Introduction

Summary

Why yet another book on quantum information theory? Like many lecturers we began writing this text because none of the alternatives seemed quite right. This book is aimed squarely at undergraduate physics students who want a brief but reasonably thorough introduction to the exciting ideas of quantum information, including its applications in computation and communication. It is based on a short course we have taught to fourth-year students at Oxford University since 2004; for the most part it only assumes knowledge of elementary quantum mechanics and linear algebra, and so could even be taught to third-year undergraduates. A brief revision guide to quantum mechanics is provided as an appendix, which should cover any minor points that have been missed.

As the title implies the book is structured in three parts, starting with the basics of quantum information and then applying this to quantum computation and quantum communication. Part I is self-contained, but contains only the barest hints of the exciting applications which attract many people to this field and so might prove unsatisfying on its own. Parts II and III draw heavily on Part I, but are largely independent of each other, and it would be perfectly possible to study only one of these two without the other.

As this text is aimed at physics undergraduates, we believe that it is vital to cover experimental techniques, rather than merely presenting quantum information as a series of abstract quantum operations. We have, however, concentrated on the basic ideas underlying each approach, rather than worrying about particular experimental details.