574 research outputs found
The joys of permutation symmetry: direct measurements of entanglement
So-called direct measurements of entanglement are collective measurements on
multiple copies of a (bipartite or multipartite) quantum system that directly
provide one a value for some entanglement measure, such as the concurrence for
bipartite states. Multiple copies are needed since the entanglement of a mixed
state is not a linear function of the density matrix. Unfortunately, so far all
experimental implementations of direct measurements made unverified assumptions
about the form of the states, and, therefore, do not qualify as entanglement
verification tests. I discuss how a direct measurement can be turned into a
quantitative entanglement verification test by exploiting a recent theorem by
Renner (R. Renner, Nature Physics 3, 645 (2007)).Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Quantum Communication with Phantom Photons
We show that quantum information may be transferred between atoms in
different locations by using ``phantom photons'': the atoms are coupled through
electromagnetic fields, but the corresponding field modes do not have to be
fully populated. In the case where atoms are placed inside optical cavities,
errors in quantum information processing due to photon absorption inside the
cavity are diminished in this way. This effect persists up to intercavity
distances of about a meter for the current levels of cavity losses, and may be
useful for distributed quantum computing.Comment: 6 pages RevTex, 4 eps figures included. Revised calculation with more
details about mode structure calculation and the introduction of losse
Maximal Entanglement of Two-qubit States Constructed by Linearly Independent Coherent States
In this paper, we find the necessary and sufficient condition for the maximal
entanglement of the state, constructed by linearly independent
coherent states with \emph{real parameters} when
. This is a further generalization of the
classified nonorthogonal states discussed in Ref. Physics Letters A {\bf{291}},
73-76 (2001).Comment: some examples added; Int J Theor Phys 201
The phosphate balance : current developments and future outlook
Phosphate is essential for agricultural production and therefore plays a key role in the global production of food and biofuels. There are no agricultural alternatives for phosphate, and a substantial fraction of our annual phosphate consumption is dispersed into the environment where it is largely lost to agriculture. Phosphate is an irreplaceable, and to a considerable extent non-renewable, resource that is being exploited at an ever increasing rate. The ongoing depletion of phosphate resources combined with recently increased phosphate prices urge us to reconsider our phosphate consumption patterns. In addition to economic and geo-political reasons, further reducing phosphate consumption would moreover be beneficial to the quality of our environment. Even if we increase the reserve base, for which there are plenty of opportunities, it is clear that the phosphate industry will sooner or later have to make a switch from a reserve-based industry to a recycling industry
Photons in polychromatic rotating modes
We propose a quantum theory of rotating light beams and study some of its
properties. Such beams are polychromatic and have either a slowly rotating
polarization or a slowly rotating transverse mode pattern. We show there are,
for both cases, three different natural types of modes that qualify as
rotating, one of which is a new type not previously considered. We discuss
differences between these three types of rotating modes on the one hand and
non-rotating modes as viewed from a rotating frame of reference on the other.
We present various examples illustrating the possible use of rotating photons,
mostly for quantum information processing purposes. We introduce in this
context a rotating version of the two-photon singlet state.Comment: enormously expanded: 12 pages, 3 figures; a new, more informative,
but less elegant title, especially designed for Phys. Rev.
Unambiguous State Discrimination of Coherent States with Linear Optics: Application to Quantum Cryptography
We discuss several methods for unambiguous state discrimination of N
symmetric coherent states using linear optics and photodetectors. One type of
measurements is shown to be optimal in the limit of small photon numbers for
any N. For the special case of N=4 this measurement can be fruitfully used by
the receiving end (Bob) in an implementation of the BB84 quantum key
distribution protocol using faint laser pulses. In particular, if Bob detects
only a single photon the procedure is equivalent to the standard measurement
that he would have to perform in a single-photon implementation of BB84, if he
detects two photons Bob will unambiguously know the bit sent to him in 50% of
the cases without having to exchange basis information, and if three photons
are detected, Bob will know unambiguously which quantum state was sent.Comment: 5 RevTeX pages, 2 eps figure
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