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A high-fidelity noiseless amplifier for quantum light states

Nature Photonics volume 5, pages 52–56 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

Noise is the price to pay when trying to clone or amplify arbitrary quantum states. However, the quantum noise associated with linear phase-insensitive amplifiers can be avoided by relaxing the requirement of a deterministic operation. Here we present the experimental realization of a novel concept of a probabilistic noiseless linear amplifier that is able to amplify coherent states at the highest levels of effective gain and final state fidelity ever reached. Based on a sequence of photon addition and subtraction, this high-fidelity amplification scheme is likely to become an essential tool for applications of quantum communication and metrology.

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Figure 1: Wigner function contours of input and amplified coherent states.
Figure 2: Experimental setup.
Figure 3: Amplifier performances.
Figure 4: Improved state discrimination.

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Acknowledgements

A.Z. and M.B. acknowledge support from Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze and Regione Toscana under project CTOTUS. J.F. acknowledges support from the Czech Ministry of Education under projects LC06007, MSM6198959213 and 7E08028, from the EU under the FET-Open project COMPAS (212008), and from the Czech Science Foundation under project GA202/08/0224.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto Nazionale di Ottica (INO-CNR), L.go E. Fermi 6, Florence, 50125, Italy

    A. Zavatta & M. Bellini

  2. LENS and Department of Physics, University of Firenze, Sesto Fiorentino, 50019, Florence, Italy

    A. Zavatta & M. Bellini

  3. Department of Optics, Palacký University, 17. listopadu 12, Olomouc, 77146, Czech Republic

    J. Fiurášek

Authors
  1. A. Zavatta
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  3. M. Bellini
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Contributions

A.Z. planned the experiment and carried out measurements and data analysis. J.F. planned the experiment and developed the theoretical models. M.B. proposed, planned and coordinated the experiment. All authors discussed the results and implications of the experiment and contributed to writing the manuscript.

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Correspondence to M. Bellini.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Zavatta, A., Fiurášek, J. & Bellini, M. A high-fidelity noiseless amplifier for quantum light states. Nature Photon 5, 52–56 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2010.260

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