This chapter begins by providing proofs of no-cloning and no-broadcasting theorems. No-cloning theorem makes it possible to detect any eavesdropper on a quantum communication channel. The chapter presents the features of some of the quantum cloning machines. In spite of the no-cloning theorem, it is quite possible to construct a quantum cloning machine which copies an unknown state approximately. A probabilistic cloning machine has been proposed which can succeed only with a probability. When it succeeds it will give a perfect copy. This probabilistic quantum cloning is much useful in studying the B92 quantum key distribution protocol which involves only two non-orthogonal states and we can try to clone it with the largest probability. A telecloning scheme combines cloning with teleportation. A quantum telecloning system for two-level system in which one input is sent to M-receivers has been proposed. The no-hiding theorem is found to have applications in black hole evaporation, quantum teleportation and private quantum channels.
This chapter begins by providing proofs of no-cloning and no-broadcasting theorems. No-cloning theorem makes it possible to detect any eavesdropper on a quantum communication channel. The chapter presents the features of some of the quantum cloning machines. In spite of the no-cloning theorem, it is quite possible to construct a quantum cloning machine which copies an unknown state approximately. A probabilistic cloning machine has been proposed which can succeed only with a probability. When it succeeds it will give a perfect copy. This probabilistic quantum cloning is much useful in studying the B92 quantum key distribution protocol which involves only two non-orthogonal states and we can try to clone it with the largest probability. A telecloning scheme combines cloning with teleportation. A quantum telecloning system for two-level system in which one input is sent to M-receivers has been proposed. The no-hiding theorem is found to have applications in black hole evaporation, quantum teleportation and private quantum channels.
No-cloning theorem is fundamental for quantum mechanics and for quantum information science that states an unknown quantum state cannot be cloned perfectly. However, we can try to clone a quantum state approximately with the optimal fidelity, or instead, we can try to clone it perfectly with the largest probability. Thus various quantum cloning machines have been designed for different quantum information protocols. Specifically, quantum cloning machines can be designed to analyze the security of quantum key distribution protocols such as BB84 protocol, six-state protocol, B92 protocol and their generalizations. Some well-known quantum cloning machines include universal quantum cloning machine, phase-covariant cloning machine, the asymmetric quantum cloning machine and the probabilistic quantum cloning machine etc. In the past years, much progress has been made in studying quantum cloning machines and their applications and implementations, both theoretically and experimentally. In this review, we will give a complete description of those important developments about quantum cloning and some related topics. On the other hand, this review is self-consistent, and in particular, we try to present some detailed formulations so that further study can be taken based on those results.
Quantum mechanics put restriction on performing some task which we can do classically. One such restriction is that we cannot copy an arbitrary quantum state. This is known as No-cloning theorem. Although quantum mechanics forbid us to construct a perfect cloner, there is no restriction to construct an imperfect cloner. Therefore, we have constructed and studied a special kind of quantum cloning machine named as Hybrid quantum cloning machine which is nothing but a different combination of pre-existing quantum cloning machines. We showed that this hybrid quantum cloning machine sometime gives better quality copy than the pre-existing quantum cloners. Quantum entanglement is a very astonishing property in a multi-partite system and it is a very useful ingredient of quantum information theory. Therefore broadcasting (cloning) of entanglement is a very important subject to study. In this regard we have studied the broadcasting of entanglement using state dependent quantum cloning machine. Further, we have investigated the problem of secretly broadcasting of three-qubit entangled state between two distant partners. Linearity of quantum mechanics put another restriction on deletion of an arbitrary quantum state i.e. an arbitrary quantum state against a copy cannot be perfectly deleted. Like cloning machine one can construct an approximate deletion machine also. Therefore, we have constructed an universal deletion machine in the sense that the fidelity of deletion does not depend on the input state and showed that the fidelity of deletion is 3/4 . Further we showed that the fidelity of deletion depends on the blank state at the output and it can be improved from the value 3/4 for certain blank state. Moreover, we have studied the case where two cloned copies are given at the input of the deletion machine.
The security of quantum cryptography is guaranteed by the no-cloning theorem, which implies that an eavesdropper copying transmitted qubits in unknown states causes their disturbance. Nevertheless, in real cryptographic systems some level of disturbance has to be allowed to cover, e.g., transmission losses. An eavesdropper can attack such systems by replacing a noisy channel by a better one and by performing approximate cloning of transmitted qubits which disturb them but below the noise level assumed by legitimate users. We experimentally demonstrate such symmetric individual eavesdropping on the quantum key distribution protocols of Bennett and Brassard (BB84) and the trine-state spherical code of Renes (R04) with two-level probes prepared using a recently developed photonic multifunctional quantum cloner [Lemr et al., Phys. Rev. A 85, 050307(R) (2012)]. We demonstrated that our optimal cloning device with high-success rate makes the eavesdropping possible by hiding it in usual transmission losses. We believe that this experiment can stimulate the quest for other operational applications of quantum cloning.
Attempts at cloning a quantum system result in the introduction of imperfections in the state of the copies. This is a consequence of the no-cloning theorem, which is a fundamental law of quantum physics and the backbone of security for quantum communications. Although perfect copies are prohibited, a quantum state may be copied with maximal accuracy via various optimal cloning schemes. Optimal quantum cloning, which lies at the border of the physical limit imposed by the no-signaling theorem and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, has been experimentally realized for low-dimensional photonic states. However, an increase in the dimensionality of quantum systems is greatly beneficial to quantum computation and communication protocols. Nonetheless, no experimental demonstration of optimal cloning machines has hitherto been shown for high-dimensional quantum systems. We perform optimal cloning of high-dimensional photonic states by means of the symmetrization method. We show the universality of our technique by conducting cloning of numerous arbitrary input states and fully characterize our cloning machine by performing quantum state tomography on cloned photons. In addition, a cloning attack on a Bennett and Brassard (BB84) quantum key distribution protocol is experimentally demonstrated to reveal the robustness of high-dimensional states in quantum cryptography.
Due to the no-cloning theorem, generating perfect quantum clones of an arbitrary unknown quantum state is not possible, however approximate quantum clones can be constructed. Quantum telecloning is a protocol that originates from a combination of quantum teleportation and quantum cloning. Here we present 1 → 2 and 1 → 3 quantum telecloning circuits, with and without ancilla, that are theoretically optimal (meaning the clones have the highest fidelity allowed by quantum mechanics), universal (meaning the clone fidelity is independent of the state being cloned), and symmetric (meaning the clones all have the same fidelity). We implement these circuits on gate model IBMQ and Quantinuum NISQ hardware and quantify the clone fidelities using parallel single qubit state tomography. Quantum telecloning using mid-circuit measurement with classical feed-forward control (i.e. real time if statements) is demonstrated on the Quantinuum H1-2 device. Two alternative implementations of quantum telecloning, deferred measurement and post selection, are demonstrated on ibmq_montreal, where mid-circuit measurements with real time if statements are not available. Our results show that NISQ devices can achieve near-optimal quantum telecloning fidelity; for example the Quantinuum H1-2 device running the telecloning circuits without ancilla achieved a mean clone fidelity of 0.824 with standard deviation of 0.024 for two clone circuits and 0.765 with standard deviation of 0.022 for three clone circuits. The theoretical fidelity limits are 0.83ˉ for two clones and 0.7ˉ for three clones. This demonstrates the viability of performing experimental analysis of quantum information networks and quantum cryptography protocols on NISQ computers.
Attempts at cloning a quantum system result in the introduction of imperfections in the state of the copies. This is a consequence of the no-cloning theorem, which is a fundamental law of quantum physics and the backbone of security for quantum communications. Although such perfect copies are prohibited, a quantum state may be copied with maximal accuracy via various optimal cloning schemes. Optimal quantum cloning, which lies at the border of the physical limit imposed by the no-signalling theorem and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, has been experimentally realized for low dimensional photonic states. However, an increase in the dimensionality of quantum systems is greatly beneficial to quantum computation and communication protocols. Nonetheless, no experimental demonstration of optimal cloning machines has hitherto been shown for high-dimensional quantum systems. Here, we perform optimal cloning of high-dimensional photonic states by means of the symmetrization method. We show the universality of our technique by conducting cloning of numerous arbitrary input states, and fully characterize our cloning machine by performing quantum state tomography on \emph{cloned} photons. In addition, a cloning attack on a Bennett and Brassard (BB84) quantum key distribution protocol is experimentally demonstrated in order to reveal the robustness of high-dimensional states in quantum cryptography.