Quantum Repeaters using Coherent-State Communication

We investigate quantum repeater protocols based upon atomic qubit-entanglement distribution through optical coherent-state communication. Various measurement schemes for an optical mode entangled with two spatially separated atomic qubits are considered in order to nonlocally prepare conditional two-qubit entangled states. In particular, generalized measurements for unambiguous state discrimination enable one to completely eliminate spin-flip errors in the resulting qubit states, as they would occur in a homodyne-based scheme due to the finite overlap of the optical states in phase space. As a result, by using weaker coherent states, high initial fidelities can still be achieved for larger repeater spacing, at the expense of lower entanglement generation rates. In this regime, the coherent-state-based protocols start resembling single-photon-based repeater schemes.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

Optical implementation and entanglement distribution in Gaussian valence bond states

We study Gaussian valence bond states of continuous variable systems, obtained as the outputs of projection operations from an ancillary space of M infinitely entangled bonds connecting neighboring sites, applied at each of $N$ sites of an harmonic chain. The entanglement distribution in Gaussian valence bond states can be controlled by varying the input amount of entanglement engineered in a (2M+1)-mode Gaussian state known as the building block, which is isomorphic to the projector applied at a given site. We show how this mechanism can be interpreted in terms of multiple entanglement swapping from the chain of ancillary bonds, through the building blocks. We provide optical schemes to produce bisymmetric three-mode Gaussian building blocks (which correspond to a single bond, M=1), and study the entanglement structure in the output Gaussian valence bond states. The usefulness of such states for quantum communication protocols with continuous variables, like telecloning and teleportation networks, is finally discussed.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures. To appear in Optics and Spectroscopy, special issue for ICQO'2006 (Minsk). This preprint contains extra material with respect to the journal versio

Large Distance Continuous Variables Communication with Concatenated Swaps

The radiation-pressure interaction between electromagnetic fields and mechanical resonators can be used to efficiently entangle two light fields which couple to a single mechanical mode. We analyze the performance of this process under realistic optomechanical conditions, and we determine the effectiveness of the resulting entanglement as a resource for quantum teleportation of continuous-variable light signals, over large distances, mediated by concatenated swap operations. We study the sensitiveness of the protocol to the quality factor of the mechanical systems, and its performance in non-ideal situations in which losses and reduced detection efficiencies are taken into account.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figure

Limitations of quantum computing with Gaussian cluster states

We discuss the potential and limitations of Gaussian cluster states for measurement-based quantum computing. Using a framework of Gaussian projected entangled pair states (GPEPS), we show that no matter what Gaussian local measurements are performed on systems distributed on a general graph, transport and processing of quantum information is not possible beyond a certain influence region, except for exponentially suppressed corrections. We also demonstrate that even under arbitrary non-Gaussian local measurements, slabs of Gaussian cluster states of a finite width cannot carry logical quantum information, even if sophisticated encodings of qubits in continuous-variable (CV) systems are allowed for. This is proven by suitably contracting tensor networks representing infinite-dimensional quantum systems. The result can be seen as sharpening the requirements for quantum error correction and fault tolerance for Gaussian cluster states, and points towards the necessity of non-Gaussian resource states for measurement-based quantum computing. The results can equally be viewed as referring to Gaussian quantum repeater networks.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, details of main argument extende

Remote transfer of Gaussian quantum discord

Quantum discord quantifies quantum correlation between quantum systems, which has potential application in quantum information processing. In this paper, we propose a scheme realizing the remote transfer of Gaussian quantum discord, in which another quantum discordant state or an Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen entangled state serves as ancillary state. The calculation shows that two independent optical modes that without direct interaction become quantum correlated after the transfer. The output Gaussian quantum discord can be higher than the initial Gaussian quantum discord when optimal gain of the classical channel and the ancillary state are chosen. The physical reason for this result comes from the fact that the quantum discord of an asymmetric Gaussian quantum discordant state can be higher than that of a symmetric one. The presented scheme has potential application in quantum information network

Advances in Quantum Teleportation

Quantum teleportation is one of the most important protocols in quantum information. By exploiting the physical resource of entanglement, quantum teleportation serves as a key primitive in a variety of quantum information tasks and represents an important building block for quantum technologies, with a pivotal role in the continuing progress of quantum communication, quantum computing and quantum networks. Here we review the basic theoretical ideas behind quantum teleportation and its variant protocols. We focus on the main experiments, together with the technical advantages and disadvantages associated with the use of the various technologies, from photonic qubits and optical modes to atomic ensembles, trapped atoms, and solid-state systems. Analysing the current state-of-the-art, we finish by discussing open issues, challenges and potential future implementations.Comment: Nature Photonics Review. Comments are welcome. This is a slightly-expanded arXiv version (14 pages, 5 figure, 1 table

Sequential Quantum Teleportation of Optical Coherent States

We demonstrate a sequence of two quantum teleportations of optical coherent states, combining two high-fidelity teleporters for continuous variables. In our experiment, the individual teleportation fidelities are evaluated as F_1 = 0.70 \pm 0.02 and F_2 = 0.75 \pm 0.02, while the fidelity between the input and the sequentially teleported states is determined as F^{(2)} = 0.57 \pm 0.02. This still exceeds the optimal fidelity of one half for classical teleportation of arbitrary coherent states and almost attains the value of the first (unsequential) quantum teleportation experiment with optical coherent states.Comment: 5page, 4figure

Hybrid quantum repeater using bright coherent light

We describe a quantum repeater protocol for long-distance quantum communication. In this scheme, entanglement is created between qubits at intermediate stations of the channel by using a weak dispersive light-matter interaction and distributing the outgoing bright coherent light pulses among the stations. Noisy entangled pairs of electronic spin are then prepared with high success probability via homodyne detection and postselection. The local gates for entanglement purification and swapping are deterministic and measurement-free, based upon the same coherent-light resources and weak interactions as for the initial entanglement distribution. Finally, the entanglement is stored in a nuclear-spin-based quantum memory. With our system, qubit-communication rates approaching 100 Hz over 1280 km with fidelities near 99% are possible for reasonable local gate errors.Comment: title changed, final published versio