We present optimal and minimal measurements on identical copies of an unknown state of a quantum bit when the quality of measuring strategies is quantified with the gain of information (Kullback—or mutual information—of probability distributions). We also show that the maximal gain of information occurs, among isotropic priors, when the state is known to be pure. Universality of optimal measurements follows from our results: using the fidelity or the gain of information, two different figures of merits, leads to exactly the same conclusions for isotropic distributions. We finally investigate the optimal capacity of N copies of an unknown state as a quantum channel of information.

• Received 30 July 1999

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.60.R3339