Photon losses depending on polarization mixedness

TL;DR

This paper introduces a quantum channel model where photon losses depend on polarization mixedness, analyzing its capacity for transmitting classical information in various encoding schemes.

Contribution

It presents a novel quantum channel model linking photon loss to polarization mixedness and studies its capacity for classical information transmission.

Findings

Capacity depends on polarization mixedness and loss correlation

Channel models correlated errors between discrete and continuous degrees of freedom

Analyzes one-shot capacity for different encoding schemes

Abstract

We introduce a quantum channel describing photon losses depending on the degree of polarization mixedness. This can be regarded as a model of quantum channel with correlated errors between discrete and continuous degrees of freedom. We consider classical information over a continuous alphabet encoded on weak coherent states as well as classical information over a discrete alphabet encoded on single photons using dual rail representation. In both cases we study the one-shot capacity of the channel and its behaviour in terms of correlation between losses and polarization mixedness.