Experimental realization of a single qubit SIC POVM on via a one-dimensional photonic quantum walk

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates an experimental implementation of a single-qubit SIC-POVM using a one-dimensional photonic quantum walk, enabling efficient quantum state tomography with minimal measurement outcomes.

Contribution

It introduces a novel experimental method to realize SIC-POVMs on a single qubit via photonic quantum walks, advancing quantum measurement techniques.

Findings

Successful implementation of SIC-POVM on a single photon

Projection measurements correspond to SIC-POVM elements

Enables efficient quantum state tomography

Abstract

Symmetric informationally complete positive operator-valued measurement (SIC-POVM) is one important class of quantum measurement which is crucial for various quantum information processing tasks. SIC-POVMs have the advantage of providing an unbiased estimator for quantum states with the minimal number of outcomes needed for full tomography. We present an experimental approach on a photonic quantum walk which can be used to implement SIC-POVMs on a single-qbubit. The projection measurements of single-photons' positions correspond to elements of SIC-POVM on the polarization of single-photons.