Optimal teleportation via noisy quantum channels without additional qubit resources

Abstract

Abstract Quantum teleportation exemplifies how the transmission of quantum information starkly differs from that of classical information and serves as a key protocol for quantum communication and quantum computing. While an ideal teleportation protocol requires noiseless quantum channels to share a pure maximally entangled state, the reality is that shared entanglement is often severely degraded due to various decoherence mechanisms. Although the quantum noise induced by the decoherence is indeed a major obstacle to realizing a near-term quantum network or processor with a limited number of qubits, the methodologies considered thus far to address this issue are resource-intensive. Here, we demonstrate a protocol that allows optimal quantum teleportation via noisy quantum channels without additional qubit resources. By analyzing teleportation in the framework of generalized quantum measurement, we optimize the teleportation protocol for noisy quantum channels. In particular, we experimentally demonstrate that our protocol enables to teleport an unknown qubit even via a single copy of an entangled state under strong decoherence that would otherwise preclude any quantum operation. Our work provides a useful methodology for practically coping with decoherence with a limited number of qubits and paves the way for realizing noisy intermediate-scale quantum computing and quantum communication.