Efficient amplification of photonic qubits by optimal quantum cloning

We demonstrate that a phase-independent quantum amplifier of a polarization qubit is a complementary amplifier of the heralded qubit amplifier [N. Gisin, S. Pironio, and N. Sangouard, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 070501 (2010)]. It employs the multifunctional cloner in the 1 -> 2 copying regime, capable of providing approximate copies of qubits given by various probability distributions, and is optimized for distributions with axial symmetry. Direct applications of the proposed solution are possible in quantum technologies, doubling the range where quantum information is coherently broadcast. It also outperforms natural nonlinear amplifiers that use stimulated emission in bulk nonlinear materials. We consider the amplifier to be an important tool for amplifying quantum information sent via quantum channels with phase-independent damping.