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European Journal of Applied Physics

A Preliminary Outline for Quantum Counterfactual Communication Via Perfect Mirror

Gregory L. Light

Published Nov 7, 2022• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Quantum counterfactual communication applies to information transmission that is free from particles commuting in-between; it is at the forefront of the present computing technology. Here, we consider a perfect mirror that reflects any incident photon with 100% probability. By the existing literature, the reflected photon loses a certain amount of energy because a portion of its wave nevertheless gets transmitted. That is, there exist separated photon-less waves that carry energies. We thus consider sending a photon to a perfect mirror and transmitting its wave to a receiver, which by gaining energy obtains the sought information.

DOI
10.24018/ejphysics.2022.4.6.216

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Quantum counterfactual communication applies to information transmission that is free from particles commuting in-between; it is at the forefront of the present computing technology. Here, we consider a perfect mirror that reflects any incident photon with 100% probability. By the existing literature, the reflected photon loses a certain amount of energy because a portion of its wave nevertheless gets transmitted. That is, there exist separated photon-less waves that carry energies. We thus consider sending a photon to a perfect mirror and transmitting its wave to a receiver, which by gaining energy obtains the sought information.
Long-distance quantum communication holds significant promises for information transmission over extremely large distances. However, ensuring communication security over extensive distances poses considerable challenges. In this article, we propose a new approach to long-distance quantum communication that is carried out in an information-carrying particle-free manner, known as counterfactual quantum communication. Our approach extends the counterfactual transmission signal by leveraging quantum repeaters situated between distant nodes, facilitating counterfactual entanglement swapping. Due to the absence of information-carrying particles in the channel, it enhances the security of information transmission. We demonstrate that our proposed protocol not only establishes the direct communication link between distant nodes, but also generates redundant communication links between neighboring nodes, enhancing resilience against primary link failures. Furthermore, we provide numerical simulations of C-Swap gate and counterfactual long-distance quantum communication scenarios to quantify success probabilities where the photon is not lost during the counterfactual communication.
The classical theories of communication rely on the assumption that there has to be a flow of particles from Bob to Alice in order for him to send a message to her. We develop a quantum protocol that allows Alice to perceive Bob's message ``counterfactually''; that is, without Alice receiving any particles that have interacted with Bob. By utilizing a setup built on results from interaction-free measurements, we outline a communication protocol whereby the information travels in the opposite direction of the emitted particles. In comparison to previous attempts on such protocols, this one is such that a weak measurement at the message source would not leave a weak trace that could be detected by Alice's receiver. While some interaction-free schemes require a large number of carefully aligned beam splitters, our protocol is realizable with two or more beam splitters. We demonstrate this protocol by numerically solving the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation for a Hamiltonian that implements this quantum counterfactual phenomenon.
Abstract Quantum Counterfactual Communication is the recently-proposed idea of using quantum physics to send messages between two parties, without any matter/energy transfer associated with the bits sent. While this has excited massive interest, both for potential ‘unhackable’ communication, and insight into the foundations of quantum mechanics, it has been asked whether this process is essentially quantum, or could be performed classically. We examine counterfactual communication, both classical and quantum, and show that the protocols proposed so far for sending signals that don’t involve matter/energy transfer associated with the bits sent must be quantum, insofar as they require wave-particle duality.
Quantum Counterfactual Communication is the recently-proposed idea of using quantum physics to send messages between two parties, without any matter/energy transfer associated with the bits sent. While this has excited massive interest, both for potential ‘unhackable’ communication, and insight into the foundations of quantum mechanics, it has been asked whether this process is essentially quantum, or could be performed classically. We examine counterfactual communication, both classical and quantum, and show that the protocols proposed so far for sending signals that don’t involve matter/energy transfer associated with the bits sent must be quantum, insofar as they require wave-particle duality.
It has always been a self-evident and obvious feature of any kind of communication that there should be an exchange of objects like photons or electrons between the sender and the receiver to convey any information. In this chapter a protocol is presented in which information is transmitted between a sender and receiver with no particles in the transmission channel. The basic building block of this counterfactual communication protocol, the Mach–Zehnder interferometer, is discussed. The concept of interaction-free measurement is also introduced.
The possibility to communicate between spatially separated regions, without even a single photon passing between the two parties, is an amazing quantum phenomenon. The possibility of transmitting one value of a bit in such a way, the interaction-free measurement, has been known for quarter of a century. The protocols of full communication, including transmitting unknown quantum states, were proposed only a few years ago, but it was shown that in all these protocols the particle was leaving a weak trace in the transmission channel, the trace being larger than the trace left by a single particle passing through the channel. This made the claim of counterfactuality of these protocols at best controversial. However, a simple modification of these recent protocols eliminates the trace in the transmission channel, making all these protocols counterfactual.