Noise estimation in an entanglement distillation protocol

Abstract

Estimating noise processes is an essential step for practical quantum information processing. Standard estimation tools require consuming valuable quantum resources. Here we ask the question of whether the noise affecting entangled states can be learned solely from the measurement statistics obtained during a distillation protocol. As a first step, we consider states of the Werner form and find that the Werner parameter can be estimated efficiently from the measurement statistics of an idealized distillation protocol. Our proposed estimation method can find application in scenarios where distillation is an unavoidable step.