach to quantum tomography is theoretically proposed. First, based on the maximum entropy principle, we introduce classical parameters to combine "quantum models (or quantum states)" given a prior for potentially representing the unknown target state. Then, we formulate the quantum tomography as an optimization problem on the classical parameters, by employing relative entropy of the parametrized state with the target state as the objective function to be minimized. We show that the objective function is physically implementable, in a theoretical sense at least, as an effective H…
By using a generalization of the optical tomography technique we describe the dynamics of a quantum system in terms of equations for a purely classical probability distribution which contains complete information about the system.
In quantum process tomography, it is possible to express the experimenter's prior information as a sequence of quantum operations, i.e., trace-preserving completely positive maps. In analogy to de Finetti's concept of exchangeability for probability distributions, we give a definition of exchangeability for sequences of quantum operations. We then state and prove a representation theorem for such exchangeable sequences. The theorem leads to a simple characterization of admissible priors for quantum process tomography and solves to a Bayesian's satisfaction the problem of an unknown quantum ope…
In this paper, we derive analytic expressions for the starting (initial) values of the parameters of the T-matrix that is frequently employed in the construction of a theoretical density matrix in a Maximum Likelihood Estimate (MLE) procedure; this optimization procedure is used to fit the experimental data pertaining to single qubit state tomography. Appropriate starting values are critical in achieving a global minimum in the fitting process. We also indicate an analytic way of making the experimentally determined density matrix physical without resorting to the MLE process, if optimality in…
With the general theorem of SQPT, we shall develop a scheme to detemine an arbitrary matrix element of $chi$, which is expanded with the Choi operators, in a scalbe way.
We show that how a recent experiment of quantum imaging with undetected photons can basically be described as a (partial) ancilla-assisted process tomography. We propose a simplified quantum circuit version of this scenario, which also enables to recast quantum imaging in quantum computation language. Our analogy and analysis may help better understand the role of classical and/or quantum correlations in imaging experiments.
The present short review article illustrates the latest theoretical developments on quantum tomography, regarding general optimization methods for both data-processing and setup. The basic theoretical tool is the informationally complete measurement. The optimization theory for the setup is based on the new theoretical approach of quantum combs.
Quantum operations describe any state change allowed in quantum mechanics, including the evolution of an open system or the state change due to a measurement. In this letter we present a general method based on quantum tomography for measuring experimentally the matrix elements of an arbitrary quantum operation. As input the method needs only a single entangled state. The feasibility of the technique for the electromagnetic field is shown, and the experimental setup is illustrated based on homodyne tomography of a twin-beam.
We used quantum process tomography to investigate and identify the function of a nonideal two-qubit quantum-state filters subject to various degree of decoherence. We present a simple decoherence model that explains the experimental results and point out that a beamsplitter followed by a post-selection process is not, as commonly believed, a singlet-state filter. In the ideal case it is a triplet-state filter.
We introduce the concept of pairwise tomography networks to characterise quantum properties in many-body systems and demonstrate an efficient protocol to measure them experimentally. Pairwise tomography networks are generators of multiplex networks where each layer represents the graph of a relevant quantifier such as, e.g., concurrence, quantum discord, purity, quantum mutual information, or classical correlations. We propose a measurement scheme to perform two-qubit tomography of all pairs showing exponential improvement in the number of qubits $N$ with respect to previously existing methods…
We propose a method for precision statistical control of quantum processes based on superconductor phase qubits. Using the universal quantum tomography method, we provide a detailed analysis of accuracy of tomography for a 2-qubit gate SQiSW, which arises due to capacitive coupling between qubits. The developed approach could be successfully applied for quality and efficiency problems of superconductor quantum information technologies.
It has previously been shown that quantum state tomography can be used to increase the key rate of quantum key distribution (QKD) for the special case of qubits (i.e.,d=2). Here, we consider the case of higher dimensions, i.e., qudits, and show that, for a prime number d>2, quantum state tomography can also improve the key rate of d-dimensional qudit-based QKD schemes, compared to the standard (d+1)-basis protocol. We apply our results to previous QKD experiments based on OAM (orbital angular momentum) encoding and demonstrate the advantage of tomography-based QKD protocols. Moreover, we compa…
A novel operational method for estimating the efficiency of quantum state tomography protocols is suggested. It is based on a-priori estimation of the quality of an arbitrary protocol by means of universal asymptotic fidelity distribution and condition number, which takes minimal value for better protocol. We prove the adequacy of the method both with numerical modeling and through the experimental realization of several practically important protocols of quantum state tomography.
We propose a refined iterative likelihood-maximization algorithm for reconstructing a quantum state from a set of tomographic measurements. The algorithm is characterized by a very high convergence rate and features a simple adaptive procedure that ensures likelihood increase in every iteration and convergence to the maximum-likelihood state. We apply the algorithm to homodyne tomography of optical states and quantum tomography of entangled spin states of trapped ions and investigate its convergence properties.
Optical homodyne tomography is discussed in the context of classical image processing. Analogies between these two fields are traced and used to formulate an iterative numerical algorithm for reconstructing the Wigner function from homodyne statistics.
We show with explicit formulas that one can completely identify an unknown quantum process with only one weakly entangled state; and identify a quantum optical Gaussian process with either one two-mode squeezed state or a few different coherent states. In tomography of a multi-mode process, our method reduces the number of different test states exponentially compared with existing methods.
I show that in tomographic experiments measurement of a small set of observables suffices to confirm or incrementally amend prior expectations with a high degree of confidence. To this end I adapt the evidence procedure, an estimation technique used in classical image reconstruction, to use in quantum state tomography.