arXiv:quant-ph/9701009 · Physical Review A
Loss-error compensation in quantum-state measurements
Giacomo Mauro D’Ariano, Chiara Macchiavello
Abstract
In the two papers [T. Kiss, U. Herzog, and U. Leonhardt, Phys. Rev. A 52, 2433 (1995); U. Herzog, Phys. Rev. A 53, 1245 (1996)] with titles similar to the one given above, the authors assert that in some cases it is possible to compensate a quantum efficiency $\ensuremath{\eta}<~1/2$ in quantum-state measurements, violating the lower bound $1/2$ proved in a preceding paper [G. M. D'Ariano, U. Leonhardt, and H. Paul, Phys. Rev. A 52, R1801 (1995)]. Here we reestablish the bound for homodyning any quantum state, and show how the proposed loss-compensation method would fail in a real measurement outside the $\ensuremath{\eta}>1/2$ regime.