MIMO Quantum Communication in Correlated Pure-Loss Channels

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication has significantly enhanced classical telecommunication systems by utilizing multiple transmission paths to improve data rate and reliability. Recent studies suggest that MIMO architectures could similarly benefit quantum communications in lossy environments. In this work, we examine MIMO quantum communication in correlated pure-loss channels, where we model losses as probabilistic erasures. Using symmetric quantum cloning in a 2 × 2 MIMO setup, we derive average fidelity expressions to evaluate the performance under varying correlation strength of losses. Our results indicate that MIMO setups provide fidelity benefits in low-correlation scenarios, but these advantages diminish as correlation increases.