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arXiv:1102.2341 · Physical Review A

Asymptotically optimal purification and dilution of mixed qubit and Gaussian states

Peter Bowles, Mădălin Guţǎ, Gerardo Adesso

Published Aug 16, 2011• 7 citations
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Abstract

Given an ensemble of mixed qubit states, it is possible to increase the purity of the constituent states using a procedure known as state purification. The reverse operation, which we refer to as dilution, produces a larger ensemble, while reducing the purity level of the systems. In this paper we find asymptotically optimal procedures for purification and dilution of an ensemble of independently and identically distributed mixed qubit states, for some given input and output purities and an asymptotic output rate. Our solution involves using the statistical tool of local asymptotic normality, which recasts the qubit problem in terms of attenuation and amplification of a single-mode displaced Gaussian state. Therefore, to obtain the qubit solutions, we must first solve the analogous problems in the Gaussian setup. We provide full solutions to all of the above for the (global) trace-norm figure of merit.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.84.022320

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Given an ensemble of mixed qubit states, it is possible to increase the purity of the constituent states using a procedure known as state purification. The reverse operation, which we refer to as dilution, produces a larger ensemble, while reducing the purity level of the systems. In this paper we find asymptotically optimal procedures for purification and dilution of an ensemble of independently and identically distributed mixed qubit states, for some given input and output purities and an asymptotic output rate. Our solution involves using the statistical tool of local asymptotic normality, which recasts the qubit problem in terms of attenuation and amplification of a single-mode displaced Gaussian state. Therefore, to obtain the qubit solutions, we must first solve the analogous problems in the Gaussian setup. We provide full solutions to all of the above for the (global) trace-norm figure of merit.
By consuming multiple copies of an unknown qubit state, one can modify its purity while preserving the direction of its Bloch vector. We determine the maximum linear rate at which qubit states of different purities can be interconverted, allowing a nonzero error, quantified, for instance, by the trace distance, provided that it vanishes in the limit of infinitely many copies. Interestingly, the optimal conversion rate is determined by the two eigenvalues of the complex right-logarithmic-derivative (RLD) Fisher information matrix associated with SU(2)\mathrm{SU}(2)SU(2) rotations of the qubit state. When the output qubits have higher purity, corresponding to concentration, the optimal rate is given by the ratio of the maximum eigenvalues of the input and output RLD matrices. In contrast, when the output qubits have lower purity, corresponding to dilution, the optimal rate is given by the ratio of their minimum eigenvalues. Remarkably, both concentration and dilution can be implemented using SWAP tests as the only nontrivial two-qubit measurement primitive, together with ancillary qubits initially prepared in maximally mixed states, without requiring any additional two-qubit gates. Our work thus provides a novel operational interpretation of the full complex RLD Fisher information matrix. Crucially, its antisymmetric, purely imaginary part encodes geometric information beyond the statistical distance between density operators and plays an essential role in determining the optimal state-conversion rates.
We consider qubit purification under simultaneous continuous measurement of the three non-commuting qubit operators σ(x), σ(y), σ(z). The purification dynamics is quantified by (i) the average purification rate and (ii) the mean time of reaching a given level of purity, 1-ε. Under ideal measurements (detector efficiency η=1), we show in the first case an asymptotic mean purification speed-up of 4 when compared with a standard (classical) single-detector measurement. However, by the second measure-the mean time of first passage T(ε) of the purity-the corresponding speed-up is only 2. We explain these speed-ups using the isotropy of the qubit evolution that provides an equivalence between the original measurement directions and three simultaneous measurements, one with an axis aligned along the Bloch vector and the other with axes in the two complementary directions. For inefficient detectors, η=1 - δ < 1, the mean time of first passage T(δ,ε)increases because qubit purification competes with an isotropic qubit dephasing. In the asymptotic high-purity limit (ε,δ≪1), we show that the increase possesses a scaling behaviour: ΔT(δ,ε) is a function only of the ratio δ/ε. The increase ΔT(δ,ε) is linear for small arguments, but becomes exponential ~exp(δ,2ε) for δ/ε large.
We construct the optimal one to two cloning transformation for the family of displaced thermal equilibrium states of a harmonic oscillator, with a fixed and known temperature. The transformation is Gaussian and it is optimal with respect to the figure of merit based on the joint output state and norm distance. The proof of the result is based on the equivalence between the optimal cloning problem and that of optimal amplification of Gaussian states which is then reduced to an optimization problem for diagonal states of a quantum oscillator. A key concept in finding the optimum is that of stochastic ordering which plays a similar role in the purely classical problem of Gaussian cloning. The result is then extended to the case of nnn to mmm cloning of mixed Gaussian states.
Quantum-limited amplifiers increase the amplitude of quantum signals at the price of introducing additional noise. Quantum purification protocols operate in the reverse way, by reducing the noise while attenuating the signal. Here we investigate a scenario that interpolates between these two extremes. We search for the optimal physical process that generates MMM approximate copies of a pure and amplified coherent state, starting from NNN copies of a noisy coherent state with Gaussian modulation. We prove that the optimal deterministic processes are always Gaussian, whereas non-Gaussianity powers up probabilistic advantages in suitable parameter regimes. The optimal processes are experimentally realizable with current technology, both in the deterministic and in the probabilistic scenario. In view of this fact, we provide benchmarks that can be used to certify the experimental demonstration of the quantum-enhanced amplification and purification of coherent states.
By combining multiple copies of noisy coherent states of light (or other bosonic systems), it is possible to obtain a single mode in a state with lesser noise, a process known as distillation or purification of coherent states. We investigate the distillation of coherent states from coherent thermal states under general phase-insensitive operations, and find a distillation protocol that is optimal in the asymptotic regime, i.e., when the number of input copies is much greater than 1. Remarkably, we find that in this regime, the error -- as quantified by infidelity (one minus the fidelity) of the output state with the desired coherent state -- is proportional to the inverse of the purity of coherence of the input state, a quantity obtained from the Right-Logarithmic-Derivative (RLD) Fisher information metric, hence revealing an operational interpretation of this quantity. The heart of this protocol is a phase-insensitive channel that optimally converts an input coherent thermal state with high amplitude, into an output with significantly lower amplitude and temperature. Under this channel, the purity of coherence remains asymptotically conserved. While both the input and desired output are Gaussian states, we find that the optimal protocol cannot be a Gaussian channel. Among Gaussian phase-insensitive channels, the optimal distillation protocol is a simple linear optical scheme that can be implemented with beam splitters.
Entanglement purification is an indispensable ingredient in extended quantum communication networks and usually determines the efficiency and communication rate of quantum communication protocols. Different from all existing entanglement purification protocols (EPPs) where two or more copies of low quality mixed entangled states are selected from the same ensemble, here we describe a general and optimal EPP for arbitrary initial mixed states from different ensembles. We show that the successful operation of EPP may not obtain a higher fidelity mixed state, while the discarded source pair, which is usually regarded as a failure in existing EPPs, may have residual entanglement and can be reused to increase the yield of entanglement purification. We give the criterions of both the successful purification to obtain a higher fidelity mixed state and the existence of residual entanglement. Moreover, we reveal that entanglement purification procedure causes some entanglement loss. Finally, we provide an optimal approach to reduce the entanglement loss. This approach can also be used to increase the yield of entanglement purification. Our EPP may have potential application in long-distance quantum communications.