Quantum channels with a finite memory

Abstract

In this paper we study quantum communication channels with correlated noise effects, i.e., quantum channels with memory. We derive a model for correlated noise channels that includes a channel memory state. We examine the case where the memory is finite, and derive bounds on the classical and quantum capacities. For the entanglement-assisted and unassisted classical capacities it is shown that these bounds are attainable for certain classes of channel. Also, we show that the structure of any finite memory state is unimportant in the asymptotic limit, and specifically, for a perfect finite-memory channel where no nformation is lost to the environment, achieving the upper bound implies that the channel is asymptotically noiseless.