A six-qubit quantum network consisting of conditional unitary gates is presented which is capable of implementing a large class of covariant two-qubit quantum operations. Optimal covariant NOT operations for one and two-qubit systems are special cases contained in this class. The design of this quantum network exploits basic algebraic properties which also shed new light onto these covariant quantum processes.
The structure of all completely positive quantum operations is investigated which transform pure two-qubit input states of a given degree of entanglement in a covariant way. Special cases thereof are quantum NOT operations which transform entangled pure two-qubit input states of a given degree of entanglement into orthogonal states in an optimal way. Based on our general analysis all covariant optimal two-qubit quantum NOT operations are determined. In particular, it is demonstrated that only in the case of maximally entangled input states these quantum NOT operations can be performed perfectl…
We consider cloning transformations of equatorial qubits and qutrits, with the transformation covariant for rotation of the phases. The optimal cloning maps are derived without simplifying assumptions from first principles, for any number of input and output qubits, and for a single input qutrit and any number of output qutrits. We also compare the cloning maps for global and single particle fidelities, and we show that the two criteria lead to different optimal maps.
We describe a general framework to study covariant symmetric broadcasting maps for mixed qubit states. We explicitly derive the optimal N to M superbroadcasting maps, achieving optimal purification of the single-site output copy, in both the universal and the phase covariant cases. We also study the bipartite entanglement properties of the superbroadcast states.
We consider the entanglement manipulation capabilities of the universal covariant quantum cloner or quantum processor circuit for quantum bits. We investigate its use for cloning a member of a bipartite or a genuine tripartite entangled state of quantum bits. We find that for bipartite pure entangled states a nontrivial behavior of concurrence appears, while for GHZ entangled states a possibility of the partial extraction of bipartite entanglement can be achieved.
We obtain a complete and minimal set of 170 generators for the algebra of $SL(2,\C)^{\times 4}$-covariants of a binary quadrilinear form. Interpreted in terms of a four qubit system, this describes in particular the algebraic varieties formed by the orbits of local filtering operations in its projective Hilbert space. Also, this sheds some light on the local unitary invariants, and provides all the possible building blocks for the construction of entanglement measures for such a system.
Given two two-qubit pure states characterized by their Schmidt numbers we investigate an optimal strategy to convert the states between themselves with respect to their local unitary invariance. We discuss the efficiency of this transformation and its connection to LOCC convertibility properties between two single-copy quantum states. As an illustration of the investigated transformations we present a communication protocol where in spite of all expectations a shared maximally entangled pair between two participants is the worst quantum resource.
We compare several optical implementations of phase-covariant cloning machines. The experiments are based on copying of the polarization state of a single photon in bulk optics by special unbalanced beam splitter or by balanced beam splitter accompanied by a state filtering. Also the all-fiber based setup is discussed, where the information is encoded into spatial modes, i.e., the photon can propagate through two optical fibers. Each of the four implementations possesses some advantages and disadvantages that are discussed.
Phase covariant qubit dynamics describes an evolution of a two-level system under simultaneous action of pure dephasing, energy dissipation, and energy gain with time-dependent rates $γ_z(t)$, $γ_-(t)$, and $γ_+(t)$, respectively. Non-negative rates correspond to completely positive divisible dynamics, which can still exhibit such peculiarities as non-monotonicity of populations for any initial state. We find a set of quantum channels attainable in the completely positive divisible phase covariant dynamics and show that this set coincides with the set of channels attainable in semigroup phase …
We report on two optical realizations of the $1 \to 2$ asymmetric phase-covariant cloning machines for polarization states of single photons. The experimental setups combine two-photon interference and tunable polarization filtering that enables us to control the asymmetry of the cloners. The first scheme involves a special unbalanced bulk beam splitter exhibiting different splitting ratios for vertical and horizontal polarizations, respectively. The second implemented scheme consists of a balanced fiber coupler where photon bunching occurs, followed by a free-space part with polarization filt…
While exact cloning of an unknown quantum state is prohibited by the linearity of quantum mechanics, approximate cloning is possible and has been used, e.g., to derive limits on the security of quantum communication protocols. In the case of asymmetric cloning, the information from the input state is distributed asymmetrically between the different output states. Here, we consider asymmetric phase-covariant cloning, where the goal is to optimally transfer the phase information from a single input qubit to different output qubits. We construct an optimal quantum cloning machine for two qubits t…
We present the experimental realization of optimal symmetric and asymmetric phase-covariant 1->2 cloning of qubit states using fiber optics. State of each qubit is encoded into a single photon which can propagate through two optical fibers. The operation of our device is based on one- and two-photon interference. We have demonstrated creation of two copies of any state of a qubit from the equator of the Bloch sphere. The measured fidelities of both copies are close to the theoretical values and they surpass the theoretical maximum obtainable with the universal cloner.
Quantum cloning machines for equatorial qubits are studied. For the case of 1 to 2 phase-covariant quantum cloning machine, we present the networks consisting of quantum gates to realize the quantum cloning transformations. The copied equatorial qubits are shown to be separable by using Peres-Horodecki criterion. The optimal 1 to M phase-covariant quantum cloning transformations are given.
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…
We present an optical implementation of two programmable quantum measurement devices. The first one serves for unambiguous discrimination of two nonorthogonal states of a qubit. The particular pair of states to be discriminated is specified by the quantum state of a program qubit. The second device can perform von Neumann measurements on a single qubit in any basis located on the equator of the Bloch sphere. Again, the basis is selected by the state of a program qubit. In both cases the data and program qubits are represented by polarization states of photons. The experimental apparatus exploi…
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…
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.
We investigate the multiphoton states generated by high-gain optical parametric amplification of a single injected photon, polarization encoded as a ''qubit''. The experiment configuration exploits the optimal phase-covariant cloning in the high gain regime. The interference fringe pattern showing the non local transfer of coherence between the injected qubit and the mesoscopic amplified output field involving up to 4000 photons has been investigated. A probabilistic new method to extract full information about the multiparticle output wavefunction has been implemented.
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.
We propose an interesting scheme for distributed orbital state quantum cloning with atomic ensembles based on the quantum Zeno dynamics. These atomic ensembles which consist of identical three-level atoms are trapped in distant cavities connected by a single-mode integrated optical star coupler. These qubits can be manipulated through appropriate modulation of the coupling constants between atomic ensemble and classical field, and the cavity decay can be largely suppressed as the number of atoms in the ensemble qubits increases. The fidelity of each cloned qubit can be obtained with analytic r…
The first part of the paper reviews applications of 2-spinor methods to relativistic qubits (analogies between tetrads in Minkowski space and 2-qubit states, qubits defined by means of null directions and their role for elimination of the Peres-Scudo-Terno phenomenon, advantages and disadvantages of relativistic polarization operators defined by the Pauli-Lubanski vector, manifestly covariant approach to unitary representations of inhomogeneous SL(2,C)). The second part deals with electromagnetic fields quantized by means of harmonic oscillator Lie algebras (not necessarily taken in irreducibl…
Effective dynamics of qubit networks via phase-covariant quantum ensembles
Institute of Gravitation and the Cosmos, The Pennsylvania State University（宾夕法尼亚州立大学引力与宇宙学研究所）；Department of Physics, The Pennsylvania State University（宾夕法尼亚州立大学物理系）
We study the power of dephasing-covariant operations in the resource theories of coherence and entanglement. These are quantum operations whose actions commute with a projective measurement. In the resource theory of coherence, we find that any two states are asymptotically interconvertible under dephasing-covariant operations. This provides a rare example of a resource theory in which asymptotic reversibility can be attained without needing the maximal set of resource non-generating operations. When extended to the resource theory of entanglement, the resultant operations share similarities w…
We consider the convex sets of QO's (quantum operations) and POVM's (positive operator valued measures) which are covariant under a general finite-dimensional unitary representation of a group. We derive necessary and sufficient conditions for extremality, and give general bounds for ranks of the extremal POVM's and QO's. Results are illustrated on the basis of simple examples.
The experimental realization of optimal symmetric phase-covariant 1->2 cloning of qubit states is presented. The qubits are represented by polarization states of photons generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion. The experiment is based on the interference of two photons on a custom-made beam splitter with different splitting ratios for vertical and horizontal polarization components. From the measured data we have estimated the implemented cloning transformation using the maximum-likelihood method. The result shows that the realized transformation is very close to the ideal one and …
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…
We characterize the operational capabilities of quantum channels which can neither create nor detect quantum coherence vis-à-vis efficiently manipulating coherence as a resource. We study the class of dephasing-covariant operations (DIO), unable to detect the coherence of any input state, as well as introduce an operationally-motivated class of channels $ρ$-DIO which is tailored to a specific input state. We first show that pure-state transformations under DIO are completely governed by majorization, establishing necessary and sufficient conditions for such transformations and adding to the li…
Estimation of unknown qubit elementary gates and alignment of reference frames are formally the same problem. Using quantum states made out of $N$ qubits, we show that the theoretical precision limit for both problems, which behaves as $1/N^{2}$, can be asymptotically attained with a covariant protocol that exploits the quantum correlation of internal degrees of freedom instead of the more fragile entanglement between distant parties. This cuts by half the number of qubits needed to achieve the precision of the dense covariant coding protocol.
We propose an effective scheme for realizing a long-range quantum state phase-covariant cloning between two qubits in fiber-nanocavity system via an adiabatic passage. Since no cavity (fiber) photons or excited levels of the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center are populated during the whole process, the scheme is immune to the decay of cavity (fiber) and spontaneous emission of the NV center. The strictly numerical simulation shows that the fidelity is high even in the presence of realistic imperfections.
We investigate the problem of copying pure two-qubit states of a given degree of entanglement in an optimal way. Completely positive covariant quantum operations are constructed which maximize the fidelity of the output states with respect to two separable copies. These optimal copying processes hint at the intricate relationship between fundamental laws of quantum theory and entanglement.
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…
Universal quantum computing relies on high-fidelity entangling operations. Here we demonstrate that four coupled qubits can operate as a quantum gate, where two qubits control the operation on two target qubits (a four-qubit gate). This configuration can implement four different controlled two-qubit gates: two different entangling swap and phase operations, a phase operation distinguishing states of different parity, and the identity operation (idle quantum gate), where the choice of gate is set by the state of the control qubits. The device exploits quantum interference to control the operati…
Superconducting quantum circuit is a promising system for building quantum computer. With this system we demonstrate the universal quantum computations, including the preparing of initial states, the single-qubit operations, the two-qubit universal gate operations between arbitrary qubits, the multiple pairs of two-qubit gate operations in parallel, the coupling operations on a group of qubits in parallel, the coupling operations on multiple groups of qubits in parallel, the coupling operations on multiple pairs and multiple groups of qubits in parallel. Within available technology, a universa…
We give a quantum benchmark for teleportation and quantum storage experiments suited for pure and mixed test states. The benchmark is based on the average fidelity over a family of phase-covariant states and certifies that an experiment can not be emulated by a classical setup, i.e., by a measure-and-prepare scheme. We give an analytical solution for qubits, which shows important differences with standard state estimation approach, and compute the value of the benchmark for coherent and squeezed states, both pure and mixed.
We present the results of a linear optics photonic implementation of a quantum circuit that simulates a phase covariant cloner, by using two different degrees of freedom of a single photon. We experimentally simulate the action of two mirrored $1\rightarrow 2$ cloners, each of them biasing the cloned states into opposite regions of the Bloch sphere. We show that by applying a random sequence of these two cloners, an eavesdropper can mitigate the amount of noise added to the original input state and therefore prepare clones with no bias but with the same individual fidelity, masking its presenc…
Large-scale universal quantum computing requires the implementation of quantum error correction (QEC). While the implementation of QEC has already been demonstrated for quantum memories, reliable quantum computing requires also the application of nontrivial logical gate operations to the encoded qubits. Here, we present examples of such operations by implementing, in addition to the identity operation, the NOT and the Hadamard gate to a logical qubit encoded in a five qubit system that allows correction of arbitrary single qubit errors. We perform quantum process tomography of the encoded gate…
In this paper, we prove that it is impossible to construct a convariant quantum feedback control instruments which aim to correct the channel noise imposed on an unknown qubit. The proof is based on the searching for the optimal quantum control protocol and it turns out there exist no better %\textit{Complete Positive Trace %Preserving}(CPTP) maps complete positive and covariant quantum operations which provide a higher fidelity than the trivial Identity operators. The generalization of the investigation to bipartite entangled pure state is also included.
We propose a quantum cloning machine, which clones a qubit into two clones assuming known modulus of expectation value of Pauli Z-matrix. The process is referred to as the mirror phase-covariant cloning, for which the input state is a priori less known than that for the standard phase-covariant cloning. Analytical expressions describing the cloning transformation and fidelity of the clones are found. Extremal equations for the optimal cloning are derived and analytically solved by generalizing a method of Fiurasek [Phys. Rev. A 64, 062310 (2001)]. Quantum circuits implementing the optimal clon…
A scheme of universal quantum computation on a chain of qubits is described that does not require local control. All the required operations, an Ising-type interaction and spatially uniform simultaneous one-qubit gates, are translation-invariant.
We present a procedure inspired by dense coding, which enables a highly efficient transmission of information of a continuous nature. The procedure requires the sender and the recipient to share a maximally entangled state. We deal with the concrete problem of aligning reference frames or trihedra by means of a quantum system. We find the optimal covariant measurement and compute the corresponding average error, which has a remarkably simple close form. The connection of this procedure with that of estimating unitary transformations on qubits is briefly discussed.
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…
We show that the entanglement of a $2\times 2$ bipartite state can be improved and maximized probabilistically through single-qubit operations only. An experiment is proposed and it is numerically simulated.
Since simulating quantum computers requires exponentially more classical resources, efficient algorithms are extremely helpful. We analyze algorithms that create single qubit and specific controlled qubit matrix representations of gates. Additionally, we use the simulator to investigate errors based on different probability distributions and to investigate the robustness of different 2-qubit multiplier circuits in the presence of operational errors.
L. Lamata et al. have presented an entanglement classification of four qubits under stochastic local operation and classical communication (SLOCC) based on inductive approach [Phys. Rev. A \textbf{75}, 022318 (2007)]. While it works well for three qubits, we show that some of the families for four qubits have overlaps and hence this approach is not valid for entanglement classification of four or more qubits under SLOCC.
We present a fast quantum entangling operation on superconducting qubits assisted by a resonator in the quasi-dispersive regime with a new effect --- the selective resonance coming from the amplified qubit-state-dependent resonator transition frequency and the tunable period relation between a wanted quantum Rabi oscillation and an unwanted one. This operation does not require any kind of drive fields and the interaction between qubits. More interesting, the non-computational third excitation states of the charge qubits can play an important role in shortening largely the operation time of the…
Optimal construction of quantum operations is a fundamental problem in the realization of quantum computation. We here introduce a newly discovered quantum gate, B, that can implement any arbitrary two-qubit quantum operation with minimal number of both two- and single-qubit gates. We show this by giving an analytic circuit that implements a generic nonlocal two-qubit operation from just two applications of the B gate. We also demonstrate that for the highly scalable Josephson junction charge qubits, the B gate is also more easily and quickly generated than the CNOT gate for physically feasibl…
We obtain the most general ensemble of qubits, for which it is possible to design a universal Hadamard gate. These states when geometrically represented on the Bloch sphere, give a new trajectory. We further consider some Hadamard `type' of operations and find ensembles of states for which such transformations hold. Unequal superposition of a qubit and its orthogonal complement is also investigated.
Bipartite operations underpin both classical communication and entanglement generation. Using a superposition of classical messages, we show that the capacity of a two-qubit operation for error-free entanglement-assisted bidirectional classical communication can not exceed twice the entanglement capability. In addition we show that any bipartite two-qubit operation can increase the communication that may be performed using an ensemble by twice the entanglement capability.
In a recent paper [Phys. Rev. A 76, 032304(2007)], Li et al. proposed the definition of the residual entanglement for n qubits by means of the Stochastic local operations and classical communication. Here we argue that their definition is not suitable for the case of odd-n qubits.
In a superconducting quantum processor with nearest neighbor coupling, the dispersive interaction between adjacent qubits can result in an effective next-nearest-neighbor coupling whose strength depends on the state of the intermediary qubit. Here, we theoretically explore the possibility of engineering this next-nearest-neighbor coupling to implement controlled two-qubit operations where the intermediary qubit controls the operation on the next-nearest neighbor pair of qubits. In particular, in a system comprising two types of superconducting qubits with anharmonicities of opposite-sign arran…
Operator entanglement of two-qubit joint unitary operations is revisited. Schmidt number is an important attribute of a two-qubit unitary operation, and may have connection with the entanglement measure of the unitary operator. We found the entanglement measure of two-qubit unitary operators is classified by the Schmidt number of the unitary operators. The exact relation between the operator entanglement and the parameters of the unitary operator is clarified too.
We investigate the Weyl channels being covariant with respect to the maximum commutative group of unitary operators. This class includes the quantum depolarizing channel and the "two-Pauli" channel as well. Then, we show that our estimation of the output entropy for a tensor product of the phase damping channel and the identity channel based upon the decreasing property of the relative entropy allows to prove the additivity conjecture for the minimal output entropy for the quantum depolarizing channel in any prime dimesnsion and for the "two Pauli" channel in the qubit case.
By constructing the recovery operations of the protocol of remote implementation of partially unknown quantum operation of two qubits [An Min Wang: PRA, \textbf{74}, 032317(2006)], we present a scheme to implement it in cavity QED. Long-lived Rydberg atoms are used as qubits, and the interaction between the atoms and the field of cavity is a nonresonant one. Finally, we analyze the experimental feasibility of this scheme.
