A direct derivation is given for the optimal mean fidelity of quantum state estimation of a
d-dimensional unknown pure state with its
N copies given as input, which was first obtained by Hayashi in terms of an infinite set of covariant positive operator valued measures (POVM's) and by Bru\ss{} and Macchiavello establishing a connection to optimal quantum cloning. An explicit condition for POVM measurement operators for optimal estimators is obtained, by which we construct optimal estimators with finite POVMs using exact quadratures on a hypersphere. These finite optimal estimators are not generally universal, where universality means the fidelity is independent of input states. However, any optimal estimator with finite POVM for
M(>N) copies is universal if it is used for
N copies as input.
A direct derivation is given for the optimal mean fidelity of quantum state estimation of a d-dimensional unknown pure state with its N copies given as input, which was first obtained by Bruss and Macchiavello by establishing a connection to optimal quantum cloning. An explicit condition for POVM measurement operators for optimal estimators is obtained, by which we show optimal estimators with finite POVM exist but not generally universal, where universality means the fidelity is independent of input states. However any optimal estimator for M(>N) copies is universal if it is used for N copies as input.