The mean king's problem: Spin 1

We show how one can ascertain the values of four mutually complementary observables of a spin-1 degree of freedom.Comment: to appear in Zeitschrift fur Naturforschung,3 page

Remarks on 2-q-bit states

We distinguish six classes of families of locally equivalent states in a straightforward scheme for classifying all 2-q-bit states; four of the classes consist of two subclasses each. The simple criteria that we stated recently for checking a given state's positivity and separability are justified, and we discuss some important properties of Lewenstein-Sanpera decompositions. An upper bound is conjectured for the sum of the degree of separability of a 2-q-bit state and its concurrence.Comment: 17 page

The mean king's problem: Prime degrees of freedom

We show how one can ascertain the values of a complete set of mutually complementary observables of a prime degree of freedom.Comment: Originally submitted to Physical Review Letters; updated version now submitted to Physics Letters

Experimental proposal for symmetric minimal two-qubit state tomography

We propose an experiment that realizes a symmetric informationally complete (SIC) probability-operator measurement (POM) in the four-dimensional Hilbert space of a qubit pair. The qubit pair is carried by a single photon as a polarization qubit and a path qubit. The implementation of the SIC POM is accomplished with the means of linear optics. The experimental scheme exploits a new approach to SIC POMs that uses a two-step process: a measurement with full-rank outcomes, followed by a projective measurement on a basis that is chosen in accordance with the result of the first measurement. The basis of the first measurement and the four bases of the second measurements are pairwise unbiased --- a hint at a possibly profound link between SIC POMs and mutually unbiased bases.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Symmetric minimal quantum tomography by successive measurements

We consider the implementation of a symmetric informationally complete probability-operator measurement (SIC POM) in the Hilbert space of a d-level system by a two-step measurement process: a diagonal-operator measurement with high-rank outcomes, followed by a rank-1 measurement in a basis chosen in accordance with the result of the first measurement. We find that any Heisenberg-Weyl group-covariant SIC POM can be realized by such a sequence where the second measurement is simply a measurement in the Fourier basis, independent of the result of the first measurement. Furthermore, at least for the particular cases studied, of dimension 2, 3, 4, and 8, this scheme reveals an unexpected operational relation between mutually unbiased bases and SIC POMs; the former are used to construct the latter. As a laboratory application of the two-step measurement process, we propose feasible optical experiments that would realize SIC POMs in various dimensions.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure

Universal unitary gate for single-photon 2-qubit states

Upon entangling a spatial binary alternative of a photon with its polarization, one can use single photons to study arbitrary 2-qubit states. Sending the photon through a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, equipped with sets of wave plates that change the polarization, amounts to performing a unitary transformation on the 2-qubit state. We show that any desired unitary gate can be realized by a judicious choice of the parameters of the set-up and discuss a number of applications. They include the diagnosis of an unknown 2-qubit state, an optical Grover search, and the realization of a thought experiment invented by Vaidman, Aharonov, and Albert.Comment: to appear in Phys. Rev. A, 10 pages, 7 figures, 2 table