A universal cloning machine is derived. The machine produces
c clones of an unknown qubit from
s identical replicas of qubit and
k identical replicas of its orthogonal qubit. For the standard cloning machine, i.e.,
k=0, the universal-not machine,
s=0, and some other cases, the optimum machine is well known. The universal cloning machine derived in this paper gives clones whose fidelity is the same value as that for the optimum machine. In the case of sufficiently large
c, we show that the clone fidelity generated by the cloning machine from $s\ensuremath{\ne}0$ replicas and $k\ensuremath{\ne}0$ orthogonal replicas is higher than that generated by the optimal cloning machine from
s+k replicas in case $s+k\ensuremath{\le}300$.
An optimal universal cloning transformation is derived that produces M copies of an unknown qubit from a pair of orthogonal qubits. For
M>6, the corresponding cloning fidelity is higher than that of the optimal copying of a pair of identical qubits. It is shown that this cloning transformation can be implemented probabilistically via parametric down conversion by feeding the signal and idler modes of a nonlinear crystal with orthogonally polarized photons.
We review our recent work on the universal (i.e. input state independent) optimal quantum copying (cloning) of qubits. We present unitary transformations which describe the optimal cloning of a qubit and we present the corresponding quantum logical network. We also present network for an optimal quantum copying ``machine'' (transformation) which produces N+1 identical copies from the original qubit. Here again the quality (fidelity) of the copies does not depend on the state of the original and is only a function of the number of copies, N. In addition, we present the machine which universaly and optimally clones states of quantum objects in arbitrary-dimensional Hilbert spaces. In particular, we discuss universal cloning of quantum registers.
We consider the problem of approximate cloning of quantum states: given
n copies of an unknown state
ρ∈Cd×d, prepare an
(n+k)-copy state with high fidelity to
ρ⊗(n+k). Werner's pure state cloner is the optimal channel for the pure state case, and shows that
n=Θ(kd/ε) copies are necessary and sufficient to clone
k additional copies of an unknown pure state to fidelity
1−ε. The random purification channel gives a straightforward extension of Werner's cloner to mixed state inputs: given
n copies of a mixed state, randomly purify your input, apply Werner's channel in the larger Hilbert space, and then trace out the auxiliary registers. This gives a mixed state cloner using
n=O(krd/ε) copies to clone rank-
r states. Can one do any better? We show that the answer is no: one must use
n=Ω(krd/ε) copies. We prove our lower bound by studying the special case of projector cloning, in which the input state
ρ is promised to be of the form
P/r, where
P is a rank-
r orthogonal projector.
As a further application of our techniques, we consider the closely related problem of approximate transposition of quantum states, where one seeks to convert
ρ⊗n to a
k-copy state with high fidelity to
(ρT)⊗k. Here, we again show
n=Θ(krd/ε) copies are necessary and sufficient for this task.
We analyze how information encoded in quantum systems can be optimally processed. In particular, we investigate copying (cloning) of quantum information (represented as states of 2-level quantum systems--qubits). We present unitary transformations which describe the optimal universal cloning of a qubit. Universality of the transformation guarantees that the fidelity of the cloning does not depend on the input state of the qubit, i.e. all states are cloned equally well. We present network for the optimal universal quantum cloning `machine' (transformation) which produces N + 1 copies from the original qubit. Here again the quality (fidelity) of the copies does not depend on the state of the original and is only a function of the number of copes, N. We also present the `machine' which universally and optimally clones states of quantum objects in arbitrary- dimensional Hilbert spaces. In particular, we discuss universal cloning of quantum registers. In addition to cloning of qubits we analyzed another universal operation-- the Universal NOT. We present the optimal transformation and the corresponding logical network which optimally complements an arbitrary input state of a qubit. We show that the fidelity of the performance of the Universal NOT operation increases as a function of the number of input qubits prepared in the same state.