title: Experimental purification of single qubits.
abstract: We report the experimental realization of the purification protocol for single qubits sent through a depolarizing channel. The qubits are associated with polarization states of single photons and the protocol is achieved by means of passive linear optical elements. The present approach may represent a convenient alternative to the distillation and error correction protocols of quantum information.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica and Istituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia, Università di Roma La Sapienza, p.le A. Moro 5, Roma I-00185, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ricci
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: De Martini
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Cerf
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Filip
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fiurásek
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Macchiavello