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Photonics

A High-Reliability Quantum Communication Protocol via Controllable-Signal Attenuation

Yueying Zhang, Yanxiang Chen, Maolin Shi, Qun Zhou, Chao Liu

Published Jul 31, 2024• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Since the protocol for counterfactual quantum communication was proposed, complete counterfactuality can be achieved as there are no physical particles in the transmission channel. However, it relies on some restrictive factors, such as requiring an infinite number of beam splitters and no degradation. We conducted numerical simulations to assess the reliability of quantum communication combined with the actual test environment and found that the inevitable degradation, including component losses or path losses, limits the number of beam splitters. Furthermore, we carried out the experimental simulation of a high-reliability direct communication protocol using the method of controllable-signal attenuation. The peak reliability of μ1=27.6±0.22 that was obtained was much higher than the current communication protocol of the chained interferometer system. The optimized experimental equipment could compensate the system’s balance under various restrictive conditions and make it possible to achieve 100% reliability with imperfect interferometers.

DOI
10.3390/photonics11080714

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Since the protocol for counterfactual quantum communication was proposed, complete counterfactuality can be achieved as there are no physical particles in the transmission channel. However, it relies on some restrictive factors, such as requiring an infinite number of beam splitters and no degradation. We conducted numerical simulations to assess the reliability of quantum communication combined with the actual test environment and found that the inevitable degradation, including component losses or path losses, limits the number of beam splitters. Furthermore, we carried out the experimental simulation of a high-reliability direct communication protocol using the method of controllable-signal attenuation. The peak reliability of μ1=27.6±0.22 that was obtained was much higher than the current communication protocol of the chained interferometer system. The optimized experimental equipment could compensate the system’s balance under various restrictive conditions and make it possible to achieve 100% reliability with imperfect interferometers.
The direct counterfactual quantum communication (DCQC) is a surprising phenomenon that quantum information can be transmitted without using any carriers of physical particles. The nested interferometers are promising devices for realizing DCQC as long as the number of interferometers goes to be infinity. Considering the inevitable loss or dissipation in practical experimental interferometers, we analyze the dependence of reliability on the number of interferometers, and show that the reliability of direct communication is being rapidly degraded with the large number of interferometers. Furthermore, we simulate and test this counterfactual deterministic communication protocol with a finite number of interferometers, and demonstrate the improvement of the reliability using dissipation compensation in interferometers.
The direct counterfactual quantum-communication protocol involving double-chained Mach-Zehnder interferometers requires a single-photon input. Here, we show that even with multiphoton light sources, including a strong coherent light source as input, the counterfactual communication can be achieved with success probability approaching unity in the ideal asymptotic limit. The path evolution of multiple photons is nonlocally controlled. Thus, information is transmitted without any photons, or any other auxiliary information carriers, appearing in the public transmission channel. The effect is quantum since quantum measurements are an essential requirement for this protocol. Furthermore, a modified scheme is proposed in which the number of interferometers is reduced.
Abstract Recently, the direct counterfactual communication protocol, proposed by Salih et al (2013 Phys. Rev. Lett. 110 170502 ) using a single photon source under ideal conditions (no dissipation, no phase fluctuation and an infinite number of beam splitters), has attracted much interest from a broad range of scientists. In order to put the direct communication protocol into a realistic framework, we numerically simulate the effect of the dissipation and the phase fluctuation with a finite number of beam splitters. Our calculation shows that the dissipation and phase fluctuation will dramatically decrease the reliability and the efficiency of communication, and even corrupt the communication. To counteract the negative effect of dissipation, we propose the balanced dissipation method, which substantially improves the reliability of the protocol at the expense of decreasing communication efficiency. Meanwhile, our theoretical derivation shows that the reliability and efficiency of communication are independent of the input state: a single photon state or a coherent state.
It is striking that the quantum Zeno effect can be used to launch a direct counterfactual communication between two spatially separated parties, Alice and Bob. So far, existing protocols of this type only provide a deterministic counterfactual communication service. However, this counterfactuality should be payed at a price. Firstly, the transmission time is much longer than a classical transmission costs. Secondly, the chained-cycle structure makes them more sensitive to channel noises. Here, we extend the idea of counterfactual communication, and present a probabilistic-counterfactual quantum communication protocol, which is proved to have advantages over the deterministic ones. Moreover, the presented protocol could evolve to a deterministic one solely by adjusting the parameters of the beam splitters.
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.