Enhanced Quantum Communication via Optical Refocusing

We consider the problem of quantum communication mediated by a passive optical refocusing system. The model captures the basic features of all those situations in which a signal is either refocused by a repeater for long-distance communication, or it is focused on a detector prior to the information decoding process. Introducing a general method for linear passive optical systems, we determine the conditions under which optical refocusing implies information transmission gain. Although the finite aperture of the repeater may cause loss of information, we show that the presence of the refocusing system can substantially enhance the rate of reliable communication with respect to the free-space propagation. We explicitly address the transferring of classical messages over the quantum channel, but the results can be easily extended to include the case of transferring quantum messages as well.