Improved lower bound for the two-way-assisted quantum capacity of the bosonic thermal-loss channel

The bosonic thermal-loss channel is a fundamental model for quantum communication. This Gaussian channel models the transmission of bosonic systems subject to both loss and thermal noise. It describes many practical systems, including optical fibers, waveguides and free-space links, where background thermal noise is significant. Determining the channel’s two-way-assisted quantum capacity, the maximum rate at which quantum information can be transmitted reliably through the channel with two-way classical assistance, remains an open problem. Here, we improve upon the best known lower bound for this capacity for a wide range of channel parameters. We achieve this by combining an improved qubit-bosonic distribution technique with a recently introduced technique for discovering entanglement distillation protocols.