Counterfactual communication without a trace in the transmission channel

We report an experimental realization of a modified counterfactual communication protocol that eliminates the dominant environmental trace left by photons passing through the transmission channel. Compared to Wheeler’s criterion for inferring past particle paths, as used in prior protocols, our trac...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:npj quantum information 2023-09, Vol.9 (1), p.87-6, Article 87
Main Authors: Pan, Wei-Wei, Liu, Xiao, Xu, Xiao-Ye, Wang, Qin-Qin, Cheng, Ze-Di, Wang, Jian, Liu, Zhao-Di, Chen, Geng, Zhou, Zong-Quan, Li, Chuan-Feng, Guo, Guang-Can, Dressel, Justin, Vaidman, Lev
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/624/400/482
639/766/483/481
Classical and Quantum Gravitation
Communication
Experiments
Photons
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Protocol
Quantum Computing
Quantum Field Theories
Quantum Information Technology
Quantum Physics
Relativity Theory
Sensors
Spintronics
String Theory
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Summary:We report an experimental realization of a modified counterfactual communication protocol that eliminates the dominant environmental trace left by photons passing through the transmission channel. Compared to Wheeler’s criterion for inferring past particle paths, as used in prior protocols, our trace criterion provides stronger support for the claim of the counterfactuality of the communication. We verify the lack of trace left by transmitted photons via tagging the propagation arms of an interferometric device by distinct frequency-shifts and finding that the collected photons have no frequency shift which corresponds to the transmission channel. As a proof of principle, we counterfactually transfer a quick response code image with sufficient fidelity to be scanned with a cell phone.
ISSN:2056-6387
2056-6387
DOI:10.1038/s41534-023-00756-y