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arXiv:1404.4308 · Physical Review A

Orthogonalization of partly unknown quantum states

Miroslav Ježek, Michal Mičuda, Ivo Straka, Martina Miková, Miloslav Dušek, Jaromı́r Fiurášek

Published Apr 18, 2014• 9 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

A quantum analog of the fundamental classical not gate is a quantum gate that would transform any input qubit state onto an orthogonal state. Intriguingly, this universal NOT gate is forbidden by the laws of quantum physics. This striking phenomenon has far-reaching implications concerning quantum information processing and encoding information about directions and reference frames into quantum states. It also triggers the question of under what conditions the preparation of quantum states orthogonal to input states becomes possible. Here we report on experimental demonstration of orthogonalization of partly unknown single- and two-qubit quantum states. A state orthogonal to an input state is conditionally prepared by quantum filtering, and the only required information about the input state is a mean value of a single arbitrary operator. We show that perfect orthogonalization of partly unknown two-qubit entangled states can be performed by applying the quantum filter to one of the qubits only.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.89.042316

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A quantum analog of the fundamental classical not gate is a quantum gate that would transform any input qubit state onto an orthogonal state. Intriguingly, this universal NOT gate is forbidden by the laws of quantum physics. This striking phenomenon has far-reaching implications concerning quantum information processing and encoding information about directions and reference frames into quantum states. It also triggers the question of under what conditions the preparation of quantum states orthogonal to input states becomes possible. Here we report on experimental demonstration of orthogonalization of partly unknown single- and two-qubit quantum states. A state orthogonal to an input state is conditionally prepared by quantum filtering, and the only required information about the input state is a mean value of a single arbitrary operator. We show that perfect orthogonalization of partly unknown two-qubit entangled states can be performed by applying the quantum filter to one of the qubits only.
Quantum information processing is usually associated with a specific computational basis. Nevertheless, for a deeper understanding of the fundamental principles of quantum computing, it is essential to investigate what is the fidelity of universal operations that are basis independent; i.e., the task is to perform optimally a specific operation on a qubit or a quantum register that is in an unknown state. In this paper we introduce the universal-NOT gate that takes as an input a qubit in an arbitrary state $|\ensuremath{\Psi}〉$ and generates an output that is as close as possible to the orthogonal state $|{\ensuremath{\Psi}}^{\ensuremath{\perp}}〉.$
It is not a problem to complement a classical bit, i.e. to change the value of a bit, a 0 to a 1 and vice versa. This is accomplished by a NOT gate. Complementing a qubit in an unknown state, however, is another matter. We show that this operation cannot be done perfectly. We define the Universal-NOT (U-NOT) gate which out of N identically prepared pure input qubits generates M output qubits in a state which is as close as possible to the perfect complement. This gate can be realized by classical estimation and subsequent re-preparation of complements of the estimated state. Its fidelity is therefore equal to the fidelity F= (N+1)/(N+2) of optimal estimation, and does not depend on the required number of outputs. We also show that when some additional a priori information about the state of input qubit is available, than the fidelity of the quantum NOT gate can be much better than the fidelity of estimation.
One of the strengths of quantum information theory is that it can treat quantum states without referring to their particular physical representation. In principle, quantum states can be therefore fully swapped between various quantum systems by their mutual interaction and this quantum state transfer is crucial for many quantum communication and information processing tasks. In practice, however, the achievable interaction time and strength are often limited by decoherence. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate a procedure for faithful quantum state transfer between two weakly interacting qubits. Our scheme enables a probabilistic yet perfect unidirectional transfer of an arbitrary unknown state of a source qubit onto a target qubit prepared initially in a known state. The transfer is achieved by a combination of a suitable measurement of the source qubit and quantum filtering on the target qubit depending on the outcome of measurement on the source qubit. We experimentally verify feasibility and robustness of the transfer using a linear optical setup with qubits encoded into polarization states of single photons.
Abstract An arbitrary quantum state cannot be “cloned” perfectly, i.e. reproduced with “fidelity” F = 1 into M > 1 states identical to the original by any conceivable physical device. The main root of this impossibility resides in the linearity of quantum mechanics. A second “quantum impossibility” process, based on the complete positivity character of any quantum operation and conceivably subtly related to the first one, forbids the realization of a universal NOT gate i.e. one that flips exactly any input qubit into an orthogonal one. A detailed investigation of these results, representing the most fundamental difference between classical and quantum information, indeed can reveal the detailed structure of the latter one. We report an experimental demonstration of the process of cloning of N = 1 input qubit into M = 2 output qubits by a quantum‐injected optical parametric amplifier OPA. By the same apparatus the realization of a universal NOT gate is also demonstrated. The two processes will be found to be “universal” and optimal, i.e. the measured fidelity of both processes F < 1 will be found close to the theoretical values.
The action of a NOT gate on a classical bit results in a change of its value from a 0 to a 1 and vice versa. The action of the classical NOT gate is in principle perfect because with fidelity equal to unity it complements the value of a bit. The action of the quantum NOT gate in a computational basis |0⟩ and |1⟩ is very similar to the action of the classical NOT gate. However, a more general quantum mechanical operation which corresponds to a classical NOT gate would take a qubit in an arbitrary state |Ψ⟩ and produce a qubit in the state |Ψ⊥⟩ orthogonal to |Ψ⟩. This operation is anti-unitary and therefore, cannot be realized exactly. So how well we can do? We find a unitary transformation acting on an input qubit and some auxiliary qubits, which represent degrees of freedom of the quantum NOT gate itself, which approximately realizes the NOT operation on the state of the original qubit. We call this ‘device’ a universal-NOT gate because the size of the error it produces is independent of the input state. We show that an optimal U-NOT gate which has as its input N identical qubits and produces M outputs achieves a fidelity of F = (N + 1)/ (N + 2), which is equal to the fidelity of estimation of the input qubits. We also show that when a priori information about the state of the input qubit is available, the fidelity of a quantum NOT gate can be much better than the fidelity of estimation.
We propose a protocol where one can exploit dual quantum and classical channels to achieve perfect ``cloning'' and ``orthogonal-complementing'' of an unknown state with minimal assistance from a state preparer (without revealing what the input state is). The first stage of the protocol requires usual teleportation, and in the second stage the preparer disentangles the leftover entangled states by a single-particle measurement process and communicates a number of classical bits (1-cbit per copy) to different parties so that perfect copies and complement copies are produced. Our protocol produces clones and complement clones of unknown qubit each with a probability 12\frac{1}{2}21​ and clones of real qubit with unit probability.