A universal programmable detector is a device that can be tuned to perform any desired measurement on a given quantum system, by changing the state of an ancilla. With a finite dimension $d$ for the ancilla only approximate universal programmability is possible, with size $d=f({\epsilon }^{-1})$ increasing the function of the “accuracy” ${\epsilon }^{-1}$. In this Letter we show that, much better than the exponential size known in the literature, one can achieve polynomial size. An explicit example with linear size is also presented. Finally, we show that for covariant measurements exact programmability is feasible.

• Received 21 October 2004

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.090401