Decoherence factor

If a joint pure state is $\alpha |0⟩|E_0⟩+\beta |1⟩|E_1⟩$, the off-diagonal entry of the system's reduced density matrix is multiplied by the environmental overlap $⟨E_1|E_0⟩$. Independent repeated interactions multiply these overlaps.

For a pure state $a|0⟩|E_0⟩+b|1⟩|E_1⟩$ with normalized environment states, the upper-right device reduced density matrix entry is $a{b}^{\ast }⟨E_1|E_0⟩$. Distinguishability of the conditional environment states suppresses device coherence. States differing only by a global phase have unit-modulus overlap and do not cause quantum decoherence.

Prepare a qubit in $|+⟩$, apply a phase gate $P(\varphi )=\mathrm{diag}(1,e^{i\varphi })$, and correlate its computational basis states with normalized environment states $|e_0⟩,|e_1⟩$. Write $⟨e_0|e_1⟩=v{e}^{i\alpha }$. After a final Hadamard gate, the environment amplitude accompanying output zero is $(|e_0⟩+e^{i\varphi }|e_1⟩)/2$. Its squared norm is $P_0=[1+v\cos (\varphi +\alpha )]/2$. Thus $v$ is the interference visibility, while $\alpha$ shifts the fringe. This quantum decoherence map commutes with the phase gate, so placing it immediately before that gate gives the same probabilities.