Continuous-variable dense coding under realistic nonideal scenarios
Phys. Rev. A 114, 042427 – Published 14 October, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/b2xp-5w9p
Abstract
We analyze the continuous-variable (CV) dense coding protocol between a single sender and a single receiver that are affected by noise in the shared and encoded states, as well as when the decoding is imperfect. We present a formalism to derive the dense coding capacity of generic two-mode Gaussian states when they are affected by Gaussian noise models. When the constituent modes are affected by quantum-limited amplifiers, pure-loss channels, and environmental interactions, together with an inefficient decoding mechanism comprising imperfect double-homodyne detection, we specifically investigate the performance of the two-mode squeezed vacuum (TMSV) state by varying the strength of the noise. Through numerical simulations, we further show that the negative conditional entropy may be used to assess the quantum advantage of CV dense coding in Gaussian setups. While comparing the TMSV state with other Gaussian states, we identify a class of pure Gaussian states capable of furnishing a capacity equal to that of the TMSV state, under equal energy constraints in the ideal regime. Furthermore, we demonstrate that, while the TMSV state is more susceptible to noise, it still provides the maximum quantum advantage in the dense coding protocol under practical conditions.
