We investigate the security bounds of quantum cryptographic protocols using $d$-level systems. In particular, we focus on schemes that use two mutually unbiased bases, thus extending the BB84 quantum key distribution scheme to higher dimensions. Under the assumption of general coherent attacks, we derive an analytic expression for the ultimate upper security bound of such quantum cryptography schemes. This bound is well below the predictions of optimal cloning machines. The possibility of extraction of a secret key beyond entanglement distillation is discussed. In the case of qutrits we argue that any eavesdropping strategy is equivalent to a symmetric one. For higher dimensions such an equivalence is generally no longer valid.
We provide security bounds against coherent attacks for two families of quantum key distribution protocols that use $d$-dimensional quantum systems. In the asymptotic regime, both the secret key rate for fixed noise and the robustness to noise increase with $d$. The finite-key corrections are found to be almost insensitive to $d\lesssim 20$.
We propose and demonstrate a quantum key distribution scheme in higher-order $d$-dimensional alphabets using spatial degrees of freedom of photons. Our implementation allows for the transmission of 4.56 bits per sifted photon, while providing improved security: an intercept-resend attack on all photons would induce an error rate of 0.47. Using our system, it should be possible to send more than a byte of information per sifted photon.
The security of conventional cryptography systems is threatened in the forthcoming era of quantum computers. Quantum key distribution (QKD) features fundamentally proven security and offers a promising option for quantum-proof cryptography solution. Although prototype QKD systems over optical fiber have been demonstrated over the years, the key generation rates remain several orders-of-magnitude lower than current classical communication systems. In an effort towards a commercially viable QKD system with improved key generation rates, we developed a discrete-variable QKD system based on time-b…
Quantum information masking is a protocol that hides the original quantum information from subsystems and spreads it over quantum correlation, which is available to multipartite except bipartite systems. In this work, we explicitly study the quantum information masking in multipartite scenario and prove that all the k-level quantum states can be masked into a m-qudit systems (m > 4) whose local dimension d < k and the upper bound of k is tighter than the quantum Singleton bound. In order to observe the masking process intuitively, explicitly controlled operations are provided. Our scheme well …
The codification in higher dimensional Hilbert Spaces (whose logical basis states are dubbed qudits in analogy with bidimensional qubits) presents various advantages both for Quantum Information applications and for studies on Foundations of Quantum Mechanics. Purpose of this review is to introduce qudits, to summarize their application to Quantum Communication and researches on Local Realism and, finally, to describe some recent experiment for realizing them. A Little more in details: after a short introduction, we will consider the advantages of testing local realism with qudits, discussing …
The achievement of quantum supremacy boosted the need for a robust medium of quantum information. In this task, higher-dimensional qudits show remarkable noise tolerance and enhanced security for quantum key distribution applications. However, to exploit the advantages of such states, we need a thorough characterisation of their entanglement. Here, we propose a measure of entanglement which can be computed either for pure and mixed states of a $M$-qudit hybrid system. The entanglement measure is based on a distance deriving from an adapted application of the Fubini-Study metric. This measure i…
We consider two quantum cryptographic schemes relying on encoding the key into qudits, i.e. quantum states in a d-dimensional Hilbert space. The first cryptosystem uses two mutually unbiased bases (thereby extending the BB84 scheme), while the second exploits all the d+1 available such bases (extending the six-state protocol for qubits). We derive the information gained by a potential eavesdropper applying a cloning-based individual attack, along with an upper bound on the error rate that ensures unconditional security against coherent attacks.
Recently, Chau introduced an experimentally feasible qudit-based quantum-key-distribution (QKD) scheme. In that scheme, one bit of information is phase encoded in the prepared state in a $2^n$-dimensional Hilbert space in the form $(|i\rangle\pm|j\rangle)/\sqrt{2}$ with $n\ge 2$. For each qudit prepared and measured in the same two-dimensional Hilbert subspace, one bit of raw secret key is obtained in the absence of transmission error. Here we show that by modifying the basis announcement procedure, the same experimental setup can generate $n$ bits of raw key for each qudit prepared and measur…
We give a security proof of the `Round Robin Differential Phase Shift' Quantum Key Distribution scheme, and we give a tight bound on the required amount of privacy amplification. Our proof consists of the following steps. We construct an EPR variant of the scheme. We identify Eve's optimal way of coupling an ancilla to an EPR qudit pair under the constraint that the bit error rate between Alice and Bob should not exceed a value beta. As a function of beta we derive, for finite key size, the trace distance between the real state and a state in which no leakage exists. For asymptotic key size we…
We extend the spherical code based key distribution protocols to qudits with dimensions 4 and 16 by constructing equiangular frames and their companions. We provide methods for equiangular frames in arbitrary dimensions for Alice to use and the companion frames, that has one antipode to eliminate one of the possibilities, made up of qudits with $N=4,16$ as part of Bob's code. Non-orthogonal bases that form positive operator valued measures can be constructed using the tools of frames (overcomplete bases of a Hilbert space) and here we apply them to key distribution that are robust due to large…
We present a scalable set of universal gates and multiply controlled gates in a qudit basis through a bijective mapping from N qubits to qudits with D = 2^N levels via rotations in U(2). For each of the universal gates (H, CNOT, and T), as well as the NOT gate and multiply-controlled-Z gates, we describe a systematic approach to identifying the set of U(2) rotations required to implement each gate for any qudit of size N and with minimal use of an ancilla level. The qudit gates are analyzed in terms of the total rotation count and gate depth as the system scales with D. We apply the qudit-basi…
Measurement-device-independent (MDI) method is a way to solve all detector side-channel attacks in quantum key distribution (QKD). However, very little work has been done on experimentally feasible qudit-based MDI-QKD scheme although the famous (qudit-based) round-robin differential-phase-shift (RRDPS) scheme is vulnerable to attacks on uncharacterized detectors. Here we report a mother-of-all QKD protocol on which all provably secure qubit-based QKD schemes known to date including the RRDPS and the so-called Chau15 schemes are based. We also report an experimentally feasible MDI system via op…
In this work we present a generalization of the recently developed Hardy-like logical proof of contextuality and of the so-called KCBS contextuality inequality for any qudit of dimension greater than three. Our approach uses compatibility graphs that can only be satisfied by qudits. We find a construction for states and measurements that satisfy these graphs and demonstrate both logical and inequality based contextuality for qudits. Interestingly, the quantum violation of the inequality is constant as dimension increases. We also discuss the issue of imprecision in experimental implementations…
Low depth measurement-based quantum computation with qudits ($d$-level systems) is investigated and a precise relationship between this powerful model and qudit quantum circuits is derived in terms of computational depth and size complexity. To facilitate this investigation a qudit `unbounded fan-out' circuit model, in which a qudit may be quantum-copied into an arbitrary number of ancillas in a single time-step, is introduced and shown to be capable of implementing interesting $n$-qudit unitaries in constant depth. A procedure for reducing the quantum computational depth in the measurement-ba…
We report interferometric schemes to prepare arbitrary states of four-dimensional qudits (ququarts) based on biphoton states of ultrafast-pumped frequency-nondegenerate spontaneous parametric down-conversion. Preparation and tomographic characterization of a few examples of general single-ququart states, a pure state, a completely mixed state, and a partially-mixed state, are experimentally demonstrated.
Generalizations of the classic Bell inequality to higher dimensional quantum systems known as qudits are reputed to exhibit a higher degree of robustness to noise, but such claims are based on one particular noise model. We analyze the violation of the Collins-Gisin-Linden-Massar-Popescu inequality subject to more realistic noise sources and their scaling with dimension. This analysis is inspired by potential Bell inequality experiments with superconducting resonator-based qudits. We find that the robustness of the inequality to noise generally decreases with increasing qudit dimension.
In comparison to qubit-based protocols, qudit-based quantum key distribution (QKD) ones gen- erally allow two cooperative parties to share unconditionally secure keys under a higher channel noise. However, it is very hard to prepare and measure the required quantum states in qudit-based protocols in general. One exception is the recently proposed highly error tolerant qudit-based proto- col known as the Chau15 [1]. Remarkably, the state preparation and measurement in this protocol can be done relatively easily since the required states are phase encoded almost like the diagonal basis states of…
The application of high-dimensional quantum systems (qudits) in quantum computing and communications seems to be a promising avenue due to the possibility of increasing the amount of information encoded in one physical carrier. In this work, we propose a method for implementing single-qudit gates for qudits based on light modes with orbital angular momentum. Method for logical qudits encoding, which ensures the quasi-cyclicity of operations, is introduced. Based on the protocol for converting the orbital angular momentum of light in the Raman quantum memory scheme [Vashukevich E.A. et. al. PRA…
In quantum computation and information science, the geometrical representations based on the Bloch sphere representation for transformations of two state systems have been traditionally used. While this representation is very useful for the two state qubit, it cannot be generalized easily to multiple states like that of qudits and when it is generalized, it looses its simple geometrical representation. This paper proposes the use of an alternative representation in quantum information and computation for qubits as well as qudits based on the Majorana representation on the Riemann Sphere, which…
Recent research in generalizing quantum computation from 2-valued qudits to d-valued qudits has shown practical advantages for scaling up a quantum computer. A further generalization leads to quantum computing with hybrid qudits where two or more qudits have different finite dimensions. Advantages of hybrid and d-valued gates (circuits) and their physical realizations have been studied in detail by Muthukrishnan and Stroud (Physical Review A, 052309, 2000), Daboul et al. (J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 36 2525-2536, 2003), and Bartlett et al (Physical Review A, Vol.65, 052316, 2002). In both cases, a …
Quantum tomography makes it possible to obtain comprehensive information about certain logical elements of a quantum computer. In this regard, it is a promising tool for debugging quantum computers. The practical application of tomography, however, is still limited by systematic measurement errors. Their main source are errors in the quantum state preparation and measurement procedures. In this work, we investigate the possibility of suppressing these errors in the case of ion-based qudits. First, we will show that one can construct a quantum measurement protocol that contains no more than a s…
Qudit is a multi-level computational unit alternative to the conventional 2-level qubit. Compared to qubit, qudit provides a larger state space to store and process information, and thus can provide reduction of the circuit complexity, simplification of the experimental setup and enhancement of the algorithm efficiency. This review provides an overview of qudit-based quantum computing covering a variety of topics ranging from circuit building, algorithm design, to experimental methods. We first discuss the qudit gate universality and a variety of qudit gates including the pi/8 gate, the SWAP g…
We show that a continuous-variable (CV) qudit can be constructed using quasiorthogonal cat states of a bosonic mode, when the phase encoded in each cat state is chosen appropriately. With the constructed CV qudit and the discrete-variable (DV) qudit encoded with Fock states, we propose an approach to generate the hybrid maximally entangled state of a CV qudit and a DV qudit by using two microwave cavities coupled to a superconducting flux qutrit. This proposal relies on the initial preparation of a superposition of Fock states of one cavity and the initial preparation of a cat state of the oth…
Resource states that contain nontrivial symmetry-protected topological order are identified for universal single-qudit measurement-based quantum computation. Our resource states fall into two classes: one as the qudit generalizations of the 1D qubit cluster state, and the other as the higher-symmetry generalizations of the spin-1 Affleck-Kennedy-Lieb-Tasaki (AKLT) state, namely, with unitary, orthogonal, or symplectic symmetry. The symmetry in cluster states protects information propagation (identity gate), while the higher symmetry in AKLT-type states enables nontrivial gate computation. This…
Spin bases of relevance for quantum systems with cyclic symmetry as well as for quantum information and quantum computation are constructed from the theory of angular momentum. This approach is connected to the use of generalized Pauli matrices (in dimension d) arising from a polar decomposition of the group SU(2). Numerous examples are given for d=2, 3 and 4.
We describe criteria for implementation of quantum computation in qudits. A qudit is a d-dimensional system whose Hilbert space is spanned by states |0>, |1>,... |d-1>. An important earlier work of Mathukrishnan and Stroud [1] describes how to exactly simulate an arbitrary unitary on multiple qudits using a 2d-1 parameter family of single qudit and two qudit gates. Their technique is based on the spectral decomposition of unitaries. Here we generalize this argument to show that exact universality follows given a discrete set of single qudit Hamiltonians and one two-qudit Hamiltonian. The techn…
In measurement-based quantum computing (MBQC), computation is carried out by a sequence of measurements and corrections on an entangled state. Flow, and related concepts, are powerful techniques for characterising the dependence of the corrections on previous measurement outcomes. We introduce flow-based methods for MBQC with qudit graph states, which we call Zd-flow, when the local dimension is an odd prime. Our main results are proofs that Zd-flow is a necessary and sufficient condition for a strong form of outcome determinism. Along the way, we find a suitable generalisation of the concept …
We propose a new method for implementing mutually unbiased generation and measurement of time-bin qudits using a cascade of electro-optic phase modulator -- coded fiber Bragg grating pairs. Our approach requires only a single spatial mode and can switch rapidly between basis choices. We obtain explicit solutions for dimensions $d=2,3,4$ that realize all $d+1$ possible mutually unbiased bases and analyze the performance of our approach in quantum key distribution. Given its practicality and compatibility with current technology, our approach provides a promising springboard for scalable process…
We investigate the interplay between mutual unbiasedness and product bases for multiple qudits of possibly different dimensions. A product state of such a system is shown to be mutually unbiased to a product basis only if each of its factors is mutually unbiased to all the states which occur in the corresponding factors of the product basis. This result implies both a tight limit on the number of mutually unbiased product bases which the system can support and a complete classification of mutually unbiased product bases for multiple qubits or qutrits. In addition, only maximally entangled stat…
We study measurements of the unitary generalization of Pauli operators. First, an analytical (constructive) solution to the eigenproblem of these operators is presented. Next, in the case of two subsystems, the Schmidt form of the eigenvectors is derived to identify measurements which are easy to implement. These results are utilized to show that quantum cryptography with two bases, when operating on a two-component qudit, can be realized with measurements on individual subsystems, assisted with classical communication. We also discuss feasible devices which perform tomography of polarisation-…
Quantum state tomography (QST) is an essential tool for characterizing an unknown quantum state. Recently, QST has been performed for entangled qudits based on orbital angular momentum, time-energy uncertainty, and frequency bins. Here, we propose a QST for time-bin qudits, with which the number of measurement settings scales linearly with dimension $d$. Using the proposed scheme, we performed QST for a four-dimensional time-bin maximally entangled state with 16 measurement settings. We successfully reconstructed the density matrix of the entangled qudits, with which the average fidelity of th…
Contextuality and negativity of the Wigner function are two notions of non-classicality for quantum systems. Howard, Wallman, Veitch and Emerson proved recently that these two notions coincide for qudits in odd prime dimension. This equivalence is particularly important since it promotes contextuality as a ressource that magic states must possess in order to allow for a quantum speed-up. We propose a simple proof of the equivalence between contextuality and negativity of the Wigner function based on character theory. This simplified approach allows us to generalize this equivalence to multiple…
We consider the problem of time-optimal realization of the quantum Fourier transform gate for a single qudit with number of levels d from 3 to 8. As a qudit the quadrupole nucleus with spin I > 1/2 controlled by NMR is considered. We calculate the dependencies of the gate error on the duration of radio-frequency pulse obtained by numerical optimization using Krotov-based algorithm. It is shown that the dependences of minimum time of QFT gate implementation on qudit dimension are different for integer and half-integer spins.
Entanglement plays a crucial role in quantum processes particularly those pertaining to quantum information and computation. An analytical expression for an entanglement measure defined in terms of success rate of Grover's search algorithm has been obtained for qutrit systems with real coefficients and the calculated results agree well with the conventional entropy based measure. The entanglement measure is further generalised for qudit (d-level) systems with real coefficients.
We establish the entangling power of a unitary operator on a general finite-dimensional bipartite quantum system with and without ancillas, and give relations between the entangling power based on the von Neumann entropy and the entangling power based on the linear entropy. Significantly, we demonstrate that the entangling power of a general controlled unitary operator acting on two equal-dimensional qudits is proportional to the corresponding operator entanglement if linear entropy is adopted as the quantity representing the degree of entanglement. We discuss the entangling power and operator…
We introduce two forms of correlations on two $d$-level (qudit) systems for entanglement detection. The correlations can be measured via experimentally tractable two local measurement settings and their separable bounds are determined by discrete Fourier-based uncertainty relations. They are useful to estimate lower bounds of the Schmidt number in order to clarify generation of a genuine qudit entanglement. We also present inseparable conditions for multi-qudit systems associated with the qudit stabilizer formalism as another role of the correlations on the inseparability problem.
We consider a mechanism to generate controllable qudit-qudit interactions in a charge-position paradigm for a quantum computer, through the use of auxiliary states. By controlling the tunneling rates onto these auxiliaries from the qudits proper, we can controllably switch the entangling operations. We consider a practical architecture in which to realize such a computer and examine the associated Hilbert space dimension.
Google recently announced that they had achieved quantum supremacy with 53 qubits (base-2 binaries or radix-2), corresponding to a computational state-space of dimension 253 (about 1016). Google claimed to perform computations that took 200 seconds on their quantum processor that would have taken 10,000 years to accomplish on a classical supercomputer [1]. However, achieving superposition and entanglement of 53 qubits is not an easy task given the environmental noise that decoheres the qubits. In this paper, we claim that one can potentially achieve a similar computational dimension with fewer…
Centre for Quantum Software and Information, University of Technology Sydney（悉尼科技大学量子软件与信息中心）；Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, University of Maryland（马里兰大学量子信息与计算科学联合中心）；InstituteQ, Aalto University（阿尔托大学 InstituteQ）；University of Technology Sydney（悉尼科技大学）
