For the complete estimation of arbitrary unknown quantum states by measurements, the use of mutually unbiased bases has been well established in theory and experiment for the past 20 years. However, most constructions of these bases make heavy use of abstract algebra and the mathematical theory of finite rings and fields, and no simple and generally accessible construction is available. This is particularly true in the case of a system composed of several qubits, which is arguably the most important case in quantum information science and quantum computation. In this paper, we close this gap by providing a simple and straightforward method for the construction of mutually unbiased bases in the case of a qubit register. We show that our construction is also accessible to experiments, since only Hadamard and controlled-phase gates are needed, which are available in most practical realizations of a quantum computer. Moreover, our scheme possesses the optimal scaling possible, i.e., the number of gates scales only linearly in the number of qubits.
Mutually unbiased bases (MUBs) play a crucial role in numerous applications within quantum information science, such as quantum state tomography, error correction, entanglement detection, and quantum cryptography. Utilizing
2n+1 MUB circuits provides a minimal and optimal measurement strategy for reconstructing all
n-qubit unknown states. It significantly reduces the number of measurements compared to the traditional
4n Pauli observables, also enhancing the robustness of quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols. Previous circuit designs that rely on a single generator can result in exponential gate costs for some MUB circuits. In this work, we present an efficient algorithm to generate each of the
2n+1 quantum MUB circuits on
n-qubit systems within
O(n3) time. The algorithm features a three-stage structure, and we have calculated the average number of different gates for random sampling. Additionally, we have identified two linear properties: the entanglement part can be directly defined into
2n−3 fixed sub-parts, and the knowledge of
n special MUB circuits is sufficient to construct all
2n+1 MUB circuits. This new efficient and simple circuit construction paves the way for the implementation of a complete set of MUBs in diverse quantum information processing tasks on high-dimensional quantum systems.
Based on mutually unbiased measurements, an optimal tomographic scheme for the multiqutrit states is presented explicitly. Because the reconstruction process of states based on mutually unbiased states is free of information waste, we refer to our scheme as the optimal scheme. By optimal we mean that the number of the required conditional operations reaches the minimum in this tomographic scheme for the states of qutrit systems. Special attention will be paid to how those different mutually unbiased measurements are realized; that is, how to decompose each transformation that connects each mutually unbiased basis with the standard computational basis. It is found that all those transformations can be decomposed into several basic implementable single- and two-qutrit unitary operations. For the three-qutrit system, there exist five different mutually unbiased-bases structures with different entanglement properties, so we introduce the concept of physical complexity to minimize the number of nonlocal operations needed over the five different structures. This scheme is helpful for experimental scientists to realize the most economical reconstruction of quantum states in qutrit systems.
We present a systematic method to introduce free parameters in sets of mutually unbiased bases. In particular, we demonstrate that any set of
m real mutually unbiased bases existing in dimension
N>2 admits the introduction of $(m\ensuremath{-}1)N/2$ free parameters that cannot be absorbed by a global unitary operation. As consequence, there are
m=k+1 mutually unbiased bases in every dimension
N=k2 with
k3/2 free parameters, where
k is even. We explicitly construct the maximal set of triplets of mutually unbiased bases for two-qubit systems and triplets, quadruplets, and quintuplets of mutually unbiased bases with free parameters for three-qubit systems. Furthermore, we study the richness of the entanglement structure of such bases and provide the quantum circuits required to implement all these bases with free parameters in the laboratory. We also show that the free parameters introduced can be controlled by a single party of the system. Finally, we find the upper bound for the maximal number of real and complex mutually unbiased bases existing in every dimension. This proof is simple, short, and considers basic matrix algebra.
One of the essential features of quantum mechanics is that most pairs of observables cannot be measured simultaneously. This phenomenon manifests itself most strongly when observables are related to mutually unbiased bases. In this paper, we shed some light on the connection between mutually unbiased bases and another essential feature of quantum mechanics, quantum entanglement. It is shown that a complete set of mutually unbiased bases of a bipartite system contains a fixed amount of entanglement, independent of the choice of the set. This has implications for entanglement distribution among the states of a complete set. In prime-squared dimensions we present an explicit experiment-friendly construction of a complete set with a particularly simple entanglement distribution. Finally, we describe the basic properties of mutually unbiased bases composed of product states only. The constructions are illustrated with explicit examples in low dimensions. We believe that the properties of entanglement in mutually unbiased bases may be one of the ingredients to be taken into account to settle the question of the existence of complete sets. We also expect that they will be relevant to applications of bases in the experimental realization of quantum protocols in higher-dimensional Hilbert spaces.