Optimal quantum repeaters for qubits and qudits

A class of optimal quantum repeaters for qubits is suggested. The schemes are minimal, i.e. involve a single additional probe qubit, and optimal, i.e. provide the maximum information adding the minimum amount of noise. Information gain and state disturbance are quantified by fidelities which, for our schemes, saturate the ultimate bound imposed by quantum mechanics for randomly distributed signals. Special classes of signals are also investigated, in order to improve the information-disturbance trade-off. Extension to higher dimensional signals (qudits) is straightforward.Comment: Revised version. To appear in PR

Optimal universal quantum cloning and state estimation

We derive a tight upper bound for the fidelity of a universal N to M qubit cloner, valid for any M \geq N, where the output of the cloner is required to be supported on the symmetric subspace. Our proof is based on the concatenation of two cloners and the connection between quantum cloning and quantum state estimation. We generalise the operation of a quantum cloner to mixed and/or entangled input qubits described by a density matrix supported on the symmetric subspace of the constituent qubits. We also extend the validity of optimal state estimation methods to inputs of this kind.Comment: 4 pages (RevTeX

Quantum entanglement and classical communication through a depolarising channel

We analyse the role of entanglement for transmission of classical information through a memoryless depolarising channel. Using the isotropic character of this channel we prove analytically that the mutual information cannot be increased by encoding classical bits into entangled states of two qubits.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures; contribution to special issue of JMO on the physics of quantum information; 2nd version: slight modifications and improved presentatio

Bounds for state-dependent quantum cloning

Due to the no-cloning theorem, the unknown quantum state can only be cloned approximately or exactly with some probability. There are two types of cloners: universal and state-dependent cloner. The optimal universal cloner has been found and could be viewed as a special state-dependent quantum cloner which has no information about the states. In this paper, we investigate the state-dependent cloning when the state-set contains more than two states. We get some bounds of the global fidelity for these processes. This method is not dependent on the number of the states contained in the state-set. It is also independent of the numbers of copying.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Approximate quantum cloning and the impossibility of superluminal information transfer

We show that nonlocality of quantum mechanics cannot lead to superluminal transmission of information, even if most general local operations are allowed, as long as they are linear and trace preserving. In particular, any quantum mechanical approximate cloning transformation does not allow signalling. On the other hand, the no-signalling constraint on its own is not sufficient to prevent a transformation from surpassing the known cloning bounds. We illustrate these concepts on the basis of some examples.Comment: 4 pages, 1eps figur

Depolarization channels with zero-bandwidth noises

A simple model describing depolarization channels with zero-bandwidth environment is presented and exactly solved. The environment is modelled by Lorentzian, telegraphic and Gaussian zero-bandwidth noises. Such channels can go beyond the standard Markov dynamics and therefore can illustrate the influence of memory effects of the noisy communication channel on the transmitted information. To quantify the disturbance of quantum states the entanglement fidelity between arbitrary input and output states is investigated.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure

Universal Quantum Cloning in Cavity QED

We propose an implementation of an universal quantum cloning machine [UQCM, Hillery and Buzek, Phys. Rev. A {\bf 56}, 3446 (1997)] in a Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics (CQED) experiment. This UQCM acts on the electronic states of atoms that interact with the electromagnetic field of a high $Q$ cavity. We discuss here the specific case of the $1 \to 2$ cloning process using either a one- or a two-cavity configuration

The rencontre problem

Let $\left\{X^{1}_k\right\}_{k=1}^{\infty}, \left\{X^{2}_k\right\}_{k=1}^{\infty}, \cdots, \left\{X^{d}_k\right\}_{k=1}^{\infty}$ be $d$ independent sequences of Bernoulli random variables with success-parameters $p_1, p_2, \cdots, p_d$ respectively, where $d \geq 2$ is a positive integer, and $0<p_j<1$ for all $j=1,2,\cdots,d.$ Let \begin{equation*} S^{j}(n) = \sum_{i=1}^{n} X^{j}_{i} = X^{j}_{1} + X^{j}_{2} + \cdots + X^{j}_{n}, \quad n =1,2 , \cdots. \end{equation*} We declare a "rencontre" at time $n$, or, equivalently, say that $n$ is a "rencontre-time," if \begin{equation*} S^{1}(n) = S^{2}(n) = \cdots = S^{d}(n). \end{equation*} We motivate and study the distribution of the first (provided it is finite) rencontre time.Comment: 40 pages, 1 tabl

Reversibility of continuous-variable quantum cloning

We analyze a reversibility of optimal Gaussian $1\to 2$ quantum cloning of a coherent state using only local operations on the clones and classical communication between them and propose a feasible experimental test of this feature. Performing Bell-type homodyne measurement on one clone and anti-clone, an arbitrary unknown input state (not only a coherent state) can be restored in the other clone by applying appropriate local unitary displacement operation. We generalize this concept to a partial LOCC reversal of the cloning and we show that this procedure converts the symmetric cloner to an asymmetric cloner. Further, we discuss a distributed LOCC reversal in optimal $1\to M$ Gaussian cloning of coherent states which transforms it to optimal $1\to M'$ cloning for $M'<M$. Assuming the quantum cloning as a possible eavesdropping attack on quantum communication link, the reversibility can be utilized to improve the security of the link even after the attack.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Optimal N-to-M Cloning of Quantum Coherent States

The cloning of continuous quantum variables is analyzed based on the concept of Gaussian cloning machines, i.e., transformations that yield copies that are Gaussian mixtures centered on the state to be copied. The optimality of Gaussian cloning machines that transform N identical input states into M output states is investigated, and bounds on the fidelity of the process are derived via a connection with quantum estimation theory. In particular, the optimal N-to-M cloning fidelity for coherent states is found to be equal to MN/(MN+M-N).Comment: 3 pages, RevTe