Encoding a qubit in an oscillator

Quantum error-correcting codes are constructed that embed a finite-dimensional code space in the infinite-dimensional Hilbert space of a system described by continuous quantum variables. These codes exploit the noncommutative geometry of phase space to protect against errors that shift the values of the canonical variables q and p. In the setting of quantum optics, fault-tolerant universal quantum computation can be executed on the protected code subspace using linear optical operations, squeezing, homodyne detection, and photon counting; however, nonlinear mode coupling is required for the preparation of the encoded states. Finite-dimensional versions of these codes can be constructed that protect encoded quantum information against shifts in the amplitude or phase of a d-state system. Continuous-variable codes can be invoked to establish lower bounds on the quantum capacity of Gaussian quantum channels.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures, REVTeX, title change (qudit -> qubit) requested by Phys. Rev. A, minor correction

Generation of Kerr non-Gaussian motional states of trapped ions

Non-Gaussian states represent a powerful resource for quantum information protocols in the continuous variables regime. Cat states, in particular, have been produced in the motional degree of freedom of trapped ions by controlled displacements dependent on the ionic internal state. An alternative method harnesses the Kerr nonlinearity naturally existent in this kind of system. We present detailed calculations confirming its feasibility for typical experimental conditions. Additionally, this method permits the generation of complex non-Gaussian states with negative Wigner functions. Especially, superpositions of many coherent states are achieved at a fraction of the time necessary to produce the cat state.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Photon-Number-Splitting versus Cloning Attacks in Practical Implementations of the Bennett-Brassard 1984 protocol for Quantum Cryptography

In practical quantum cryptography, the source sometimes produces multi-photon pulses, thus enabling the eavesdropper Eve to perform the powerful photon-number-splitting (PNS) attack. Recently, it was shown by Curty and Lutkenhaus [Phys. Rev. A 69, 042321 (2004)] that the PNS attack is not always the optimal attack when two photons are present: if errors are present in the correlations Alice-Bob and if Eve cannot modify Bob's detection efficiency, Eve gains a larger amount of information using another attack based on a 2->3 cloning machine. In this work, we extend this analysis to all distances Alice-Bob. We identify a new incoherent 2->3 cloning attack which performs better than those described before. Using it, we confirm that, in the presence of errors, Eve's better strategy uses 2->3 cloning attacks instead of the PNS. However, this improvement is very small for the implementations of the Bennett-Brassard 1984 (BB84) protocol. Thus, the existence of these new attacks is conceptually interesting but basically does not change the value of the security parameters of BB84. The main results are valid both for Poissonian and sub-Poissonian sources.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures; "intuitive" formula (31) adde

Topological Protection and Quantum Noiseless Subsystems

Encoding and manipulation of quantum information by means of topological degrees of freedom provides a promising way to achieve natural fault-tolerance that is built-in at the physical level. We show that this topological approach to quantum information processing is a particular instance of the notion of computation in a noiseless quantum subsystem. The latter then provide the most general conceptual framework for stabilizing quantum information and for preserving quantum coherence in topological and geometric systems.Comment: 4 Pages LaTeX. Published versio

Quantum matchgate computations and linear threshold gates

The theory of matchgates is of interest in various areas in physics and computer science. Matchgates occur in e.g. the study of fermions and spin chains, in the theory of holographic algorithms and in several recent works in quantum computation. In this paper we completely characterize the class of boolean functions computable by unitary two-qubit matchgate circuits with some probability of success. We show that this class precisely coincides with that of the linear threshold gates. The latter is a fundamental family which appears in several fields, such as the study of neural networks. Using the above characterization, we further show that the power of matchgate circuits is surprisingly trivial in those cases where the computation is to succeed with high probability. In particular, the only functions that are matchgate-computable with success probability greater than 3/4 are functions depending on only a single bit of the input

On measurement-based quantum computation with the toric code states

We study measurement-based quantum computation (MQC) using as quantum resource the planar code state on a two-dimensional square lattice (planar analogue of the toric code). It is shown that MQC with the planar code state can be efficiently simulated on a classical computer if at each step of MQC the sets of measured and unmeasured qubits correspond to connected subsets of the lattice.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Overview of Quantum Error Prevention and Leakage Elimination

Quantum error prevention strategies will be required to produce a scalable quantum computing device and are of central importance in this regard. Progress in this area has been quite rapid in the past few years. In order to provide an overview of the achievements in this area, we discuss the three major classes of error prevention strategies, the abilities of these methods and the shortcomings. We then discuss the combinations of these strategies which have recently been proposed in the literature. Finally we present recent results in reducing errors on encoded subspaces using decoupling controls. We show how to generally remove mixing of an encoded subspace with external states (termed leakage errors) using decoupling controls. Such controls are known as ``leakage elimination operations'' or ``LEOs.''Comment: 8 pages, no figures, submitted to the proceedings of the Physics of Quantum Electronics, 200

Higher Security Thresholds for Quantum Key Distribution by Improved Analysis of Dark Counts

We discuss the potential of quantum key distribution (QKD) for long distance communication by proposing a new analysis of the errors caused by dark counts. We give sufficient conditions for a considerable improvement of the key generation rates and the security thresholds of well-known QKD protocols such as Bennett-Brassard 1984, Phoenix-Barnett-Chefles 2000, and the six-state protocol. This analysis is applicable to other QKD protocols like Bennett 1992. We examine two scenarios: a sender using a perfect single-photon source and a sender using a Poissonian source.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, v2: We obtained better results by using reverse reconciliation as suggested by Nicolas Gisi

Preparing encoded states in an oscillator

Recently a scheme has been proposed for constructing quantum error-correcting codes that embed a finite-dimensional code space in the infinite-dimensional Hilbert space of a system described by continuous quantum variables. One of the difficult steps in this scheme is the preparation of the encoded states. We show how these states can be generated by coupling a continuous quantum variable to a single qubit. An ion trap quantum computer provides a natural setting for a continuous system coupled to a qubit. We discuss how encoded states may be generated in an ion trap.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, RevTe

Secure two-party quantum evaluation of unitaries against specious adversaries

We describe how any two-party quantum computation, specified by a unitary which simultaneously acts on the registers of both parties, can be privately implemented against a quantum version of classical semi-honest adversaries that we call specious. Our construction requires two ideal functionalities to garantee privacy: a private SWAP between registers held by the two parties and a classical private AND-box equivalent to oblivious transfer. If the unitary to be evaluated is in the Clifford group then only one call to SWAP is required for privacy. On the other hand, any unitary not in the Clifford requires one call to an AND-box per R-gate in the circuit. Since SWAP is itself in the Clifford group, this functionality is universal for the private evaluation of any unitary in that group. SWAP can be built from a classical bit commitment scheme or an AND-box but an AND-box cannot be constructed from SWAP. It follows that unitaries in the Clifford group are to some extent the easy ones. We also show that SWAP cannot be implemented privately in the bare model