2009/07/20 by Stefano Pirandola, Pirandola, Stefano
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Data Analysis #FOS: Physical sciences #Mathematical Physics (math-ph) #Optics (physics.optics) #Physics and Society (physics.soc-ph) #Quantum Computing Algorithms and Architecture #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #Statistics and Probability (physics.data-an)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0907.3398
openalex publication_date 2009/07/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We consider a basic model of digital memory where each cell is composed of a reflecting medium with two possible reflectivities. By fixing the mean number of photons irradiated over each memory cell, we show that a non-classical source of light can retrieve more information than any classical source. This improvement is shown in the regime of few photons and high reflectivities, where the gain of information can be surprising. As a result, the use of quantum light can have non-trivial applications in the technology of digital memories, such as optical disks and barcodes.