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arXiv:1505.03266 · Current Science

Quantum State Estimation Using Weak Measurements

Debmalya Das, , Arvind

Published Dec 1, 2015• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We explore the possibility of using "weak measurements" without "weak value" for quantum state estimation. Since for weak measurements the disturbance caused during each measurement is small, we can rescue the state, unlike for the case of projective measurements. We use this property of weak measurements and design schemes for quantum state estimation for qubits and for Gaussian states. We show, via numerical simulations, that under certain circumstances, our method can outperform the estimation by projective measurements both for qubits and for Gaussian states. It turns out that ensemble size plays an important role and the scheme based on recycling works better for small ensembles.

DOI
10.18520/cs/v109/i11/1939-1945

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We explore the possibility of using "weak measurements" without "weak value" for quantum state estimation. Since for weak measurements the disturbance caused during each measurement is small, we can rescue the state, unlike for the case of projective measurements. We use this property of weak measurements and design schemes for quantum state estimation for qubits and for Gaussian states. We show, via numerical simulations, that under certain circumstances, our method can outperform the estimation by projective measurements both for qubits and for Gaussian states. It turns out that ensemble size plays an important role and the scheme based on recycling works better for small ensembles.
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Abstract We present a scheme to estimate Gaussian states of one-dimensional continuous variable systems, based on weak (unsharp) quantum measurements. The estimation of a Gaussian state requires us to find position ( q ), momentum ( p ) and their second order moments. We measure q weakly and follow it up with a projective measurement of p on half of the ensemble, and on the other half we measure p weakly followed by a projective measurement of q . In each case we use the state twice before discarding it. We compare our results with projective measurements and demonstrate that under certain conditions such weak measurement-based estimation schemes, where recycling of the states is possible, can outperform projective measurement-based state estimation schemes. We establish beyond statistical fluctuations that our method works better for small ensemble sizes.
We explore the use of weak quantum measurements for single-qubit quantum state tomography processes. Weak measurements are those where the coupling between the qubit and the measurement apparatus is weak; this results in the quantum state being disturbed less than in the case of a projective measurement. We employ a weak measurement tomography protocol developed by Das and Arvind, which they claim offers a new method of extracting information from quantum systems. We test the Das-Arvind scheme for various measurement strengths, and ensemble sizes, and reproduce their results using a sequential stochastic simulation. Lastly, we place these results in the context of current understanding of weak and projective measurements.
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Full text: Along with the well-known concept of projective measurements, quantum mechanics allows various kinds of generalized measurement operators. Two important examples are: joint measurements on two or more quantum systems that cannot be achieved by local operations (LOCC); and weak measurements that obtain less information about a system than does a projective measurement, but with correspondingly less disturbance. Unlike the result of a strong measurement, the average value of a weak measurement of an observable (its weak value), when followed by projective postselection in a complementary basis, can lie outside the range of eigenvalues. This discrepancy is not observed in analogous classical measurements. Weak values aid the resolution of quantum paradoxes, and can simplify analysis of weakly coupled systems. We use a generalized measurement device to measure the weak value of a photon's polarization in the horizontal/vertical basis (the Stokes operator S1 = |H> weak up to 47, outside the usual range -1 {<=} S1 {<=} 1. Unlike previous observations of weak values, our measurement works by entangling two separate systems, and thus can only be described by quantum theory, not a classical wave theory. Also, we have used a two-qubit joint measurement based on a controlled-NOT gate by which certain twoqubit unentangled states can be more reliably distinguished than by using LOCC. We quantify this using a payoff function, for which the optimal LOCC measurement attains 2/3, and our experimental measurement attains 0.72 {+-} 0.02, close to the global optimum of 3/4. (author)
We generalize the concept of the weak value of a quantum observable to cover arbitrary real positive operator measures. We show that the definition is operationally meaningful in the sense that it can be understood within the quantum theory of sequential measurements. In particular, we show that the weak value can be obtained from a single measurement scheme. We then present a detailed analysis of the recent experiment [J. S. Lundeen et al., Nature (London) 474, 188 (2011)] concerning the reconstruction of the state of a photon using weak measurements. We compare their method with the reconstruction method through informationally complete phase space measurements. In particular, we show that unlike with phase space measurements, the reconstruction of a completely unknown state is not always possible using the method of weak measurements.