Topics in estimation of quantum channels
Abstract
A quantum channel is a mapping which sends density matrices to density
matrices. The estimation of quantum channels is of great importance to the
field of quantum information. In this thesis two topics related to estimation
of quantum channels are investigated. The first of these is the upper
bound of Sarovar and Milburn (2006) on the Fisher information obtainable
by measuring the output of a channel. Two questions raised by Sarovar and
Milburn about their bound are answered. A Riemannian metric on the space
of quantum states is introduced, related to the construction of the Sarovar
and Milburn bound. Its properties are characterized.
The second topic investigated is the estimation of unitary channels. The
situation is considered in which an experimenter has several non-identical
unitary channels that have the same parameter. It is shown that it is possible
to improve estimation using the channels together, analogous to the case of
identical unitary channels. Also, a new method of phase estimation is given
based on a method sketched by Kitaev (1996). Unlike other phase estimation
procedures which perform similarly, this procedure requires only very basic
experimental resources.
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
Collections
Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.