Stefano Pirandola is a Lecturer in Quantum Computing at the
Department of Computer Science of the University of York (UK).
In 2007 he won an international Marie Curie fellowship of the European Union, spent at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from 2007-2009, and then at the University of York, 2009-2010. Pirandola previously worked as a postdoc in Italy, 2005-2007, where he earned his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Camerino (2005) and a Master's degree in Physics from the University of Rome "La Sapienza" (2001).

The optimal discrimination of two quantum states, or two quantum channels, is a central issue in quantum information theory. In this talk I will discuss this problem in the setting of bosonic systems, showing the physical conditions under which the discrimination of two Gaussian channels is boosted by the use of nonclassical states. Then I will discuss how this advantage can be exploited for various applications, such as the detection of low-reflectivity targets (quantum illumination), the readout of digital memories (quantum reading), and the probing of biological samples.

S. Pirandola, Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 090504 (2011)

S.-H. Tan et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 253601 (2008)

S. Pirandola and S. Lloyd, Phys. Rev. A 78, 012331 (2008)