Quantum communication: An important phase

Jonathan Oppenheim, Michał Horodecki, Ryszard Horodecki

The interplay between two basic quantities--quantum communication and information--is investigated. Quantum communication is an important resource for quantum states shared by two parties and is directly related to entanglement. Recently, the amount of local information that can be drawn from a state has been shown to be closely related to the nonlocal properties of the state. Here we consider both formation and extraction processes, and analyze informational resources as a function of quantum communication. The resulting diagrams in information space allow us to observe phaselike transitions when correlations become classical.

IntroBooks

Robert J. Runser, Thomas E. Chapuran, P. Toliver +13 more

Quantum communications is fast becoming an important component of many applications in quantum information science. Sharing quantum information over a distance among geographically separated nodes using photonic qubits requires a reconfigurable transparent networking infrastructure that can support quantum information services. Using quantum key distribution (QKD) as an example of a quantum communications service, we investigate the ability of fiber networks to support both conventional optical traffic and single-photon quantum communications signals on a shared infrastructure. The effect of Raman scattering from conventional channels on the quantum bit error rate (QBER) of a QKD system is analyzed. Additionally, the potential impact and mitigation strategies of other transmission impairments such as four-wave mixing, cross-phase modulation, and noise from mid-span optical amplifiers are discussed. We also review recent trends toward the development of automated and integrated QKD systems which are important steps toward reliable and manufacturable quantum communications systems.

François Chapeau-Blondeau

Lian-Ao Wu, Daniel A. Lidar

Noise in optical telecommunication fibers is an important limitation on optical quantum data transmission. Unfortunately, the classically successful amplifiers cannot be used in quantum communication because of the no-cloning theorem. We propose a simple method to reduce quantum noise: the insertion of phase shifters and/or beam splitters at regular distance intervals into a fiber. We analyze in detail the case of qubits encoded into polarization states of low-intensity light, which is of central importance to various quantum information tasks, such as quantum cryptography and communication. We discuss the experimental feasibility of our scheme and propose a simple experiment to test our method.