Cyclic measurements and simplified quantum state tomography

Victor Gonzalez Avella1, Jakub Czartowski2,3,4, Dardo Goyeneche1,5, and Karol Życzkowski3,6

1Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad de Antofagasta, Casilla 170, Antofagasta, Chile
2Doctoral School of Exact and Natural Sciences, Jagiellonian University, ul. Lojasiewicza 11, 30-348 Kraków, Poland
3Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Applied Computer Science, Jagiellonian University, 30-348 Kraków, Poland
4School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 21 Nanyang Link, 637371 Singapore, Republic of Singapore
5Instituto de Física, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 306, Santiago, Chile
6Center for Theoretical Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul Lotników 32/46, 02-668 Warszawa, Poland

Find this paper interesting or want to discuss? Scite or leave a comment on SciRate.

Abstract

Tomographic reconstruction of quantum states plays a fundamental role in benchmarking quantum systems and accessing information encoded in quantum-mechanical systems. Among the informationally complete sets of quantum measurements, the tight ones provide a linear reconstruction formula and minimize the propagation of statistical errors. However, implementing tight measurements in the lab is challenging due to the high number of required measurement projections, involving a series of experimental setup preparations. In this work, we introduce the notion of cyclic tight measurements, which allow us to perform full quantum state tomography while considering only repeated application of a single unitary-based quantum device during the measurement stage. This type of measurement significantly simplifies the complexity of the experimental setup required to retrieve the quantum state of a physical system. Additionally, we design a feasible setup preparation procedure that produces well-approximated cyclic tight measurements in every finite dimension.

► BibTeX data

► References

[1] M. A. Nielsen and I. L. Chuang. ``Quantum Computation and Quantum Information''. Cambridge University Press. (2010).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1017/​CBO9780511976667

[2] A. J. Scott. ``Tight informationally complete quantum measurements''. J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 39, 13507 (2006).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1088/​0305-4470/​39/​43/​009

[3] H. F. Chau. ``Unconditionally secure key distribution in higher dimensions by depolarization''. IEEE Transactions on Information Theory 51, 1451–1468 (2005).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1109/​TIT.2005.844076

[4] R. Gow. ``Generation of Mutually Unbiased Bases as powers of a unitary matrix in 2-power dimensions''. arXiv preprint math-/​0703333 (2007).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.48550/​arXiv.math/​0703333

[5] O. Kern, K. S. Ranade, and U. Seyfarth. ``Complete sets of cyclic Mutually Unbiased Bases in even prime-power dimensions''. J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 43, 275305 (2010).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1088/​1751-8113/​43/​27/​275305

[6] U. Seyfarth and K. S. Ranade. ``Construction of Mutually Unbiased Bases with cyclic symmetry for qubit systems''. Phys. Rev. A 84, 042327 (2011).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1103/​PhysRevA.84.042327

[7] U. Seyfarth, L. L. Sánchez-Soto, and G. Leuchs. ``Structure of the sets of Mutua-lly Unbiased Bases with cyclic symmetry''. J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 47, 455303 (2014).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1088/​1751-8113/​47/​45/​455303

[8] D. M. Appleby. ``Properties of the extended Clifford group with applica-tions to SIC-POVMs and MUBs''. arXiv:0909.5233 (2009).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.48550/​arXiv.0909.5233
arXiv:0909.5233

[9] I. Amburg, R. Sharma, D. M. Sussman, and W. K. Wootters. ``States that “look the same” with respect to every basis in a Mutually Unbiased set''. J. Math. Phys. 55, 122206 (2014).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1063/​1.4904317

[10] D. M. Sussman and W. K. Wootters. ``Discrete phase space and minimum-uncertainty states''. In Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Quantum Communication, Measurement and Computing, ed O. Hirota, J. H. Shapiro and M. Sasaki, NICT Press. (2007).
arXiv:0704.1277

[11] D. M. Sussman. ``Minimum-uncertainty states and rotational invariance in discrete phase space''. Undergraduate Thesis, Williams College (2007).
https:/​/​librarysearch.williams.edu/​discovery/​delivery/​01WIL_INST:01WIL_SPECIAL/​12288879180002786

[12] D. M. Appleby, H. B. Dang, and C. A. Fuchs. ``Symmetric Informationally-Complete quantum states as analogues to orthonormal bases and minimum-uncertainty states''. Entropy 16, 1484–1492 (2014).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.3390/​e16031484

[13] A. Casaccino, E. F. Galvão, and S. Severini. ``Extrema of discrete Wigner functions and applications''. Phys. Rev. A 78, 022310 (2008).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1103/​PhysRevA.78.022310

[14] U. Seyfarth. ``Cyclic Mutually Unbiased Bases and quantum public-key encryption''. PhD thesis. Technischen Universitat Darmstadt. (2013).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.48550/​arXiv.1907.02726

[15] D. Gross, Y. Liu, S. T. Flammia, S. Becker and J. Eisert . ``Quantum state tomography via compressed sensing''. Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 150401 (2010).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1103/​PhysRevLett.105.150401

[16] D. Goyeneche, G. Cañas, S. Etcheverry, E. Gómez, G. Xavier, G. Lima, and A. Delgado. ``Five measurement bases determine pure quantum states on any dimension''. Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 090401 (2015).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1103/​PhysRevLett.115.090401

[17] L. Pereira, L. Zambrano, and A. Delgado. ``Scalable estimation of pure multi-qubit states''. Npj Quantum Inf. 8, 57 (2022).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1038/​s41534-022-00565-9

[18] S. G. Hoggar. ``$t$-designs in projective spaces''. Eur. J. Comb 3, 233–254 (1982).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1016/​S0195-6698(82)80035-8

[19] M. Wieśniak, T. Paterek, and A. Zeilinger. ``Entanglement in Mutually Unbiased Bases''. New J. Phys. 13, 053047 (2011).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1088/​1367-2630/​13/​5/​053047

[20] J. Czartowski, D. Goyeneche, and K. Życzkowski. ``Entanglement properties of multipartite informationally complete quantum measurements''. J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 51, 305302 (2018).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1088/​1751-8121/​aac973

[21] I. D. Ivonovic. ``Geometrical description of quantal state determination''. J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 14, 3241 (1981).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1088/​0305-4470/​14/​12/​019

[22] W. K. Wootters and B. D. Fields. ``Optimal state-determination by mutually unbiased measurements''. Annals of Physics 191, 363–381 (1989).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1016/​0003-4916(89)90322-9

[23] S. Brierley and S. Weigert. ``Constructing Mutually Unbiased Bases in dimension six''. Phys. Rev. A 79, 052316 (2009).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1103/​PhysRevA.79.052316

[24] S. Bandyopadhyay, P. O. Boykin, V. Roychowdhury, and F. Vatan. ``A new proof of the existence of Mutually Unbiased Bases''. Algorithmica 34, 512–528 (2002).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1007/​s00453-002-0980-7

[25] S. Chaturvedi. ``Mutually Unbiased Bases''. Pramana J. of Phys. 59, 345–350 (2002).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1007/​s12043-002-0126-0

[26] S. Chaturvedi. ``Aspects of Mutually Unbiased Bases in odd prime dimensions''. Phys. Rev. A 65, 044301 (2002).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1103/​PhysRevA.65.044301

[27] A. Klappenecker and M. Rötteler. ``Cons-tructions of Mutually Unbiased Bases''. In Finite Fields and Applications: 7th International Conference, Fq7, Toulouse, France, May 5-9, 2003. Revised Papers. Pages 137–144. Springer (2004).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.48550/​arXiv.quant-ph/​0309120
arXiv:quant-ph/0309120

[28] C. Archer. ``There is no generalization of known formulas for Mutually Unbiased Bases''. J. of Math. Phys. 46, 022106 (2005).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1063/​1.1829153

[29] M. Planat and H. Rosu. ``Mutually Unbiased phase states, phase uncertainties, and gauss sums''. Eur Phys. J. D 36, 133–139 (2005).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1140/​epjd/​e2005-00208-4

[30] M. R. Kibler and M. Planat. ``A SU(2) recipe for Mutually Unbiased Bases''. Int. J. Mod. Phys. B 20, 1802–1807 (2006).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1142/​S0217979206034303

[31] M. Grassl. ``On SIC-POVMs and MUBs in dimension 6''. arXiv preprint quant-ph/​0406175 (2004).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.48550/​arXiv.quant-ph/​0406175
arXiv:quant-ph/0406175

[32] I. Bengtsson, W. Bruzda, Å. Ericsson, J.-Å. Larsson, W. Tadej, and K. Życzkowski. ``Mutually Unbiased Bases and Hadamard matrices of order six''. J. Math. Phys. 48 (2007).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1063/​1.2716990

[33] D. Goyeneche and S. Gómez. ``Mutually Unbiased Bases with free parameters''. Phys. Rev. A 92, 062325 (2015).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1103/​PhysRevA.92.062325

[34] T. Durt, B.-G. Englert, I. Bengtsson, and K. Życzkowski. ``On Mutually Unbiased Bases''. Int. J. Quantum Inf. 8, 535–640 (2010).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1142/​S0219749910006502

[35] L. Welch. ``Lower bounds on the maximum cross correlation of signals (corresp.)''. IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory 20, 397–399 (1974).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1109/​TIT.1974.1055219

[36] J. M. Renes, R. Blume-Kohout, A. J. Scott, and C. M. Caves. ``Symmetric informationally complete quantum measurements''. J. Math. Phys. 45, 2171–2180 (2004).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1063/​1.1737053

[37] G. Lima, L. Neves, R. Guzmán, E. S. Gómez, W. Nogueira, A. Delgado, A. Vargas, and C. Saavedra. ``Experimental quantum tomography of photonic qudits via Mutually Unbiased Basis''. Opt. Express 19, 3542–3552 (2011).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1364/​OE.19.003542

[38] N. Bent, H. Qassim, A. A. Tahir, D. Sych, G. Leuchs, L. L. Sánchez-Soto, E. Karimi and R. W. Boyd. ``Experimental realization of quantum tomography of photonic qudits via Symmetric Informationally Complete Positive Operator-Valued Measures''. Phys. Rev. X 5, 041006 (2015).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1103/​PhysRevX.5.041006

[39] B. Chen, T. Li, and S.-M. Fei. ``General SIC measurement-based entanglement detection''. Quantum Inf. Process 14, 2281–2290 (2015).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1007/​s11128-015-0951-y

[40] M. Dall’Arno, S. Brandsen, F. Buscemi, and V. Vedral. ``Device-independent tests of quantum measurements''. Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 250501 (2017).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1103/​PhysRevLett.118.250501

[41] C. Dankert, R. Cleve, J. Emerson, and E. Livine. ``Exact and approximate unitary 2-designs and their application to fidelity estimation''. Phys. Rev. A 80, 012304 (2009).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1103/​PhysRevA.80.012304

[42] A. J. Scott. ``Optimizing quantum process tomography with unitary 2-designs''. J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 41, 055308 (2008).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1088/​1751-8113/​41/​5/​055308

[43] M. S. Baladram. ``On explicit construction of simplex t-designs''. Interdisciplinary information sciences 24, 181–184 (2018).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.4036/​iis.2018.S.02

[44] P. Seymour and T. Zaslavsky. ``Averaging sets: A generalization of mean values and spherical designs''. Adv. Math. 52, 213–240 (1984).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1016/​0001-8708(84)90022-7

[45] C. F. Gauss. ``Methodus nova integralium valores per approximationem inveniendi''. Comm. Soc. Sci. Göttingen Math. 3, 29–76 (1815).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1017/​CBO9781139058247.008

[46] J. Czartowski. ``Comment and correction for "on explicit construction of simplex $ t $-designs" by MS Baladram''. arXiv preprint arXiv:2505.05894 (2025).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.48550/​arXiv.2505.05894
arXiv:2505.05894

[47] G. McConnell and D. Gross. ``Efficient 2-designs from bases exist''. Quantum Information and Computation 8, 734 – 740 (2008).
https:/​/​dl.acm.org/​doi/​abs/​10.5555/​2017011.2017015

[48] A. Roy and A. J. Scott. ``Weighted complex projective 2-designs from bases: Optimal state determination by orthogonal measurements''. J. of Math. Phys. 48, 072110 (2007).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1063/​1.2748617

[49] B. G. Bodmann and J. Haas. ``Achie-ving the orthoplex bound and constructing weighted complex projective 2-designs with Singer sets''. Linear Algebra and its Applications 511, 54–71 (2016).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1016/​j.laa.2016.09.005

[50] Z. Li, Y.-G. Han, and H. Zhu. ``Efficient verification of bipartite pure states''. Phys. Rev. A 100, 032316 (2019).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1103/​PhysRevA.100.032316

[51] J. Oppenheim and S. Wehner. ``The uncertainty principle determines the nonlocality of quantum mechanics''. Science 330, 1072–1074 (2010).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1126/​science.1192065

[52] J. Singer. ``A theorem in finite projective geometry and some applications to number theory''. Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 43, 377–385 (1938).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.2307/​1990067

[53] M. Hall. ``A survey of difference sets''. Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society 7, 975–986 (1956).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.2307/​2033024

[54] H. B. Mann. ``Some theorems on difference sets''. Canadian Journal of Mathematics 4, 222–226 (1952).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.4153/​CJM-1952-020-4

[55] I. Z. Ruzsa. ``Solving a linear equation in a set of integers I''. Acta Arithmetica 65, 259–282 (1993).
http:/​/​eudml.org/​doc/​206579

[56] A. M. Mian and S. D. Chowla. ``On the $B_2$-sequences of Sidon''. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. India A14, 3–4 (1944).

[57] N. J. A. Sloane and S. Plouffe. ``The encyclopedia of integer sequences''. Academic Press. (1995).

[58] A. S. Hedayat, N. J. A. Sloane, and J. Stufken. ``Orthogonal arrays: theory and applications''. Springer Science & Business Media. (1999).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1007/​978-1-4612-1478-6

[59] G. Rajchel, A. Gąsiorowski, and K. Życzkowski. ``Robust Hadamard matrices, unistochastic rays in Birkhoff polytope and equi-entangled bases in composite spaces''. Math. Comput. Sci. 12, 473–490 (2018).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1007/​s11786-018-0384-y

[60] N. Cabibbo. ``Unitary symmetry and leptonic decays''. Phys. Rev. Lett. 10, 531 (1963).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1103/​PhysRevLett.10.531

[61] M. Kobayashi and T. Maskawa. ``CP-viola-tion in the renormalizable theory of weak interaction''. Prog. Theor. Phys 49, 652–657 (1973).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1143/​PTP.49.652

[62] N. Cabibbo and R. Gatto. ``Electron-posi-tron colliding beam experiments''. Phys. Rev. 124, 1577 (1961).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1103/​PhysRev.124.1577

[63] I. Bengtsson and Å. Ericsson. ``How to mix a density matrix''. Phys. Rev. A 67, 012107 (2003).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1103/​PhysRevA.67.012107

[64] D. Goyeneche and O. Turek. ``Equiangular tight frames and unistochastic matrices''. J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 50, 245304 (2017).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1088/​1751-8121/​aa6e16

[65] C. Jarlskog and R. Stora. ``Unitarity polygons and CP violation areas and phases in the standard electroweak model''. Phys. Lett. B 208, 268–274 (1988).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1016/​0370-2693(88)90428-5

[66] P. Diţă. ``Separation of unistochastic matrices from the double stochastic ones: Recovery of a 3$\times$ 3 unitary matrix from experimental data''. J. Math. Phys. 47, 083510 (2006).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1063/​1.2229424

[67] C. Koukouvinos and S. Stylianou. ``On skew-Hadamard matrices''. Discrete Math. 308, 2723–2731 (2008).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1016/​j.disc.2006.06.037

[68] J. Czartowski, D. Goyeneche, M. Grassl, and K. Życzkowski. ``Iso-entangled Mutually Unbiased Bases, symmetric quantum measurements and mixed-state designs''. Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 090503 (2020).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1103/​PhysRevLett.124.090503

[69] J. T. Iosue, T. Mooney, A. Ehrenberg, and A. V. Gorshkov. ``Projective toric designs, quantum state designs, and mutually unbiased bases''. Quantum 8, 1546 (2024).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.22331/​q-2024-12-03-1546

[70] V. González Avella, J. Czartowski, D. Goyeneche, and K. Życzkows-ki. ``Cyclic $t$-designs''. https:/​/​github.com/​Vavella0710/​Cyclic_t-designs.git (2024).
https:/​/​github.com/​Vavella0710/​Cyclic_t-designs.git

[71] G. Auberson, A. Martin, and G. Mennessier. ``On the reconstruction of a unitary matrix from its moduli''. Commun. Math. Phys. 140, 523–542 (1991).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1007/​BF02099133

[72] I. Bengtsson, Åsa Ericsson, M. Kuś, W. Tadej, and K. Życzkowski. ``Birkhoff’s polytope and unistochastic matrices, n = 3 and n = 4''. Communications in Mathematical Physics 259, 307–324 (2005).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1007/​s00220-005-1392-8

[73] H. Zhu. ``Mutually Unbiased Bases as minimal Clifford covariant 2-designs''. Phys. Rev. A 91, 060301 (2015).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1103/​PhysRevA.91.060301

[74] H. Georgi. ``Lie algebras in particle physics: from isospin to unified theories''. Taylor & Francis. (2000).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1201/​9780429499210

[75] A. Ambainis and J. Emerson. ``Quantum $t$-designs: $t$-wise independence in the quantum world''. Twenty-Second Annual IEEE Conference on Computational Complexity (CCC'07)Pages 129–140 (2007).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1109/​CCC.2007.26

[76] D. Du and P. M. Pardalos. ``Handbook of combinatorial optimization''. Volume 4. Springer Science & Business Media. (1998).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1007/​978-1-4613-0303-9

[77] P. C. Hammer, O. J. Marlowe, and A. H. Stroud. ``Numerical integration over simple-xes and cones''. Math. Comput. 10, 130–137 (1956).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.2307/​2002483

[78] G. Kuperberg. ``Numerical cubature from Ar-chimedes' Hat-box theorem''. SIAM J. Numer. Anal. (2004).
https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1137/​040615584

[79] V. González Avella, J. Czartowski, D. Go-yeneche, and K. Życz-kows ki. ``Numerical cyclic 2-designs''. https:/​/​chaos.if.uj.edu.pl/​ czartowski/​cycl_des (2024).
https:/​/​chaos.if.uj.edu.pl/​~czartowski/​cycl_des

Cited by

[1] Daniel McNulty and Stefan Weigert, "Mutually Unbiased Bases in Composite Dimensions – A Review", Quantum 10, 2051 (2026).

[2] Yunting Li and Huangjun Zhu, "Universal and Efficient Quantum State Verification via Schmidt Decomposition and Mutually Unbiased Bases", Quantum 10, 2011 (2026).

[3] Joseph T. Iosue, T. C. Mooney, Adam Ehrenberg, and Alexey V. Gorshkov, "Projective toric designs, quantum state designs, and mutually unbiased bases", Quantum 8, 1546 (2024).

The above citations are from Crossref's cited-by service (last updated successfully 2026-08-09 02:14:07) and SAO/NASA ADS (last updated successfully 2026-08-09 02:14:08). The list may be incomplete as not all publishers provide suitable and complete citation data.