Past exam of the quantum information course of the University of Cambridge / 2016 / Paper 1 / 3 / b

Quantum teleportation transfers an unknown qubit state using a previously shared Bell pair, local operations and two classical bits. It requires no description of the unknown complex amplitudes and produces no extra copy.

Let the input be $|\chi {⟩}_S=\alpha |0⟩+\beta |1⟩$, and let Alice and Bob share $|{\Phi }^{+}{⟩}_{AB}$. Alice applies a controlled-NOT gate from $S$ to $A$, then a Hadamard gate to $S$. Expanding the circuit gives the Bell-basis teleportation identity in computational-output form:Her projective measurement yields each bit pair $(a,b)$ with probability $1/4$. She sends the two classical bits, and Bob applies $Z^a{X}^b$ to recover $|\chi ⟩$. The order is the inverse of the displayed conditional operator; interchanging these Pauli corrections changes only an irrelevant global phase when both bits are one.

Before receiving the bits, Bob hasThus teleportation respects the no-communication theorem and cannot transmit the usable unknown state faster than the classical message. Alice's input has been measured, and the shared entanglement resource has been consumed, in agreement with the no-cloning theorem. The protocol transfers the state, not the material particle initially carrying it.

A physical implementation must distribute and preserve an entangled pair, implement a Bell-basis measurement and transmit its result to a controllable output system. Imperfect entanglement, lost outcomes and noisy corrections reduce quantum fidelity; a heralded probabilistic experiment must report its success probability separately from conditional fidelity. Ideal deterministic teleportation assumes every Bell outcome can be identified and corrected.