arXiv:quant-ph/0306098 · Physical Review Letters
All Linear Optical Quantum Memory Based on Quantum Error Correction
Robert M. Gingrich, Pieter Kok, Hwang Lee, Farrokh Vatan, Jonathan P. Dowling
Abstract
When photons are sent through a fiber as part of a quantum communication protocol, the error that is most difficult to correct is photon loss. Here we propose and analyze a two-to-four qubit encoding scheme, which can recover the loss of one qubit in the transmission. This device acts as a repeater, when it is placed in series to cover a distance larger than the attenuation length of the fiber, and it acts as an optical quantum memory, when it is inserted in a fiber loop. We call this dual-purpose device a "quantum transponder."