Abstract We show that the fidelity offered by the standard teleportation protocol under noisy channels applied successively can be significantly improved, when used in conjunction with a quantum switch. In particular, we find that for two such teleportation channels conjugated with an indefinite causal order, teleportation fidelity beyond the classical threshold is achieved for significantly larger noise than would be possible conventionally. One can even make the effective teleportation channel perfectly faithful for very large noise. We also discuss the generalization of our scheme for more than two pathways, and define a figure of merit in that context.
Abstract We show that the fidelity offered by the standard teleportation protocol under noisy channels applied successively can be significantly improved, when used in conjunction with a quantum switch. In particular, we find that for two such teleportation channels conjugated with an indefinite causal order, teleportation fidelity beyond the classical threshold is achieved for significantly larger noise than would be possible conventionally. One can even make the effective teleportation channel perfectly faithful for very large noise. We also discuss the generalization of our scheme for more than two pathways, and define a figure of merit in that context.
Quantum teleportation is a quintessential quantum communication protocol that enables the transmission of an arbitrary quantum state between two distant parties without physically transmitting the state with the help of shared entanglement and limited classical communication. We show that it is possible to relax the entanglement requirement in quantum teleportation if we have access to a certain strain of superposition of quantum processes. Two types of superposition of quantum processes are generally considered in the literature: superposition of paths identified with quantum maps and superposition of indefinite causal orders of the maps. We find that when superposition of paths is incorporated in the protocol, quantum teleportation with unit fidelity becomes possible with nonzero probability of 1/4 even when the two parties share certain classes of separable states, including pure product states. In contrast, the assistance of superposition of indefinite causal order of quantum maps in teleportation protocol does not enable any quantum advantage for shared pure product states. Furthermore, we show that separable Werner states can also yield quantum advantage in quantum teleportation assisted by the superposition of paths. Finally, we establish that the presence of quantum coherence in the control qubit is both necessary and sufficient to achieve quantum advantage in quantum teleportation assisted with superposition of paths. The results potentially uncover yet another role of quantum superposition, in general, in teleportation versus entanglement.
In a recent series of works [Ebler et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 120502 (2018); arXiv:1809.06655v2; arXiv:1810.10457v2], it has been shown that the quantum superposition of causal order---the quantum switch---offers an enhancement of classical and quantum channel capacity through noisy channels, a phenomenon that was coined ``causal activation.'' In this paper, we attempt to clarify the nature of the advantage, by comparing the quantum switch to a class of processes that can be interpreted as quantum superposition of processes with the same causal order. We show that some of these processes can match or even outperform the quantum switch at enhancing classical and quantum channel capacity, and argue that they require the same resources as the switch. We conclude, in agreement with Abbott et al. [arXiv:1810.09826v1], that the aforementioned advantages appear to be attributable to the ability to coherently control quantum operations, and not to indefinite causal order per se.
Abstract Causal order can improve the quantum information transmission in teleportation due a noisy entangled resource being present in it by using additionally an appropriate measurement state on the control state ruling the causal order. In this work, we get analytically the fidelity for the entire process under an arbitrary initialization of such control state and performing an optimal measurement on it, thus obtaining a perfect teleportation. We also analyse other values characterizing the imperfect entangled state where a perfect teleportation can not be reached. Notably, we determine that the best fidelity does not depend on the preparation of the control state but instead on the imperfect initial entangled resource.
Abstract High‐dimensional quantum states, or ‘qudits’, provide significant advantages over traditional qubits in quantum communication, such as increased information capacity, enhanced noise resilience, and reduced information loss. Despite these benefits, their implementation has been constrained by challenges in generation, transmission, and detection. This paper presents a novel theoretical framework for transmitting quantum information using qudit entanglement distribution over a superposition of causal orders in two quantum channels. Using this model, a quantum switch operation for 2‐qudit systems is introduced, which facilitates enhanced fidelity of entanglement distribution and quantum teleportation. The results demonstrate that the use of qudits in entanglement distribution achieves a fidelity improvement from 0.5 (for qubit‐based systems) to 0.94 for 20‐dimensional qudits, even under noisy channel conditions. This enhancement is achieved by exploiting the increased Hilbert space of high‐dimensional states and the inherent noise‐resilience properties of quantum switches operating in superpositions of causal orders. The findings underscore the potential of qudit‐based quantum systems in achieving robust and high‐fidelity communication in environments where traditional qubit‐based systems face limitations.
Counter-intuitively, quantum mechanics enables quantum particles to propagate simultaneously among multiple space-time trajectories. Hence, a quantum information carrier can travel through different communication channels in a quantum superposition of different orders, so that the relative causal order of the communication channels becomes indefinite. This is realized by utilizing a quantum device known as quantum switch. In this paper, we investigate, from a communications engineering perspective, the use of the quantum switch within the quantum teleportation process, one of the key functionalities of the Quantum Internet. Specifically, a theoretical analysis is conducted to quantify the performance gain that can be achieved by employing a quantum switch for the entanglement distribution process within the quantum teleportation, with respect to the case of absence of the quantum switch. The analysis reveals that, by utilizing the quantum switch, the quantum teleportation is heralded as a noiseless communication process with a probability that, remarkably and counter-intuitively, increases with the noise levels affecting the communication channels considered in the indefinite-order combination.
In this work, we introduce a comprehensive statistical framework for assessing single-qubit quantum teleportation performance beyond the conventional average-fidelity benchmark. At first, we derive a closed-form expression for the full probability density function of actual teleportation fidelities and apply it to both classical measure-and-prepare schemes and standard quantum teleportation, considering two relevant noise models: Bell-diagonal resource states and local amplitude-damping channels. These results reveal that protocols with identical average fidelities can exhibit markedly different statistical behaviors, and that relying solely on average fidelity can mask inherent asymmetries introduced by local noise, potentially leading to spurious conclusions of symmetry. Secondly, we introduce a certification method based on prior importance functions (e.g., Beta distributions), which unifies moment-based criteria and threshold-based success probabilities into a single figure of merit. Applying this framework, we show that certifying high-fidelity teleportation requires increasingly stronger entanglement or non-locality, and we clarify that the so-called ``fighting noise with noise'' effect arises from the chosen prior importance function rather than representing a genuine advantage. Our approach thus provides versatile tools for tailored, application-specific teleportation benchmarks.