Haw, Jing YanZhao, JieDias, JosephineAssad, Syed MBradshaw, MarkBlandino, RémiSymul, ThomasRalph, Timothy CLam, Ping Koy2018-08-142018-08-14http://hdl.handle.net/1885/146365The no-cloning theorem states that an unknown quantum state cannot be cloned exactly and deterministically due to the linearity of quantum mechanics. Associated with this theorem is the quantitative no-cloning limit that sets an upper bound to the quality of the generated clones. However, this limit can be circumvented by abandoning determinism and using probabilistic methods. Here, we report an experimental demonstration of probabilistic cloning of arbitrary coherent states that clearly surpasses the no-cloning limit. Our scheme is based on a hybrid linear amplifier that combines an ideal deterministic linear amplifier with a heralded measurement-based noiseless amplifier. We demonstrate the production of up to five clones with the fidelity of each clone clearly exceeding the corresponding no-cloning limit. Moreover, since successful cloning events are heralded, our scheme has the potential to be adopted in quantum repeater, teleportation and computing applications.The research is supported by the Australian Research Council (ARC) under the Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology (CE110001027). P.K.L. is an ARC Laureate Fellow.7 pagesapplication/pdf© The Author(s) 2016. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/no-cloningtheoremlimit2016-10-2610.1038/ncomms13222