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arXiv:1410.2769

Improved Direct Counterfactual Quantum Communication

Sheng Zhang, Bo Zhang, Xing-tong Liu

Published Oct 10, 2014• 0 citations
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Abstract

Recently, a novel direct counterfactual quantum communication protocol was proposed using chained quantum Zeno effect. We found that this protocol is far from being widely used in practical channels, due to the side effect of 'chained', which leads to a dramatic increase of the equivalent optical distance between Alice and Bob. Therefore, not only the transmission time of a single bit increases in multiple times, but also the protocol is more sensitive to the noise. Here, we proposed an improved protocol, in which quantum interference is employed to destroy the nested structure induced by 'chained' effect. Moreover, we proved that a better counterfactuality is easier to be achieved, and showed that our protocol outperforms the former in the presence of noises.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1410.2769

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Recently, a novel direct counterfactual quantum communication protocol was proposed using chained quantum Zeno effect. We found that this protocol is far from being widely used in practical channels, due to the side effect of 'chained', which leads to a dramatic increase of the equivalent optical distance between Alice and Bob. Therefore, not only the transmission time of a single bit increases in multiple times, but also the protocol is more sensitive to the noise. Here, we proposed an improved protocol, in which quantum interference is employed to destroy the nested structure induced by 'chained' effect. Moreover, we proved that a better counterfactuality is easier to be achieved, and showed that our protocol outperforms the former in the presence of noises.
It is striking that the quantum Zeno effect can be used to launch a direct counterfactual communication between two spatially separated parties, Alice and Bob. So far, existing protocols of this type only provide a deterministic counterfactual communication service. However, this counterfactuality should be payed at a price. Firstly, the transmission time is much longer than a classical transmission costs. Secondly, the chained-cycle structure makes them more sensitive to channel noises. Here, we extend the idea of counterfactual communication, and present a probabilistic-counterfactual quantum communication protocol, which is proved to have advantages over the deterministic ones. Moreover, the presented protocol could evolve to a deterministic one solely by adjusting the parameters of the beam splitters.
Quantum teleportation circumvents the uncertainty principle using dual channels: a quantum one consisting of previously-shared entanglement, and a classical one, together allowing the disembodied transport of an unknown quantum state over distance. It has recently been shown that a classical bit can be counterfactually communicated between two parties in empty space, “Alice” and “Bob”. Here, by using our “dual” version of the chained quantum Zeno effect to achieve a counterfactual CNOT gate, we propose a protocol for transporting an unknown qubit counterfactually, that is without any physical particles travelling between Alice and Bob—no classical channel and no previously-shared entanglement.
The direct counterfactual quantum-communication protocol involving double-chained Mach-Zehnder interferometers requires a single-photon input. Here, we show that even with multiphoton light sources, including a strong coherent light source as input, the counterfactual communication can be achieved with success probability approaching unity in the ideal asymptotic limit. The path evolution of multiple photons is nonlocally controlled. Thus, information is transmitted without any photons, or any other auxiliary information carriers, appearing in the public transmission channel. The effect is quantum since quantum measurements are an essential requirement for this protocol. Furthermore, a modified scheme is proposed in which the number of interferometers is reduced.
The counterfactuality of the recently proposed protocols for direct quantum communication is analyzed. It is argued that the protocols can be counterfactual only for one value of the transmitted bit. The protocols achieve a reduced probability of detection of the particle in the transmission channel by increasing the number of paths in the channel. However, this probability is not lower than the probability of detecting a particle actually passing through such a multi-path channel, which was found to be surprisingly small. The relation between security and counterfactuality of the protocols is discussed. An analysis of counterfactuality of the protocols in the framework of the Bohmian interpretation is performed.