Fidelity and information in the quantum teleportation of continuous variables

Holger F. Hofmann, Toshiki Ide, Takayoshi Kobayashi, Akira Furusawa

Published 2000-03-15, updated 2000-06-06Version 3

Ideally, quantum teleportation should transfer a quantum state without distortion and without providing any information about that state. However, quantum teleportation of continuous electromagnetic field variables introduces additional noise, limiting the fidelity of the quantum state transfer. In this article, the operator describing the quantum state transfer is derived. The transfer operator modifies the probability amplitudes of the quantum state in a shifted photon number base by enhancing low photon numbers and suppressing high photon numbers. This modification of the statistical weight corresponds to a measurement of finite resolution performed on the original quantum state. The limited fidelity of quantum teleportation is thus shown to be a direct consequence of the information obtained in the measurement.