arXiv subjects

Časlav Brukner

Publications and source records attributed to Časlav Brukner.

76 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

Quantum circuits cannot control unknown operations

One of the essential building blocks of classical computer programs is the "if" clause, which executes a subroutine depending on the value of a control variable. Similarly, several quantum algorithms rely on applying a unitary operation conditioned on the state of a control system. Here we show that this control cannot be performed by a quantum circuit if the unitary is completely unknown. However, this no-go theorem does not prevent implementing quantum control of unknown unitaries in practice, as any physical implementation of an unknown unitary provides additional information that makes the control possible. We then argue that one should extend the quantum circuit formalism to capture this possibility in a straightforward way. This is done by allowing unknown unitaries to be applied to subspaces and not only to subsystems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2012

Experimental delayed-choice entanglement swapping

Motivated by the question, which kind of physical interactions and processes are needed for the production of quantum entanglement, Peres has put forward the radical idea of delayed-choice entanglement swapping. There, entanglement can be "produced a posteriori, after the entangled particles have been measured and may no longer exist". In this work we report the first realization of Peres' gedanken experiment. Using four photons, we can actively delay the choice of measurement-implemented via a high-speed tunable bipartite state analyzer and a quantum random number generator-on two of the photons into the time-like future of the registration of the other two photons. This effectively projects the two already registered photons onto one definite of two mutually exclusive quantum states in which either the photons are entangled (quantum correlations) or separable (classical correlations). This can also be viewed as "quantum steering into the past".

quant-ph↗

arXiv2011

Quantum-state preparation with universal gate decompositions

In quantum computation every unitary operation can be decomposed into quantum circuits-a series of single-qubit rotations and a single type entangling two-qubit gates, such as controlled-NOT (CNOT) gates. Two measures are important when judging the complexity of the circuit: the total number of CNOT gates needed to implement it and the depth of the circuit, measured by the minimal number of computation steps needed to perform it. Here we give an explicit and simple quantum circuit scheme for preparation of arbitrary quantum states, which can directly utilize any decomposition scheme for arbitrary full quantum gates, thus connecting the two problems. Our circuit reduces the depth of the best currently known circuit by a factor of 2. It also reduces the total number of CNOT gates from 2^n to 23/24 2^n in the leading order for even number of qubits. Specifically, the scheme allows us to decrease the upper bound from 11 CNOT gates to 9 and the depth from 11 to 5 steps for four qubits. Our results are expected to help in designing and building small-scale quantum circuits using present technologies.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2004

Exploiting the randomness of the measurement basis in quantum cryptography: Secure Quantum Key Growing without Privacy Amplification

We suggest that the randomness of the choices of measurement basis by Alice and Bob provides an additional important resource for quantum cryptography. As a specific application, we present a novel protocol for quantum key distribution (QKD) which enhances the BB84 scheme by encrypting the information sent over the classical channel during key sifting. We show that, in the limit of long keys, this process prevents an eavesdropper from reproducing the sifting process carried out by the legitimate users. The inability of the eavesdropper to sift the information gathered by tapping the quantum channel reduces the amount of information that an eavesdropper can gain on the sifted key. We further show that the protocol proposed is self sustaining, and thus allows the growing of a secret key.

quant-ph↗