Report on an exchange visit to the library at Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm, Sweden, 9-15 May 2009

Report on an exchange visit to the library at Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm, Sweden, 9-15 May 200

All-optical generation of states for "Encoding a qubit in an oscillator"

Both discrete and continuous systems can be used to encode quantum information. Most quantum computation schemes propose encoding qubits in two-level systems, such as a two-level atom or an electron spin. Others exploit the use of an infinite-dimensional system, such as a harmonic oscillator. In "Encoding a qubit in an oscillator" [Phys. Rev. A 64 012310 (2001)], Gottesman, Kitaev, and Preskill (GKP) combined these approaches when they proposed a fault-tolerant quantum computation scheme in which a qubit is encoded in the continuous position and momentum degrees of freedom of an oscillator. One advantage of this scheme is that it can be performed by use of relatively simple linear optical devices, squeezing, and homodyne detection. However, we lack a practical method to prepare the initial GKP states. Here we propose the generation of an approximate GKP state by using superpositions of optical coherent states (sometimes called "Schr\"odinger cat states"), squeezing, linear optical devices, and homodyne detection.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to Optics Letter

Gradient-based stopping rules for maximum-likelihood quantum-state tomography

When performing maximum-likelihood quantum-state tomography, one must find the quantum state that maximizes the likelihood of the state given observed measurements on identically prepared systems. The optimization is usually performed with iterative algorithms. This paper provides a gradient-based upper bound on the ratio of the true maximum likelihood and the likelihood of the state of the current iteration, regardless of the particular algorithm used. This bound is useful for formulating stopping rules for halting iterations of maximization algorithms. We discuss such stopping rules in the context of determining confidence regions from log-likelihood differences when the differences are approximately chi-squared distributed.Comment: 9 pages, single column, 1 figure. Updated to accepted manuscript version. Now includes section headings and other small editorial change

Transmission Of Optical Coherent State Qubits

We discuss the long distance transmission of qubits encoded in optical coherent states. Through absorption these qubits suffer from two main types of errors, the reduction of the amplitude of the coherent states and accidental application of the Pauli Z operator. We show how these errors can be fixed using techniques of teleportation and error correcting codes.Comment: Added two pages of explanation/background/review material to increase readability and clarity. Corrected minor typographical and linguistic error