Information-disturbance tradeoff in continuous-variable Gaussian systems

We address the information-disturbance tradeoff for state measurements on continuous variable Gaussian systems and suggest minimal schemes for implementations. In our schemes, the symbols from a given alphabet are encoded in a set of Gaussian signals which are coupled to a probe excited in a known state. After the interaction the probe is measured, in order to infer the transmitted state, while the conditional state of the signal is left for the subsequent user. The schemes are minimal, i.e., involve a single additional probe, and allow for the nondemolitive transmission of a continuous real alphabet over a quantum channel. The tradeoff between information gain and state disturbance is quantified by fidelities and, after optimization with respect to the measurement, analyzed in terms of the energy carried by the signal and the probe. We found that transmission fidelity only depends on the energy of the signal and the probe, whereas estimation fidelity also depends on the alphabet size and the measurement gain. Increasing the probe energy does not necessarily lead to a better tradeoff, the most relevant parameter being the ratio between the alphabet size and the signal width, which in turn determine the allocation of the signal energy. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.