Heralded Noiseless Amplification of a Photon Polarization Qubit

Non-deterministic noiseless amplification of a single mode can circumvent the unique challenges to amplifying a quantum signal, such as the no-cloning theorem, and the minimum noise cost for deterministic quantum state amplification. However, existing devices are not suitable for amplifying the fundamental optical quantum information carrier, a qubit coherently encoded across two optical modes. Here, we construct a coherent two-mode amplifier, to demonstrate the first heralded noiseless linear amplification of a qubit encoded in the polarization state of a single photon. In doing so, we increase the transmission fidelity of a realistic qubit channel by up to a factor of five. Qubit amplifiers promise to extend the range of secure quantum communication and other quantum information science and technology protocols.

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